So I thought the Book Café thing went well, but I haven’t listened to it yet – I’m typing this on my knees in the taxi on the way back from the studio.

The taxi which took me to the studio, by the way, was driven by an Afghan guy who had been imprisoned (along with his entire family) by the KGB during the Soviet invasion when he was a kid. He said it made him political in a way he’d never been until then.

“Oh,” I said, “that’s interesting. I’ve met a few guys released from Guantánamo recently, and they’re much the same. They weren’t political and now they are.” (Although one of the amazing things about people like Moazzam Begg and Murat Kurnaz is how placid they are. They are angry, but not rageful. They are motivated, but not frightening. They do not appear to resent the US or the UK as a whole for their detention – though they are very determined to see an end to the kind of treatment they endured, and I’m sure would very much like to see those responsible put on trial. But I shouldn’t speak for them. They’re quite capable of speaking for themselves.)

My driver didn’t like the comparison. He looked hesitant.

“Those guys, I think they’re probably all guilty,” he said.

Um. No, they’re not, but that’s a story for another day.

Then I got to the studio and signed in. A moment of hilarity: Kathy Lette and Joan Smith were on just before I was, talking about the remarkably saucy In Bed With, and mistook me for Russell Smith, who wrote a piece of erotic fiction under the guise of a woman. We had a mildly bizarre few minutes while that was sorted out…  

Actually, it was entirely my fault: Kathy, on spotting me, asked if I was “the male author”. 

Damn me, yes! I thought. That’s exactly what I am. How splendid that we can talk as if I’m the only one, and how gloriously equal-ist of you to use a phrase which echoes the irksome “lady author” or “woman author” tags you hear on talk shows and so on around Orange Prize time.

So I said “yes”. What she meant, I think, was: “Are you Russell Smith?” I heard “Are you this guy who’s also on the show today?” and responded to the wrong question. It’s an interesting example of how you really need to check that Sense and Reference correlate when you’re in a new situation.

I am, as I have mentioned elsewhere, a twerp.

Link to the show here.

My bits starts at 31:10 or so, by the way.