A Point of View: Clive James

As life is made easier by machines which do our thinking for us, will our intellect suffer, asks Clive James. Reflecting on the conundrum of living in a technologically advanced world, he asks whether it will eventually slow future advancement, as it erodes our brain power to build new technology.

Clive James enjoys the wisdom of former Wimbledon tennis champions whose insights as commentators, he says, double as a philosophy for life.

Marveling at the sight of children gliding in shoes with wheels fixed into the heels, Clive James reckons the secret of happiness is to think how much fun you would have had at the same age.

Clive James gives his personal reaction to Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull and considers its significance as a work of art. It might be worth £50m but it is never-the-less ‘art for all’. Why? Because it's glittering, hollow and perfectly brainless - so you can talk about it to anyone, just like you can Paris Hilton.

There are lots of reasons to be cheerful about the world - many the result of human creativity, says Clive James. It is important to remember not to be miserable, he says, celebrate the good things in life and show others – especially the young – that life really is worth living.

The thing with hoaxes is that they work – and that’s a good reason for not liking them, says Clive James. Although he has himself performed his own convincing hoax in the past, as have writers Virginia Woolf and Evelyn Waugh, Clive says there is a streak of self-congratulation in every hoaxer which he finds hard to admire.

Do television dramas like the hit American series 24 encourage the use of torture in the fight against terrorism, asks Clive James.

Are we in danger of placing an extra burden on the shoulders of outstandingly successful young, black people to be representatives for their race, asks Clive James.

Clive James criticises the high spending planned for the London 2012 Olympics. It would be much better, he argues, to think in terms of television coverage and forget all the expensive new buildings.

The publicity surrounding the wedding of actress Elizabeth Hurley is the focus of Clive James' attention as he takes a wry look at the world of the paparazzi. Their antics may be justified when their quarry welcomes the attention, but the hounding of others in the public eye is a different matter altogether, he says.

As Helen Mirren carries off her Oscar for sounding like the Queen, Clive James comments on the way we speak English today. Regional accents on radio and television reflect and reinforce the breach of the class divide but a new noisy voice is less easy on the ear.

From Bruce Lee to Jean-Claude Van Damme to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Clive James reflects on the martial arts movie, and says meaningless violence is still meaningless no matter how you dress it up.

Clive James rails against changes to the names of things we rely on - such as railways and the Royal Mail - as a type of costly and annoying ‘fidgeting’. He points to other disturbing developments in what he sees as a growing misuse of language.

With a reported growth in cosmetic surgery, Clive James applauds the work of surgeons who repair the ravages of disease and damage to faces from accidents - but what drives people to go under the knife when they don't obviously need to alter their appearance?

Clive James reflects on man-made climate change from the standpoint of a sceptic, discussing the power of language to sway opinions when we have neither the time nor the talent to weigh the evidence for ourselves.