Michael Ezra lives in London. He is located less than three miles from Karl Marx's grave, one mile from where Friedrich Engels lived, but, most importantly, less than half a mile from Sigmund Freud's old house. He enjoys drinking green tea, playing bridge and sitting on the beach reading a book. Michael blogs at Harry's Place and tweets @michaelezra.
What has been your best blogging experience? > One of my blog posts leading to an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons.
What has been your worst blogging experience? > Some of the ad hominem attacks on me are quite nasty.
What would be your main blogging advice to a novice blogger? > Use your real name. It focuses the mind on accuracy and use of grammar.
What are your favourite blogs? > Letters of Note, PostSecret and Laurie Penny. (I also enjoy following @Queen_UK, @urbandaily and @JohnRentoul on Twitter.)
Who are your intellectual heroes? > Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Leszek Kołakowski and Robert Nozick.
What are you reading at the moment? > Errico Malatesta, At the Café: Conversations on Anarchism (Freedom Press, 2005).
What is the best novel you've ever read? > Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.
What is your favourite poem? > Robert Browning's 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin', as was recited to me by my mother.
What is your favourite movie? > My Fair Lady.
Who is your favourite composer? > Mozart.
What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to disseminate? > Rights-based libertarianism.
What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat? > There are so many. I shall say Chomskyism, Trotskyism, and all forms of totalitarianism.
Can you name a work of non-fiction which has had a major and lasting influence on how you think about the world? > Murray Rothbard's The Ethics of Liberty made me think about the meaning of the State, the relationship of the State to its citizens and the relationship of citizens to each other.
Who are your political heroes? > Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan and Tony Blair.
What is your favourite piece of political wisdom? > 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun' - Mao Zedong.
What would you do with the UN? > Abolish it.
What do you consider to be the main threat to the future peace and security of the world? > Western left-wing activists who would restrict western governments from acting to defend our way of life.
Do you think the world (human civilization) has already passed its best point, or is that yet to come? > I'm an optimist: the best is yet to come.
What do you consider the most important personal quality? > Integrity.
What personal fault do you most dislike? > Lack of integrity.
In what circumstances would you be willing to lie? > I am not a Kantian. I would lie to save someone's life.
Do you have any prejudices you're willing to acknowledge? > I have an aversion to Communists.
What commonly enjoyed activities do you regard as a waste of time? > Watching television and being a spectator at a sporting event.
If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything you'd do differently? > Yes.
What would you call your autobiography? > Left, Right, Left, Right: A Week in My Life.
Who would play you in the movie about your life? > Rowan Atkinson.
Where would you most like to live (other than where you do)? > A suite in Claridge's Hotel.
What is your most treasured possession? > A pair of cufflinks that I inherited from my father.
What talent would you most like to have? > To be able to play the piano.
What would be your ideal choice of alternative profession or job? > An academic.
If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner who would they be? > Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens and Norman Podhoretz.
[A list of all the normblog profiles to date, and the links to them, can be found here.]