Mmm, you remind me of Wild, Wild West that's unfortunate. I must admit, for a control-fiend such as myself, it's sometimes difficult to comprehend a world where at the flick of a switch something that worked perfectly well one moment, malfunctions and maybe blows your head off the next. I like things to be systematic and functionable, but at the same time, the delirium of cogs and wheels, endless possibilities, appeals to my creative-writer side.

You're right in the sense that once we've moved forward, there's no going back - but how about sideways? That's how I look at steampunk. I love the way certain elements can be grouped together that would never, in a linear world, make the grade in the same universe. Dinosaurs in the London zoo!

A future in the style of Gits - it's not so fantastical to imagine. Forget the mecha of Michael Bay films, too flashy and dramatic - it's already gradually creeping up on us, I mean, warfare is fought in the main via computers; robots perform more and more of our surgery. There's not a day goes by that the intelligence doesn't grow broader and higher. It's when it begins to submerge who and what we are, that we've got to - now, I sound like Mister Bellamy himself.

Speaking of whom - what think you of the Kate Hudson-dating news?