Kim has a meme, and it looks like an interesting one. So *yoink* and it’s now mine…

Why do you blog?

Why not? I do it because I like how it makes me think; I do it because I find things out about myself; I do it because I meet loads of interesting folk, keep in touch with others I’ve met, and get visited by some rather cool folk. I do it because I can.

What has been your best blogging experience?

Having someone coin the name ‘Handsome Ed’ was a definite high point… Whether it was the best isn’t so clear.

What has been your worst blogging experience?

Realising that my family has been known to read it. Apologies to the lot of them.

What would be your main blogging advice to a novice blogger?

Stick at it; post something every day; have a couple of pre-written posts ready to go in case you can’t be arsed writing anything on a given day; and give as good as you get.

What are your favourite blogs?

At the minute, I’m still laughing my ass off to Scaryduck, enjoying the tales of the wildlife in Nelly’s Garden and learning shit at Samizdata.

Who are your intellectual heroes?

Er, whowhatnow? I don’t know that I have any intellectual heroes; I’m sure if you told me their ideas and reasoning I’d identify them as things I’d heard and respected, but wouldn’t know who said them. Me and names don’t get along.

What are you reading at the moment?

Cheap and trashy science fiction, The Short Victorious War.

What is your favourite poem?

I’ll confess to not having the ear for poetry; I like the occasional rhyme, and come from a fairly long line of folk who could recite entire libraries, but I haven’t gotten the bug. So my favourite rhyme of all time is Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit.

What is your favourite song?

Again, none of my likes would be considered worthy. It changes day by day: there may be a prodigy choon in there, there may be one of the more haunting Faithless tracks, or perhaps a Fatboy Slim effort. Over the last few days I think it’s been Tired of You by the Foos.

What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to disseminate?

A philosophical thesis? Holding too rigidly to any thesis is dangerously close to an -ism, or being an -ist, and we all know what Ferris Bueller had to say about that. However, whatever the sensible alternative to statism is: that’s what I’d be disseminating. And the minute, I’d settle for [next question]

What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat?

Statism: the wilful belief that the state is your friend. It is not, it never has been, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop looking at me like I’d just said the moon was made of melons.

If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be?

Change the bias of taxation. Instead of being as high as the country can possibly bear make it as little as the government could possibly need. Then make make sure that the government consistently needs less.

If you could choose anyone, from any walk of life, to be President, who would you choose?

Hell, I’d have Kim. A firing range for every school and all the cheap ammo you can shoot…

What would you do with the UN?

Leave it as is, but lock the doors from the outside and cut off the plumbing.

What do you consider to be the main threat to the future peace and security of the world?

Environmentalism. Seriously, the things that we’re going to be told to do to fit into some half-arsed theory scare the bejaysus clean out of me. People are talking seriously about reducing (or removing) our freedom of movement; about pulling the carpet out from under the global economy; about stopping people breeding, fer fecks sake. Ideas that seem to be picking and choosing from the great list of ‘Things even totalitarian despots were too chicken to try’ are being presented as serious suggestions. I fear it all.

What would be your most important piece of advice about life?

When I find out, I’ll let you know.

Do you think you could ever be married to, or in a long-term relationship with, someone with radically different political views from your own?

Depends on the person. Sometimes the greatest friendships can be with someone you disagree with on nearly everything. Proper relationships are different, of course, but respecting their beliefs is required, not necessarily agreeing with them. That said, I’d have great difficulty putting up with someone who liked that George Galloway twat.

What do you consider the most important personal quality?

Sense.

What personal fault do you most dislike?

Most of my own; there’s no screen in the world large enough to list all of them…

In what circumstances would you be willing to lie?

The day ending in ‘y’. A little white lie goes a long way.

Do you have any prejudices you’re willing to acknowledge?

Yes. I have difficulty taking people with overly fashionably tattooage seriously; if someone looks like they spend too much time on their appearance I’ll wonder what they’re not giving attention to instead; I’ll generally think the worst of politicians until they prove otherwise.

What do you like doing in your spare time?

My new thing to waste time on is strapping myself into a small machine and seeing if it points in the right direction at 80 knots a thousand feet in the air. But I’m spending far more time arranging those times than actually in the helicopter.

What commonly enjoyed activities do you regard as a waste of time?

Big fucking Brother. X sodding Factor. East bastarding Enders.

What, if anything, do you worry about?

Where I’m going, what I’m doing, and why I’m worrying.

If you were to relive your life to this point, what would you do differently?

Work more at uni.

Who would play you in the movie about your life?

Lee Oakes.

What talent would you most like to have?

To write well. Not classically well, but well enough that two million people would pay a tenner a pop for each of the seven books I produced…

What would be your ideal choice of alternative profession or job?

I really have no idea. Something that filled the days, yes, but that also didn’t have to be on a set number of days. If you get what I mean. And if you do, clearly you’re smarter than I.

If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner who would they be?

I’ll go for the present. Stephen Fry, Jeremy Clarkson and possibly Clive James, going by his recent BBC columns.

What animal would you most like to be?

Anything that doesn’t end up as road kill. I’d hate to end up destroying someone’s much loved Corsa 1.2.