I know that Brighton is famously a mixture of the seedy and the elegant, but in the summer of 2001 seediness swamped elegance hands down.

Punk was over in two years. That was the only damn good thing about it.

It's very hard to imagine the phrase "consumer society" used so cheerfully, and interpreted so enthusiastically, in England.

I've never been nostalgic, personally or politically - if the past was so great, how come it's history?

I'll declare my own interest right here at the start and admit that, like the vast majority of people, I find youthful looks appealing.

May I just single out for salutations, on the "anti-war" side: Pop Stars For Appeasement, Dancers Against Democracy, Actors For Apathy, Fashionistas For Fascism and Jugglers For Genocide. All of them united under that flaccid flag of convenience, Show-Offs For Saddam.

People - and I include myself - get fat because they choose pleasure over self-denial.