The normblog profile 33: Tim Blair

Tim Blair was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1965. The eldest child of a pilot and a nurse, he began working in the media in 1988. In 1994 he moved to Sydney to join the local edition of Time magazine. He writes a weekly column for The Bulletin, and is a frequent visitor to the United States. He once fractured his right arm in a pizza-eating incident. Tim blogs at Tim Blair.

Why do you blog? > Because I don't own a publishing company or television station.

What has been your best blogging experience? > All the information and tips supplied by readers. The range of specialist knowledge among blog readers is incredible; once you reach a certain level of readership, you get access to so much of it.

What has been your worst blogging experience? > Bali.

What would be your main blogging advice to a novice blogger? > Edit. Keep extracts brief and rambling minimal. Support whatever point you're making with lots of links. Expect criticism.

Who are your intellectual heroes? > Intellectuals shouldn't be encouraged with any reckless 'hero' talk.

What are you reading at the moment? > Recently: Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris; Airstream: The History of the Land Yacht, by Bryan Burkhart; Prince of Merchants, by Pamela Warrender.

What is your favourite song? > 'Korean Bodega' by the Fun Lovin' Criminals. It's pro-market rap: 'Giving love to the peoples, many hours, many days'.

Can you name a major moral, political or intellectual issue on which you've ever changed your mind? > Most all of them.

What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat? > 'We're poor; it's their fault.' That's a chapter heading from Guide To The Perfect Latin American Idiot, one of the best books of the last ten years.

Who are your political heroes? > Theodore Roosevelt, Margaret Thatcher and Silvio Berlusconi - mainly for his suits.

If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be? > Abolish public broadcasting and deregulate the media.

What would you do with the UN? > Stand back and allow it to continue self-destructing.

What do you consider to be the main threat to the future peace and security of the world? > Militant fundamentalism of some form... I think it involves a particular religion, but for the life of me I can't remember which one. I'll get back to you.

What would be your most important piece of advice about life? > If you ever find yourself agreeing to attend a jazz, folk or blues festival, especially one held outdoors, commit suicide.

Do you think you could ever be married to, or in a long-term relationship with, someone with radically different political views from your own? > Theoretically, yes, but all the babes are on the right, so why bother with any commie chicks?

In what circumstances would you be willing to lie? > Only if there was a chance it could make a little orphan girl sad.

What, if anything, do you worry about? > I worry about the effects of genetically-modified food on the minds of anti-GM activists.

If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything you'd do differently? > I wouldn't attempt, as I did when I was nine, to munch pizza while playing on a slide. Slides require great concentration. Fractured my arm like crazy.

Where would you most like to live (other than where you do)? > I'm Australian.

What do you like doing in your spare time? > Long-distance driving. It's an underrated therapeutic method. Shrinks should be allowed to prescribe interstate maps and fast cars.

What is your most treasured possession? > Lots of old family junk - photographs, news clippings, and the like. Plus my autographed picture of John Wayne Gacy. Seriously.

If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to? > I'd just add a silent 'b'.

What talent would you most like to have? > I'm an okay shot, but an uncle of mine once won the Queen's Prize for range shooting. He can take out an eye from a kilometre away. Which is a really useful skill if you don't like the two-eyed.

Who is your favourite comedian or humorist? > I enjoy the comic dreamscapes of media parodist Margo Kingston.

Who are your sporting heroes? > Doug Walters, A.J. Foyt, Peter Daicos, Jim Clark.

If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner who would they be? > Colonel Sanders, Ray Kroc, and Dave Thomas. I'd serve sashimi.

[The normblog profile is a weekly Friday morning feature. A list of previous profiles, and the links to them, can be found here.]