Do we believe that there is equal economic opportunity out there in the real world right now for each and every one of these groups? If we believed in the tooth fairy if we believed in the Easter Bunny we might well believe that.

What I'm not saying is that all government spending is bad. It's not - far far from it but there is no free lunch as a former colleague of mine used to say. There is no public tooth fairy. Father Christmas does not work on the Treasury staff this year. You can never bail someone out of trouble without putting someone else into trouble.

Brits and Americans have hundreds of different phrases for the same thing. Luckily it's usually a source of amusement rather than frustration. A flashlight by any other name is still a torch. My personal favourite is 'fairy lights ' which we boringly refer to as 'Christmas lights.'

This is a work of fiction. All the characters in it human and otherwise are imaginary excepting only certain of the fairy folk whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof.

I like Cinderella I really do. She has a good work ethic. I appreciate a good hard-working gal. And she likes shoes. The fairy tale is all about the shoe at the end and I'm a big shoe girl.

I don't really care what people tell children - when you believe in Santa Claus the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy one more fib won't hurt. But I am infuriated by the growing notion posited in some touchy-feely quarters that all women are or can be beautiful.

Well the wedding in the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury was a fairy tale and there was a huge public impress investment of goodwill affection and indeed money in this Institution. It was a huge success at the time.

I'd imagine my wedding as a fairy tale... huge beautiful and white.

We may have forgotten how to feel. Nobody is teaching us how to live happily ever after as we've heard in fairy tales.

I understand why society especially American society is gravitating toward fairy tales given our economy. We've been exploring the world of witches and wizards for years. We've been exploring the world of vampires for years. Clearly the public - I mean I feel like all of this was ushered in by 'Harry Potter' - in my own fannish beliefs.