CLIVE Pinder is the Conservative candidate for the Basing ward at the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council elections in May.

The 53-year-old was born and raised in West Africa and has worked in Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia and North America. He is married to wife Karrin, and they moved to Newnham in 2007.

Clive is a founder member of environmental action group SOLVE, chair of Newnham Parish Council and is also a fundraiser for the Ark Cancer Centre Charity.

1. Who was your childhood hero and why? Winnie The Pooh. Apparently a “Bear of Very Little Brain” who had a remarkable way of saying things that sounded simple yet were always very wise. “Supposing a tree fell down when you were underneath it?....Supposing it didn’t.”

2. What is your most precious possession and why is it important to you? Our home. No matter how much fun we are having elsewhere in the world, we always love coming home to Newnham.

3. What was the first record/CD you bought? Quadrophenia by The Who. Why is it that some of the most ground-breaking and creative work is produced by tortured souls?

4. What is the radio/television show you hate to miss? The great thing about digital technology is you don’t need to miss anything, anywhere in the world!

5. What is your favourite film? Shadowlands. “The pain now is part of the happiness then. That’s the deal.”

6. What is your pet hate? Litter. It signifies the increasing self-centred nature of humanity, and the lack of respect for the communities we all live in.

7. What are you reading at the moment? The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to Reinvent the State by Adrian Wooldridge and John Micklethwait. The thesis is that after dominating global affairs for 500 years, Western governments are now led by a disengaged political elite with bloated governments and public sectors. They argue the best way to rebuild successful democracies is a return to fully engaged governments supporting individual rights and a free market driven by collective responsibility – profit with a purpose other than just ‘getting rich’. I agree.

8. If you were choosing a last meal, what would it be? Chopped veal and foie gras hamburger, with a fried egg, pommes frites and mayonnaise (including a chip butty); followed by my father in laws chocolate cake; then cashel blue and comte cheese all washed down by a bottle of Daou Estate Soul of a Lion 2010.

9. If you could meet anyone from history, who would it be? Nelson Mandela. He, better than anyone in my lifetime, demonstrated the four Cs you need to succeed – Commitment, Courage, Compassion and Charisma.

10. If you had a time machine where would it take you? 2050. I’d like to see if ‘The Singularity’ as defined by Ray Kurzweil had arrived: ““The Singularity is an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly non-biological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today—the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity.”

11. If you were stranded on a desert island what luxury would you choose to have with you? My wife and all our friends at a never-ending, always flowing lunch party.

12. What sports team do you support? Chelsea. My grandparents lived in Tottenham so my Mum supported The Gooners. Inheriting her contrarian nature I had to choose another London team. Chelsea had just won the FA Cup.

13. What was your first job? Learning to sleep standing up during my time as a night shift cleaner at Gatwick Airport.

14. If you could take over someone’s job for the day, whose job would you choose? The Prime Minister's. I’d kick out all the people who have been found guilty of a crime but can’t be deported because of the EU Human Rights Act, then I’d ban Prime Ministers Question Time and replace it with a weekly Question Time hosted by David Dimbleby, that all main parties with more than five MPs had to be represented at. Finally I’d create a Freephone Litter number that anyone could call to report the number plate of any vehicle that threw rubbish out of the window. That would be a good days work.

15. What worries you the most? The widening gap between politicians and the people they represent, between the super-rich and the very poor, between those with hope and those with very little. That the political establishment and the machines of government around the world have lost the respect and trust of the people they serve.

16. What is your proudest moment? I hope it is yet to come.

17. What would you like your epitaph to be? I can’t believe I’m reading this….I would have been ‘uploaded’ to an intelligent machine as a consequence of The Singularity….see 9 above.

18. What’s your guilty pleasure? Great wine.

19. What one thing could change society for the better? That our political elite realise that leadership is about taking people with you, not expecting them to follow.


20. What three words best describe you? Independent, principled, epicurean.