How posh are you? Do you have a therapist? What would you say to Trump at a party? Marina Hyde answers readers’ questions
We asked you what you most wanted to put to our Guardian columnist. You responded in droves, querying her ‘beef’ with Burnham, who she thinks is this generation’s Hugh Grant, and what she really thinks about Richard Osman ...
What are your bunker plans?
James, Portugal
Masses of things to read, incredible food and an unethical doctor with an insane war chest of interesting pills. The second that bunker door closes, the doors of perception are opening.
Will Restore gain more traction by the next election and genuinely split the rightwing vote?
Natasha, London
They won’t split it in some 50‑50 way, but they could peel off a bit more from Reform’s right flank. Nigel Farage is looking vulnerable. In the Woody Allen film Deconstructing Harry, Robin Williams plays an actor who literally goes out of focus. Having once been sharp and clear, his nervous system is so shot that he becomes a physically blurred and imprecise distortion of himself. Metaphorically, something similar has happened to Farage in recent months.
Who do you think is this generation’s young Hugh Grant (ie witty, funny, sexy, intelligent and gorgeous)?
Anna, New Zealand
It’s being done as a job share between Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer.
Are the men of the manosphere right about anything?
Kate, London
I saw Clavicular say, “My life is a horror story”, which feels about right.
I have noticed a more serious tone in your columns this year. In light of recent events, here and abroad, are you finding it increasingly difficult to maintain your humorous disposition?
Tim, London
No. I’m sorry, I must have been tired when I wrote those ones. It’s always more effort to be funny than serious.
If you met Andrew Tate, Elon Musk and Donald Trump at a hideous dinner party, how would you greet and say goodbye to each of them?
Becky, Bristol
“You must try the beef bourguignon. I hear our hostess foraged the mushrooms herself.”
What would you have said to Margaret Thatcher’s face if you’d had a whole two minutes alone with her?
Eamon, Ireland
So much is known and has been written about her that new lines of inquiry can feel hard to come by. But I would have liked to find a way of getting her to reveal how she felt about being the object of so many men’s crushes. Both those who worked around her and what Norma Desmond called “all those wonderful people out there in the dark”. She knew, of course, and would most certainly have had Inner Thoughts about the phenomenon. However, I have to say, it would be quite difficult to build the rapport required to get them out of her in two minutes
Why are journalists failing to make the case to the public that rightwingers such as Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and Stephen Yaxley‑Lennon are dishonest, self‑serving and not terribly bright?
Alexis, Kent
I really don’t think the vast majority of people pay the slightest direct attention to journalists at all. There are still some heavily invested continuity Corbynites out there who will imply that two or three critical columns I wrote about their absolute boy had something to do with him losing his second general election on the bounce in 2019. To which my reply would be: “Yes, dear, I’m sure they talked of little else but my columns on the doorsteps of the ‘red wall’. Yet, if we were to humour your notion that the whimsical musings of some silly cow in London make one nanoparticle of difference, how come I wrote 937 critical articles about Boris Johnson and he still won a landslide?” On the rightwingers front, however, I would point out that it is journalists and not anyone else who have been exposing, for example, Farage, Tice and Yaxley‑Lennon’s financial arrangements, and I’m very grateful to them for their work.
The citations in your columns have taken me down some scurrilous rabbit holes I would not otherwise have encountered. How much of your research is spent in corners of the web you would rather not be? And do you have a therapist?!
Ian, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
Hahahahaha. Someone once told me they found out about edging videos from something I wrote about Theresa May’s endlessly inconclusive Brexit votes in the Commons. I can only apologise. Personally, I love the fact that I can spend my days wading through the more recherche bits of contemporary culture, and if anyone sees me, just say, “It’s for my WORK????” As far as the last part of the question goes, I don’t have a therapist. It’s so unfashionable, of course, but I have to say I’m a big, big believer in pushing it all down. I know, I know – I consistently note people’s looks of distaste when I tell them that. But I’m just putting the counterpoint out there.
Your articles usually speak to power. Have you ever felt fear of the potential consequences?
Chris, near Brighton, East Sussex
The most credible politically motivated threats I have faced have been from the far right and the far left – and always from supporters rather than any publicly known figures. But – so far! – I’ve always found the bigger danger to be lone men who develop obsessions of one kind or another.
Do you work on resilience?
Mary, Dublin
Not particularly consciously. But I valorise it. The older I get, the more I see that it is an endlessly useful kind of freedom. But that’s easy for me to say, because I’m so lucky. The resilience it takes to be, say, a woman in Afghanistan or a little girl in Congo is quite simply utterly inconceivable to me. I basically think that everything I have, and everything that I have achieved, is overwhelmingly the result of luck and good fortune, and not remotely to do with any kind of exceptionalist skill.
If you had to spend a month on a desert island with a group of footballers, politicians or celebs, which would you choose and why?
Charlie, Switzerland
Hot footballers, let’s face it.
Will Andy Burnham’s plan for a No 10 North in Manchester be a stroke of genius or his undoing?
Patrick, LaSalle, Canada
Neither (the most versatile answer in politics).
Clearly, politicians are worse than useless. Who would you pick as prime minister?
Eric, Newton Abbot, Devon
JK Rowling.
What’s always off-limits to critique? And what would feel important enough to make you reconsider your own boundaries?
Josh, Palm Springs, US
In general, I think everything can and should be written about, as long as you get the right tone. Anything involving children is always what I’d be most cautious about.
Do you have a writing routine?
Michael, Gijón, Spain
I try to be at my desk at 5am, because I’m definitely a lark. Something that takes me five minutes at 5am will take me an hour at 5pm. So the morning is definitely my best writing time. As far as column-writing goes, I tend never to start with the first sentence. I just put a few things down in a Word document and move them all round till some kind of column starts to stagger out of the primordial soup. I mostly don’t know what I think until I’ve gone through the act of writing about it, so the conclusion can often be as much of a surprise to me as to anyone kind enough to read it.
Which ludicrous situation involving a UK PM has made you laugh the most during your career?
Richard, NSW, Australia
Tony Blair having someone at the Foreign Office during the Iraq war whose official, ask-at-reception job title was “head of story development”. That was quite a mirthless laugh, obviously. David Cameron? Either leaving his daughter in the pub during a “troubled families” initiative week, or the shagging-the-pig’s-head thing. Theresa May calling a general election and the exit poll coming out at 10pm showing she’d lost her majority. Boris Johnson hiding from the media in a big fridge. Liz Truss spending her entire career wanging on about the infallibility of free markets, then getting her arse handed to her by them in about 10 minutes. Rishi Sunak calling the election in the driving rain, and then not realising that binning off Normandy D-day celebrations for a media interview would play badly. Keir Starmer calling for the return of the Gaza sausages. Andy Burnham: TBC, but it’s coming, I assure you.
The 1970s was a time of revolution, with so many groups up in arms. I sensed the same energy at June’s Dublin Dyke March: outrage, we’ve had enough … Do you think young people today have revolutionary energy?
Ger, Dublin
Not at all, I have to say. I think as long as people have smartphones in their hands, they will be too narcotised to rebel. There’s a kind of dropout energy in a lot of young people, which is as completely understandable as it is completely sad. I really feel for them.
What is your favourite meal?
Douglas, Germany
Honestly, my next one. At home, I make a huge amount of schnitzel in all kinds of ways. And multiple types of apple pie. Very pleased (and culinarily jealous) to be giving this answer to someone based in Germany.
Celebrity culture and AI promise a world where some people are valued and others deemed worthless. What human qualities do you most value?
Sean, Swinford, County Mayo
Compassion, tolerance, wisdom, kindness, bravery, strength of character. And GSOH.
Across your articles and podcasts, I note you consume a huge amount of news and media. How on earth do you find the time? And do you have to take comprehensive notes in case you need to make connections between people or events at a later date?
Simon, Windsor, Berkshire
I love the idea of notes, but, no – I have never taken any! Maybe I need to get Stacey Solomon to do an episode of Sort Your Life Out in my memory palace. The truth is my brain just works quite associatively, so something in politics will always remind me of something in sport or music, and it often ends up feeling more illuminating to me that way.
I’m intrigued by your somewhat startling animus towards Andy Burnham. What is driving this?
Ricardo, Carshalton, south London
Listen, I’ve been hurt before. Meet you back here in two years?
How posh are you?
Rob, New Zealand
I guess I can hold my own.
What’s the worst thing about working with Richard Osman on The Rest Is Entertainment?
Katie, Dublin
He’s funnier than me. Also, he only pretends to support Fulham. That second one might not be true – I just wanted to say something in a public forum that would incense him but where he wouldn’t be present to reply. (Try writing to the letters page, Richard – see how you get on.)
Are you still on X? If so, why?
Caroline, Switzerland
Yes, I am. I don’t use it much at all as I find social media a massive time‑suck. I hear Bluesky is truly ghastly, but have never visited.
What’s your favourite Brooklyn Beckham career?
Martin, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset
2042 chairman of the Federal Reserve.
You often draw equivalence between Labour and the Tories: “They’re all as bad as each other.” Do you ever worry that you’re contributing to an anti‑political climate that is one of the factors rendering Britain ungovernable?
Shaun, Punta del Este, Uruguay
I hope I’ve never used that phrase, Shaun. However, when any side falls short of the standards we should expect in public life, it massively undermines trust in all politicians. That’s happened a lot since the turn of the millennium. But I don’t think Britain is ungovernable, and I fundamentally believe that politics is still the best way we have of making people’s lives better.
Will art save us?
Steven, London
Unclear. Still, what a way to go.
What usually drags you out of bed in the morning?
Peter, Perth
Insomnia’s pretty helpful. But I’ve usually got lots to do and I love a new day.
Does anyone care if Prince Harry is in or out? Are the people ahead of the papers on this one?
Paul, London
I definitely think stories about him and Meghan do a lot of traffic, which is why he gets written about so much. I think a lot of people claim they’re not at all interested and yet still read huge amounts about him. I’m like this about The Rock’s multiple business ventures. Could not care less about them; have read 23 articles this week about them.
What makes you feel hopeful and optimistic?
Pauline, Bristol
Love, human ingenuity and listening to pop music.
What’s your favourite word in the English language?
Rick, Manchester
Cocktailhour.
• What a Time to Be Alive! Scenes from a Strange Age by Marina Hyde will be published by Guardian Faber at £20 on 24 September. To support the Guardian, order your copy for £15 at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.