Fat is a way of saying no to powerlessness and self-denial.

Public intellectuals come from a range of areas and use their expertise to comment more widely than just their field. They want to make a contribution to public space, and they stick their necks out to do it.

Skinny is only one body type.

Being able to provoke a different point of view to the standard current ideological or political perspective as played out in conventional newspaper or radio reportage is what a public intellectual does. But it's not merely about being oppositional, because that's too negative.

Consumer society tantalises us. We then try within ourselves to control the needs that are being constantly stimulated.

No one likes to feel helpless. We find it psychologically unbearable and inside ourselves we may try to make ourselves part author of our misfortune rather than simply the recipient of it.

From a child's point of view, there is rarely a great time for parents to separate, even if there has been a lot of commotion and fighting.