The noble title of "dissident" must be earned rather than claimed; it connotes sacrifice and risk rather than mere disagreement.

What do you most value in your friends? Their continued existence.

Islamophobia: a word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons.

Religion attacks us in our deepest integrity by saying we wouldn't be able to make a moral decision without it.

Morality comes from humanism and is stolen by religion for its own purposes.

I was brought up in a very naval, military, and conservative background. My father and his friends had very typical opinions of the British middle class - lower-middle class actually - after the war. My father broke into the middle class by joining the navy. I was the first member of my family ever to go to private school or even to university. So, the armed forces had been upward mobility for him.

I don't have any terrific self-esteem issues but I do sometimes realise I've been too lucky and that I'm over-praised. It makes me nervous. I have this sense of being overrated.