Media Diet: Tom Hodgkinson

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Saturday morning kids' TV, mostly. I only watch the news when I can be bothered to, which isn't often. I believe that it's a mistake always to attempt to be "caught up." Topical news isn't trivial, necessarily, but it is ephemeral, and I'd prefer to spend my time contemplating truly important matters -- the fundamental questions of life.

Which author has had the greatest influence on you?

Dr. Samuel Johnson, naturally, because he, too, was a chronic procrastinator -- which is comforting. If you read his journals, when he's 30 he's writing angry notes to himself: "I resolve henceforward to get up at 8 every morning, instead of at noon, and to read a portion of the Scriptures every day." He's writing precisely the same things at 70; he never kept any of his resolutions. But he did manage to write an entire dictionary! His series of essays called The Idler was the inspiration for our magazine. I also like his work style: Johnson thought an idler was like a heavy rock, which, once actually pushed into motion, could then get going at a tremendous pace. I want to live exactly as he did, but without all the guilt.

Is there a film you'd like everyone to see?

Withnail and I is a hilarious account of two druggy unemployed actors spending a weekend in the country. It's a central text for the modern British idler. Even in their degeneracy and seeming inactivity, the film's characters aren't wasting their time: They're thinking a lot, talking, developing their ideas. Not working can be very productive.

Is there a book you'd like everyone to read?

The Right to Be Lazy, by Paul Lafargue. Lafargue was Karl Marx's son-in-law, and a great anti-work theorist. He campaigned in 19th-century France for a shorter working day. Marx was a bit appalled by him because his own philosophy had work very much at its center, whereas Lafargue believed that we've been infected by a masochistic lust for work, which isn't really necessary.

In important matters, whose opinion do you trust?

Charles Handy, the management guru. He promotes less work and more fun, too, only he does it to businessmen! I trust Gavin and Matthew, with whom I work on The Idler. Most of my friends.

What current trends in the media most trouble you?

Celebrity obsession, because it relieves people from having to think. Magazines that take four months to pay their writers! But especially the overriding emphasis on insanely active lifestyles: going to the gym, bungee jumping, skydiving, that sort of thing.

What are the sources of your best ideas?

Staring out the window, riding the train, doing the washing up, walking through the city, being under the effects of Ecstasy, talking to friends while drunk.

Where are your most creative spaces?

My head and my bed.

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