Democracy is a gleaming Excalibur - let's not use it just to mend the toaster.

I want to change the world, and do something valuable and beautiful. I want people to remember me before I'm dead, and then more afterwards.

I do have a regard for the musicality of language that came from BBC sitcoms like 'Fawlty Towers.'

I think many of the boundaries that convention has placed upon us are arbitrary, so we can fiddle with them if we fancy. Gravity's hard to dispute, and breathing, but a lot of things we instinctively obey are a lot of old tosh.

From quite early on, I had this idea of compartmentalized identities - 'this is how you are when you are with your mum, and this is how you are when you are with your dad' - so it seemed like I could never absolutely be myself. And the image of myself as compromised and inconsistent made me want to withdraw from the world even further. I had a sense of formulating a paper-mache version of myself to send out in the world, while I sat controlling it remotely from some smug suburban barracks.

I missed him, of course, but sometimes close friendships have a tidal beat that pulls you towards different shores though the ocean that connects you remains.

I didn't take a job on Fox News because I'm interested in progress. I'm interested in shouting and pointing and simplifying things!