Writing for the London Review of Books about Catherine Mayer’s new biography of the Prince of Wales, Andrew O’Hagan makes glancing reference to “colourful situations” he has endured on LRB commissions, including what he calls “sloshing through New Orleans”. That was nearly 10 years ago, when he accompanied two would-be volunteers on a journey through the South in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He wrote a magnificent piece about it.