Opinions: Would you ever do a runner?
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Your support makes all the difference.JEFFREY ARCHER, author: No, but I might if there was a Labour Government. Even if I escaped to an ivory tower in England I'd still be taxed, so I suppose I'd have to go abroad.
LEO COOPER, publisher: Absolutely not. I would hate to escape to a desert island; I hate islands, you can't get off, and I don't like isolation. I can't imagine anything less attractive, let alone the circumstances in which I would do it, and I would miss a decent pub.
BERT, postman: Well, it would be more of a walker in my case because I've got arthritis in my knees. If I had a mailbag that I knew was stuffed with money I'd be tempted to wander off with it. So you'd better not take my name because the Post Office don't encourage that kind of thing.
DUNCAN MEE, private detective: No, generally the more you can continue to maintain the illusion that everything's OK, the less vulnerable you are. I've done miniature runners to throw people off if I'm in a car chase. The thing is to carry on behaving normally; you get very good at not sweating.
MANDY, secretary: I quite often run out of restaurants just for the hell of it or if I'm drunk. Usually I have to dive into the nearest pub.
NAIM ATALLAH, businessman: I love the life I live too much to do a runner: I can't wait for the challenges of the day. Occasionally if things don't go my way I might be tempted to run off, but when it comes to the crunch I don't.
JAN CRICK, housewife: I've got three children, two of them under five, and I often have the urge to throw the Marmite soldiers at the ceiling and take off to Acapulco. Sadly, the return fare to the town next to where we live is beyond me financially.
EDWARD TERRY, Army officer: Yes, in fact I am in the process of doing a runner at the moment. Having served in the Army for eight years, I'm going to work on an iron-age farm - so it's back to a life of poverty. I'm doing now what I should have done when I was 18, but it takes time to realise what you value in life.
LINDI ST CLAIR, ex-madam: Yeah, I'm sick to death of stupid English law. I want to go to Australia where they have legal brothels. I want English TV and to be in a place where there is nice weather, nice men and lots of space to enjoy them in. Well done to Nadir] I think I might join him. What time's the next plane to Cyprus?
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