Some fresh thinking on constitutional reform (from the 17th Century):

“If the very existence of arbitrary powers take away freedom, because they take away consent to power, then the first thing you have to do is to abolish abritrary powers, which have not been consented to at least by the represented will, at least by election.

“So the monarchy has to go straight away. The House of Lords has to go straight away. All ministerial discretion with respect to statute has to go, straight away. Furthermore your most fundamental rights must be enshrined beyond the powers even of the sovereign and elected legislature. So there must be a written constitution as well. So there you have four features of a constitutional revolution, which were proposed at the time of the regicide and the establishment of the English Republic, none of which four features have we yet managed to establish.”

On beauty:

“Who does the beauty industry benefit, other than the beauty industry? It sells products that don’t really work to people who don’t really need them at prices they can’t really afford - and it does this by making them hate the present and fear the future.”

And some handy tips for aspiring bloggers:

“Your blog can get you fired, remember. If you are going to have a Bebo or Hi5 page that is accessible to the public, then the best bet is apparently to project the image of a smiley, outgoing, success-driven, active, sporting, party-hard, go-getting sort of narcissistic dimwit: a miniature celebrity, with friends apparently growing out of every crevice. Employers love that shit.”