Brush up my French. Relearn the piano. Play better tennis. Drink better wine. Where do you want me to stop?

For the record, Laura Kuenssberg is a superb journalist and certainly be caricatured as a right-wing attack dog. No presenter is trying to outpaxman Paxman, or even paxman Paxman.

I am so looking forward to watching the restoration of Glasgow School of Art library. And more broadly the building itself. Everybody has such affection for it, not only in Glasgow or indeed Scotland but around the world. It speaks of modernity, and beauty. And the fact that it's battered and bruised has added to people's love of it.

Don't we have a whole number of establishments? I think in Scotland the networks are more open, simply because we're a smaller country. And much more interconnected.

Good point. I think that people need to be much more aware of the scientific world and how it affects us. It's seen as a more specialist subject than say an interest in arts and culture, but we should all be pushing ourselves to understand it more.

Sorry, of course oil was part of the story. Perhaps we should have been more explicit about it.

Find something and make it your specialism. It doesn't need to be politics or current affairs, it could be quantum physics or the novels of Jane Austen, but develop a passion. And write, write, write. Create a blog and promote it.

Ah! The days when the BBC put on an hour of arts and culture every night. It was a great training ground for some wonderful BBC talent. And all the better for being watched through a glass darkly sometimes.

I'd say that my work requires no cynicism, but a lot of scepticism. And yes, I am very critical of my work. I often think: why didn't I ask that question differently? Shorter, perhaps!!

I am amazed at the response to Blurred Lines. It just keeps coming. I am so happy that teachers are using the programme in schools, and that so many people have said that it is a programme that has stayed with them. We need to keep talking about how to create a more civil society on the web.

You may think it sounds trite, but if you think that our codes of behaviour have developed over hundreds of years, and wham bam, there's a new world. If when you turned on your computer in the morning you saw something as simple as "you're entering the world wide web - please treat people you encounter here with respect", it might just make a difference.

Ok, I was interviewing Glenn Greenwald, not the government. And I dispute entirely that I was acting as a spokesman for the intelligence services.

On the Glenn Greenwald interview, what service would it have done anybody not to ask challenging questions?

Thriller: I don't really remember doing that! Normally I like to dance in the privacy of my own home, but somebody had given me something out of a cauldron which clearly altered my mind.

I am excited about the second book, and have got down to work. I wanted to write fiction but had to wait until I had space to give it my best shot - I just worked and worked, becoming quite reclusive, and found it an exhilarating experience I was keen to repeat. Every hour God gave me I wrote and rewrote.

Harold Pinter was gracious and his intellect that day was all-inspiring.

I write in a sunny room at the front of the house in Glasgow, mainly. And as to when? On peaceful days, of which there are not enough.

No, I do not think the BBC has lost its impartiality.

There are so many great authors I could pick. Rather than authors, perhaps books, and I would say that Sunset Song is one of them.

Malt whisky. Preferably Arran malt.

It wasn't a disgrace, and Allegra is an extremely good political editor of Newsnight.

Parma ham, rocket and parmesan.

If we are dealing with a subject over which there is a big public debate, it's important that Newsnight explores all the different arguments. But if one politician won't take part, I don't think we should automatically drop the subject, but rather find a different way of exploring it.

Actually, I called the shadow home secretary 'Yvette' just once at the start of the interview, and I've probably done that across the board.

I think there should be no bar on who you can or cannot socialise with. If you're referring to the holiday spent with Jack and Bridget McConnell in Majorca, I had been friends with Bridget for 20 years but I have already said that perhaps it was naive not to expect some hostile reaction.

The assumption was that we would all hold the same political views, but surely you have friends with whom you agree and disagree on politics and many other things. Journalists are no different, but there is an added requirement for us to exercise a degree of caution.

I love narrating What the Future? It's like some kind of wacky antidote to Newsnight, and I loved taking part in Would I Lie To You and have finally made the dates work for Have I Got News For You, so it's always good to push yourself in a different direction.

If you're interested in politics, Scotland is a wonderful place to be at the moment. There is a wonderful sense of public engagement, and finally the idea that the politicians have to sit up and pay attention to voters. I have absolutely no idea what will happen in the general election, but what I can say is that building on the referendum, the turnout will be higher than any recent general election.

No chance of me appearing on any survival show - I like my creature comforts (and so therefore I'd never kill a rabbit either).

Certainly not. I have hosted an RBS Q&A session but it was live, and completely uncontrolled by RBS management. I was acting as an independent questioner.

I wouldn't but I could kill a rabbit. Anything bigger than that, would need the help of a heavy-duty weapon.

I disagree with the question. Show me any evidence that Newsnight has ever muzzled debate on immigration.

I think the BBC has stated very publicly that it is mindful of ageism and sexism, and it's up to all of us who work in the BBC to keep them to their word. I have no doubt that decisions have been made in the past for unacceptable reasons.

I have been very privileged to do a whole variety of interviews, not least I have raced back from Oxford this morning where I interviewed Philip Pullman about the theatrical interpretation of his Grimm fairy tales. It was so inspirational to meet him and also to catch sight of his very first handwritten version of His Dark Materials.

As to having an extra step in my stride, it is exhilarating when you think you've done a good job. I often think I could have done better but when I interviewed Philip Roth at his home in Connecticut I think I got the best out of him, and the revelation that he was never going to leave America again.

Great to be at the Guardian! Alex Salmond has talked about the BBC being the state broadcaster - can I say as far as Newsnight is concerned I dispute that completely. We were all fascinated by the developments during the campaign and although of course I voted, it was important to examine all the arguments. That's what we do at the BBC.