Vally asks:

You seem to be getting ill a lot. Are you eating properly?

Thanks for your concern, Vally. I’m eating as well as I can, taking multivitamin tablets daily and drinking fruit juice. I’m also trying to cut down my sugar intake and get a little more exercise. Hopefully this regime will help me to fight off future illnesses better.

A seasonal question from jez b:

I have to spend up to £5.00 for a company ‘secret santa’ thingy.

The subject is male, approx 40 yrs and is head of sales for a media company.

Any ideas / recommendations?

If I were you I’d have a look at iwantoneofthose.com or gadgets.co.uk, both of which have plenty of items for under a fiver. If you can’t find something suitable there I’ll be quite surprised.

An interesting one, this. Darth Vader asks:

Where is the rebel base?

Yavin IV. See? All that nonsense about tracking people down and torturing them was completely unnecessary. All you had to do was ask me.

If you have a question, on any subject whatsoever, why not Ask Nick? Answers will range from completely serious to utterly frivolous, depending on the nature of the question.

A question from Mike Henden:

i am an old git, so be gentle, can you tell me what ‘skype’ is and is it better than msn? how do i get it? down load it. i am on windows vista…………yeh i know hahaha . thanks nick

Skype is a piece of software that, as well as providing text-based chat, also allows users to talk to each other and, if they have webcams, see each other too. If both users have Skype installed, then the service is free. You can also use Skype to call ordinary telephones for a small charge and you can also have a phone number associated with Skype, that other people can call just as if it was a regular landline, but with the added bonus that you can take the number with you anywhere. I use Skype to provide me with a number in this way. Most mobile devices these days can run Skype, too.

In my opinion, Skype is way better than MSN. Try it for yourself and I think you’ll agree.

You can download Skype by visiting this page. Just follow the instructions to set up a free account.

And now a question from my mother:

It’s cold out. Are you wearing your thermal vest and balaclava? If not, why not?

Not much research needed for this one. I’m not wearing a thermal vest per se, but I am wearing plenty of layers and wrapping up nice and warm. I don’t own a balaclava but I’m seriously tempted to get one, if only to frighten little old ladies (such as yourself) with.

The honour of the first question goes to Marcus parkus, who asks the following:

‘All personal identity is tenuous shaky ephemeral. We are the universe pretending to be a person’ deepak chopra.

True?

Well, Marcus, my own view is that the universe is in no way sentient and that, until good solid scientific evidence to the contrary becomes available, we really are the individuals we appear to be. Hard-headed and unromantic, I’m afraid, but there it is. But thank you for your question.

I’ve decided to launch a new feature that I’m calling ‘Ask Nick’. Essentially, if you have a question about anything at all, ask me, I’ll do the research and then provide my answer. It’s much better than Googling your question or posting it somewhere like Ask Metafilter, because instead of getting a confusing array of conflicting answers you’ll just get a nice, simple, clear answer from me.

Please be aware that I don’t pretend to be an expert on anything and I can’t guarantee to answer your particular question. This is just a piece of fun. I am not your lawyer, doctor, or whatever.

That being said, if you do have a question, whether serious or completely frivolous, do fill in the form below and let me attempt to help you.

Update: Form removed due to spam. Sorry.