Bob from Brockley is not called Bob and is not from Brockley. He joined the Labour Party at fifteen, before becoming an anarcho-Marxist by the end of his teens. Since then, he has been on a long journey back. He lives and works in South London and blogs at BobFromBrockley.
Why do you blog? > To contribute (albeit in a pathetically tiny way) to a resurgence of sensible radical politics. And because I have an obsessive-compulsive personality.
What has been your best blogging experience? > Probably, I'm ashamed to say, being asked to do a normblog profile.
What has been your worst blogging experience? > Walking past an internet café on the way to the beach on a beautiful hot day while on holiday once, and having to wrestle with the pull of addiction.
Who are your intellectual heroes? > Hannah Arendt, C.L.R. James, E.P. Thompson, Richard Sennett, Walter Benjamin, W.E.B. DuBois.
What are you reading at the moment? > Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon and No Retreat: The Secret War Between Britain's Anti-Fascists and the Far Right by Dave Hann and Steve Tilzey.
Who are your cultural heroes? > Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Frida Kahlo, Nina Simone, Curtis Mayfield, Claudia Roden.
What is the best novel you've ever read? > Either Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses or Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion.
What is your favourite poem? > I don't have one, but if I did it would be by either Erich Fried or Kenneth Patchen.
What is your favourite song? > Bob Dylan's 'To Ramona'.
Can you name a major moral, political or intellectual issue on which you've ever changed your mind? > I have changed my mind on most issues, at least once. And not just to prove I have one.
What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat? > The literal truth of the Koran.
Can you name a work of non-fiction which has had a major and lasting influence on how you think about the world? > The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, as the first work by Marx I ever really reckoned with, has provided me with the basic topographic features by which I have navigated my political life
Who are your political heroes? > George Orwell, Victor Serge, Rosa Luxemburg, Nancy MacDonald, Irving Howe.
What is your favourite piece of political wisdom? > 'The emancipation of the working class is the task of the working class itself.'
If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be? > An end to the idea of 'choice' in services like schools and hospitals - we just need our local schools and hospitals to be half-decent.
If you could choose anyone, from any walk of life, to be Prime Minister, who would you choose? > Ian Bone.
What would be your most important piece of advice about life? > When the stone falls on the pot, the pot breaks. When the pot falls on the stone, the pot breaks. It's always the pot that breaks. (I think that's from the Talmud.)
What do you consider the most important personal quality? > An understanding heart.
What personal fault do you most dislike? > Talking without listening.
Do you have any prejudices you're willing to acknowledge? > Er, against people that drive 4x4s, parents that have three-wheeled buggies, people that talk too loudly on mobile phones in public spaces, people that talk too loudly in general, people who live in Dulwich or Clapham or anywhere in North London, people that went to posh schools, people who went to Oxford or Cambridge... That's just for starters; I've got lots more. But I overcome my prejudice quickly when I actually meet people, honest.
What is your favourite proverb? > 'It's either feast or famine.'
What commonly enjoyed activities do you regard as a waste of time? > Golf, meditation, Formula 1, psychology.
What, if anything, do you worry about? > There are few things I don't worry about.
If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything you'd do differently? > Take more drugs, travel more widely, say no to colleagues more.
Where would you most like to live (other than where you do)? > Seville.
If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to? > Bob.
What talent would you most like to have? > To be able to come up with a good plot for the best-selling detective novel I know I could write if only I could come up with a good plot.
What would be your ideal choice of alternative profession or job? > Restaurant reviewer.
Which English Premiership football team do you support? > Millwall.
[The normblog profile is a weekly Friday morning feature. A list of all the profiles to date, and the links to them, can be found here.]