Questions and Answers about Me, Myself and I

When were you happiest?

When I was last deeply in love.

What is your greatest fear?

My own cowardice.

What is your earliest memory?

Of deciding whether or not to cut myself with a sharp object, expecting it to hurt, doing it anyway, and crying when it hurt. I was an Empiricist then at 5 or 6. Now I am a Rationalist.

Which living person do you most admire?

Mishal Husain - who is as clever as she is beautful.

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Barach Obama for his audacity.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Sloth

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Irrational cowardice, preferring to remain ignorant because they would rather not upset themselves.

What was your most embarrassing moment?

There have been so many I have lost count and repressed those memories.

Aside from a property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?

A camera.

What is your most treasured possession?

My tools of communication, memory and reference – computer, TV, camera, mobile, books

Where would you like to live?

Anywhere that feels like home.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

She probably hasn’t been born yet.

What is your most unappealing habit?

Untidiness.

What is your favourite smell?

Curry cooking, the best kind

What is your favourite word?

Pleasure

What is your favourite book?

Flatland by Edwin Abbott

What would you most like to wear to a fancy dress party?

A beard or perhaps a burqa.

Cat or dog?

Cat

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Admiring myself

To whom would you like to say sorry, and why?

To my parents for being a worry to them and being less than they had hoped.

Which living person do you most despise, and why?

David Cameron, for his smarmy convictionlessness.

Which words or phrase do you most overuse?

“Crikey”

What has been your biggest disappointment?

Myself

If you could go back in time, when would you go?

When Moses parted the Red Sea.

How do you relax?

TV, talking, reading, writing, thinking, which is also “work”.

What song you would you liked played at your funeral?

Je ne regrette rien

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

That we are our own worst enemy, and that the enemy within is more intractable than the visible enemy. The Muslims talk about “the greater jihad”, ie the greater struggle (with onesef).

Tell us a joke

A couple and their 11 year old daughter with her friend are sitting down to dinner. Daughter asks mother what it is. Mother says it is venison. Daughter asks what venison is. Mother coyly says it is something Daddy occasionally calls her. Daughter thinks for a moment, turns to her friend and says: “I wouldn’t eat it if I were you. It’s a f*cking c*nt.”

America's New French Poodle

Now that the Nicholas Sarkozy has supplanted Britain in its role as America's Poodle and is apparently calling for Iran to be bombed, that may just make the case for Direct Democracy more persuasive. I am sure the French have not suddenly decided to be war-mongers and in fact prefer their traditional role of remaining the cheese-eating surrender monkeys that Bush Jr has accused them of being.

However, this was the inevitable consequence of choosing any leader who wants a greater role on the world stage, who wants a diversion from the unglamorous domestic problems of putting one's own house in order. The French elected what they hoped would be a fiscally-responsible Conservative government who would cut red tape and lower taxes (unlike the British Conservative Party), but are now saddled with the role of being America's poodle - the furthest thing from their minds when they rejected Socialism.

I wonder how many Frenchmen are now uneasy about Sarkozy's intentions and whether they are happy to be seen in this role by the rest of the world. They have a significant Arab population. Can a French version of 7/7 can be that far away if Sarkozy persists in alienating Arab and Muslim opinion by siding with the most unpopular nation on earth - more unpopular even than Zimbabwe who at least oppresses only its own people?

Let us hope that China and Russia will have something to say about all this.

Rather than merely hope that there will be other powers strong enough to disagree with foreign policies that seems deliberately designed to start the Third World War, Direct Democracy would let the people decide. I do not say that world peace and brotherly love will reign through this system, merely that ordinary people would then be more able to make their feelings known on so many things that affect them which they are powerless currently to influence. Allowing them to do so would at least give a better indication of their approval or disapproval of government policies, and this can be the only way make responsive and accountable government more likely.

How many taxpayers would have voted to started the First World and Second World Wars if they had been asked?

Not only would it be a more sensitive barometer of the public opinion, its in-built Conservatism would balance the undeniable radicalism of letting taxpayers decide on all aspects of government policy while encouraging greater interest and participation by citizens in politics, which can only assist us in preventing the wool from being pulled over our eyes and cattle prods from being used against us when we do not agree with the government of the day.