Why do I write about myself? This is a question people often ask me – I’ve written two books and 250 newspaper columns, pretty much all on the subject of “me” – and sometimes I give them what I think of as the pompous answer. I give them this answer when they frame the question in a waspish way, which is more than usually the case. Why do I, they are implying, think people would be interested in me? After all, I’m not a person of any great merit or distinction.