In this week's interview we talk to Gavin Robinson (36), DUP MP for Belfast East. Gavin lives in Dundonald with his wife Lindsay (37) and seven-year-old son Reuben.
Q Tell us about your childhood.
A I have lived in east Belfast all my life. I like to think of myself as being east Belfast born, bred, buttered and battered. I grew up in the Stormont area and my mum and dad, John and Claire, still live there. My dad is a bank manager and my mum was a bank clerk.
My mum was a great golfer in her day, she was a Curtis Cup winner and represented Ireland in various tournaments. So golf was a big part of childhood where I was having to drag a trolley around for her and pretend to be a caddy.
I have a brother called Andrew who is a plastic surgeon, and a sister called Rebecca who works for Cool FM in marketing.
Although it has never been diagnosed, my brother and sister often point out the symptoms of middle child syndrome.
Q What are you most proud of?
A My son Reuben. He's seven now. Just watching his personality, watching him grow, watching him develop and become the wee man that he is; is something that I look at proudly. He's a great fella.
A I try not to think of regrets or live life through regrets, but I try to make the commitment that I should make every day better than the last.
Q What about phobias. Do you have any?
A Not many. I guess I am the chief spider catcher in the house! Nobody else seems to like dealing with those. I am not too keen on rats and there are plenty of rats in Westminster, and I do mean that literally rather than metaphorically. Rats and mice, there are plenty of them running around, the building is close to the river and so on.
Q The temptation you cannot resist?
A Peanut butter on toast.
Q Your number one prized possession?
A I tend to think I don't have many prized possessions but if you were to ask my wife Lindsay, she would say it's my phone, which is rarely from my hand. I don't see it as a prize possession, but I think Lindsay would say that.
Q The book that's most impacted your life?
A The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, firstly because I'd like to choose an east Belfast author for you in CS Lewis, who because of his magical story teaches us about faith and about what is right and wrong.
But also, I just love the idea that CS Lewis started out writing that book as a story for his eight-year-old godchild.
By the time he had finished it, he sent it to her and said: 'I know you will be too old for fairytales but I hope you'll get a greater appreciation of this book and the messages within it and enjoy sharing it with your children'.
Q If you had the power or authority, what would you do?
A I think at the immediate moment in time, it would be to get rid of Covid and release people from this never-ending purgatory that we all find ourselves in. I recognise that the restrictions that we have to live with to protect ourselves have many consequences for us all, so if I had the power and authority, I would get rid of Covid. The power to bring forward the vaccine and give people the freedom that they so much crave, and the family time and connections again, I think that would be the one thing I would deliver.
Q What makes your blood boil every time without fail?
A Dog poo! It never ceases to amaze me and I know it riles people, it riles me when it gets mentioned - and I know we have some disc jockeys in Northern Ireland who don't allow you to mention it - but it seems such a simple thing.
It generates a lot of constituency enquiries and really annoys me. It would be far better if people just did what they were supposed to do.
Q Who has most influenced you in life?
A I have had quite a number of mentors through different phases of work.
I have had some incredibly helpful and supportive folks in the legal sphere when I was a barrister, and some incredibly helpful and supportive colleagues within politics, but I think I have to bring it back to my granny and my grandma, both of whom are dead now.
They were incredibly different people but both instilled values in me that I hold dear today. Both lived in Belfast.
My granny Annie, who died at the start of lockdown, was from Downpatrick originally. My grandma Tribly, who died in 2009, was from Belfast.
Q Your top three dinner party guests, dead or alive, and why?
A Clarissa Dickson Wright, who was one of the Two Fat Ladies. She wrote an incredible autobiography called Spilling the Beans.
She declares in the book she is the only person to have suffered from quinine poisoning from drinking too much tonic with G&T. I think she would be a wonderful character, she had such an interesting life in her youth, her own trials and tribulations growing up, and she could make a very good meal!
I think Tracy Chapman, who is a singer-songwriter, would be great to have there. I think she's brilliant. Her songs touch on a lot of social justice issues. I get transfixed when I hear her.
I would also invite Bear Grylls. Born in Donaghadee, he is the king of the outdoors and the head of the scouting movement.
I was a scout leader for a number of years, and I think he would bring that sense of adventure to our dinner table.
Q The best piece of advice you've ever received?
A Love many, trust few and always paddle your own canoe.
That was from my granny. I think it speaks to Christian grace, to being open, kind and compassionate, and understanding that in life you need to make your own choices, your own decisions, respecting other people but standing by yourself.
Q The unlikely interest or hobby that you love?
A Cooking is one of them, I like to think of myself as a master chef.
My granda, Jack Robinson, was a chef and I remember breaking my mum and dad's hearts in fifth form when I came home one day and told them I had applied for Catering and Hospitality at Castlereagh College. They spent the next while ensuring that I didn't do that (laughs), and that I went on to study law and become a barrister.
Q The poem that touches your heart?
A Well it's not so much a poem, but it could be seen as a poem; Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
The reason is, whether this is embarrassing or not, Lindsay and I use to sing this to Reuben before he was born. When she was pregnant, we used to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star because we had heard kids can hear and respond.
And it's amazing, even now when we sing that song, how much Reuben reacts to it and he now sings along and enjoys it. It is a song or poem that he takes great comfort from and I have no doubt that goes back to the time when we sang it when he was still within the womb.
Q The happiest moment of your life?
A Meeting Lindsay. She came to work in Stormont Presbyterian which is my family church, as the youth and children's worker. She had to organise a scouts' service, the St George's Day service I think it was, and so she had to phone me as leader of the scouts.
I was away at a wedding in Rome at the time and I was probably a little groggy when she called, and when I answered the phone her natural assumption was that I was a grumpy old man.
When she finally got the chance to meet me at the rehearsal a few days later, she was pleasantly surprised by what she had thought I would be like and then what she found.
A Losing loved ones, I have mentioned my grandma and granny.
And all of us will reflect on individuals who have made a very personal and profound impact on our lives and losing them… I guess I could be described at times as a 'blubberer' on things like this.
I know it's a part of life and we all have to go through it, but whenever individuals have made a meaningful impact on your life, it's hard when they go.
Q The one event that made a difference in your life?
A Becoming a dad. It completely recalibrates your life, it changes your thought processes, your plans and your priorities.
You become responsible for something so vulnerable, but with so much potential, and you really feel it.
I think that's the greatest thing in my life so far.
Q What's the ambition that keeps driving you forward?
A There are always better days ahead. If you reflect back, I had said about how I want to make each day better than the last, I think you always have to believe that there are better days ahead, that you can change things for the better, that there will always be a positive future.
And so, with better days ahead, you just have to work to make it so.
Q What's the philosophy that you live by?
A Love God and love others. For me, with personal faith, believing in God, recognising how that then impacts on how we interact with one another within our community, neighbourhood and our families, and within society more generally, and how we can reflect the very best.
Q How do you want to be remembered?
A I think it's far too soon to think about how I want to be remembered (laughs).
