John O'Sullivan is the Right Pole. On every issue one could think of, no-one on either side of the Atlantic is more Right-wing than him. It might therefore be assumed that he would be blue in tooth and claw, an intolerant and persecutory monster. Not a bit of it. Gentle, civilised, courteous, witty - he is infinitely popular, the begetter of so many dinner parties. John is also the Dining Pole.

There is only one problem. Right-wing, delightful, he is also serially unpunctual. O'Sullivan time is GMT squared with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

Apart from a long distinguished career as a journalist and editor, he worked in No.10 for Margaret Thatcher and helped her with her memoirs. In his book The President, The Pope and The Prime Minister, he considers the way in which John Paul 11, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher responded to the attempts to assassinate them. The Pope and the President were both prepared to believe that Divine Providence intervened to frustrate their assailant's lethal purposes, because they still had work to do on earth. John asked Mrs Thatcher whether she thought that she had been spared for a purpose. The reply was abrupt and decisive: 'No.' How very British of her.

We hope that John will forgive us for this biog and write often for Provocateur.