One minute interview with Peter Pomerantsev

Where are you now and what can you see?

Alone in the office. It's raining. I can hear drunk people outside.

What are you currently reading?

Ben Judah's amazing 'This is London' (I have a review copy: it’s out next year). It’s the Down and Out in Paris and London for our times. The first portrait of the new, immigrant city. It will be a hit.

Choose a favourite author and say why you admire her/him

My dad. He's a Russian language Ukrainian Austro-Hungarian poet-essayist and the reason I write. Luckily for me he writes in another language so I don’t have the usual anxiety of influence problems one gets with talented parents.

I can just pinch his ideas. Sometimes journalists get us confused.

One hack interviewed him recently in Paris expecting some insights about Russian information war- but my dad just talked about wine (the subject of his work).

He did swing it round to say Ukraine's development can be analysed as a tension between Wine and Vodka drinking traditions and habits.

Describe the room where you usually write

I get the most done on planes. No internet to distract.

I’ve just been offered a ridiculous tri-transfer journey to a festival in Norway and will accept because I know I will finally get some work done. Sadly you can now get internet on some flights. Terrible news.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

‘Fabian’ by Erich Kastner, the story of a procrastinator who finally does something and instantly dies.

Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

I like football players who miss vital penalties. Batty; Waddle; Southgate...

Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: Adventures in Modern Russia, by Peter Pomerantsev, is published by Faber & Faber (£8.99)