Do please bear in mind that a lot of us (I'm 23) who didn't grow up with the originals watched them because we have parents who did. If I'd ever expressed anything other than appropriate disgust and disdain for the prequels, I would have been disowned before I hit secondary school.

Easy to say. I was about to graduate and needed a job, and it was the only interview I'd got.

I think the idea of a low-budget Tempest is fantastic. I'd love to see what he'd do with it.

Agreed, on all counts!

If you want to, start with her Tortall books - the Alanna quartet to start, and go from there. You can definitely get into them as an adult, but you need to read them in order and stick with it! Much like Harry Potter, the earlier series are much more childlike in length, plot and tone - not bad, but a little more…

Garth Nix's Abhorsen series. It probably wouldn't work because the Dead things would be too scary to get a PG rating if done right. The scene in Sabriel where she's chased to Abhorsen's House by the Mordicant terrified me when I was younger. They're absolutely wonderful novels, though, and I'd love to see the Old…

I haven't written ff in years, but back in the day I did a lot of Harry Potter oneshots (usually a scene/something that was mentioned in the books, but from the point of view of a different character), a Tom Riddle origin fic (this was before HBP came out, obviously! It was embarrassingly emo), a couple of long…

Thanks! It's going well so far - after that interview I was pleasantly surprised to find that well over half the trainees are women!

I don't want to say specifically because I ended up accepting a contract with them (I know that seems crazy but it was right in the middle of the recession and it was my only offer - beggars can't be choosers! At least that partner retired before I started). It's the UK office of one of the white shoe US law firms.

Good old government leave! My mum learnt her lesson with me - for my sister, she took a two year secondment to the Civil Service just as she started trying to get pregnant and made use of it herself. (whilst still on her crazy bank salary). Talk about playing the system.

I do think there's something in this. 9-12 months is a really, really long time in some industries - the financial sector, for one. Also if a lot of what you do involves client facing work, taking a lot of time off can mean you have far less business to come back to. There are ways to manage it, of course - some…

My mum was an investment banker back in the 80's when there weren't many women doing it (she was very high up too, I think by the time she had me she was a VC) and she was so scared they'd freeze her out she didn't take any maternity leave at all. AT ALL. She had me on the Friday and was back at work on Monday, using…

"Sticks and stones" is one of the biggest lies ever told.

Mark, I will echo what has already been said - you ARE a delight, and you became my favourite Jezebel writer with the same rapidity that that damned Rosebud article was burned into my brain forevermore.

I think Pamela was probably well out of it!

Samantha Morton definitely has the acting chops but I see her more as Nancy just because I think Unity always seemed very young looking.

Rosamund Pike is a good Diana! And Deborah needs to be sedate and seem sweet, but with a bitchy edge (she's the one who came up with the nickname "Cake" for the Queen Mother! Amazingly, she and the Queen are really good friends...) I'd say someone like Hayley Atwell in Mansfield Park? That sort of vibe...

I LOVE THE MITFORDS. I mean, in the way one loves a disaster film or watching a gif of someone running into a glass door. They're the definition of dysfunctional. They make the Kardashions look normal and sedate.

I have tickets to see him in Hamlet in exactly 364 days. Third row.

I really want them to come back in for formal wear. I always coveted the peach silk cape Jane Bennett wears arriving at the Netherfield Ball in the BBC Pride & Prejudice (such an obscure and momentary reference that I can't find a picture!). I think capes look gorgeous with dresses.