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It's used to kind of create political fear. and ourjob as artists is, i think, fundamentally to take away that fear, to take away the binaries that i think this farce of the culture wars are. you know, i often hear politicians — and i'm not one to diss politicians, but i also often hear politicians use race or class or immigration or use history as a battering ram to get themselves into the hearts of the populist. but those issues you've just outlined — race, immigration — they are central to your work, because they're central to your own life story. yeah, totally and utterly. but... and...

Yeah, totally and utterly. but... and have you been frightened off entering this territory at times? again, i think it's framed brilliantly. fortunately for me, or unfortunately, when i'm afraid of something, i have to run towards it. stephen chuckles i don't call that a virtue, but it is fact for me. without a shadow of a doubt, even producing the play that's on at the young vic now, beneatha's place, i was worried for a while. i was worried that those of the right or even those of the left might come after me for some of the statements or some of the debates that the play wishes to catalyse....

Questions cos i think you're allowing me to, by the way you write... yes. ..and the way you speak about these things. so the next candid question is, how does your decision to have major stomach surgery to reduce the size of your stomach, how does that fit with fat positivity and trying to be at peace with the way you are? i think it doesn't, necessarily. i mean, i think that, for me, as i've gotten older, i've realised, what kind of life do i want and how active do i want that life to be? and...i think that you can feel reasonably positive about yourself and also want to lose weight. and ijus...

So the next candid question is, how does your decision to have major stomach surgery to reduce the size of your stomach, how does that fit with fat positivity and trying to be at peace with the way you are? i think it doesn't, necessarily. i mean, i think that, for me, as i've gotten older, i've realised, what kind of life do i want and how active do i want that life to be? and...i think that you can feel reasonably positive about yourself and also want to lose weight. and ijust hit a point where i realised... ..this is not going to happen without intervention, because i had tried every single...

Stephen chuckles and, you know, weight—loss surgery is a challenging thing. it's extraordinarily expensive. it changes your life forever. in good ways always? good and bad ways. i think that there are some side—effects that are challenging. but would i do it again? 1,000%. i have no regrets. no regrets whatsoever. you force all of us who read your books and talk to you to think very hard about how we view and treat fat people. mm—hm. and you have so many powerful stories about the judgmentalism and sometimes the contempt that you have faced from ordinary people in ordinary life. yes. is ...