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.

'Snow White' is an old fairy tale so obviously the idea of vanity and obsession with youth is long-standing. With today's science people have become crazy with trying to move their face around. It's bizarre.

I'm a hopeless romantic and I believe that you can find love in many different places and be very conflicted. I've discovered as I've grown up that life is far more complicated than you think it is when you're a kid. It isn't just a straightforward fairytale.

I loved fairy tales when I was a kid. Grimm. The grimmer the better. I loved gruesome gothic tales and in that respect I liked Bible stories because to me they were very gothic.

My relationship with Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm reaches far back into my childhood. I grew up with Grimm's fairy tales. I even saw a theater production of 'Tom Thumb' during Advent at the State Theater in Danzig which my mother took me to see.

Obsessed by a fairy tale we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace.

I love all the old classic Disney movies. 'Pinocchio.' There are obviously tons of them that anybody growing up on that stuff takes with them their whole lives and I'm an admirer of a lot of classic animation and fairy tales. I grew up on a book of Grimm's fairy tales that I kind of wore out again and again. That's all stuff that lingers with you.

My joking answer to this question is that I leave a bowl of milk out on the back porch every night for the Idea Fairy. In the morning the milk is gone and there's a brand-new shiny idea by the bowl.

My first marriage was very traditional in the church and then we left the church and went to the reception hall. So this time I'd like to go fairy tale all the way.

Fairy tales opened up a door into my imagination - they don't conform to the reality that's around you as a child. I started reading when I was three and read everything but I wanted to be an actress.

I'm a firm believer that lighting affects mood and twinkly lights on strings bring something magical to occasions ranging from concerts to weddings though I'm fond of using them as year-round home decor. There's a reason why they're sometimes called fairy lights. When the night is right there aren't any strings at all.

Fancy the happiness of Pinocchio on finding himself free! Without saying yes or no he fled from the city and set out on the road that was to take him back to the house of the lovely Fairy.

Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.

If you can see the magic in a fairytale you can face the future.

If you see the magic in a fairy tale you can face the future.

I am your fairy tale. Your dream. Your wishes and desires and I am your thirst and your hunger and your food and your drink.

As a shy kid growing up in Sheffield I fantasized about how it would be great to be famous so I wouldn't actually have to talk to people and feel awkward. And of course as we all know from fairy stories when you achieve that ambition you find out you don't want it.

I think dreams can come true but not necessarily like fairy-tales. It's not always so perfect like that.

All I know is that I've ruled out wearing fairy wings. When I was nine I wanted to get married in fairy wings and now I realize that's not cool anymore.

There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

I think at a child's birth if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift that gift should be curiosity.