The director on his dislike of modern art, Britain's litter problem and the lack of manners.

Does art make a difference?
Yes and no. It makes a huge difference to the self if you have art that you love. But if you are someone who creates art it’s always important that you don’t see yourself as having to create work that other people will like.

Should politics and art mix?
Yes, the proviso being that they should give the artists lots of money.

Is your work for the many or for the few?
I can only say probably for the few, but the few are the many. Before I made Of Time and the City I didn’t realise that there were so many people who actually liked my work.

Which artist do you least admire?
The entire modern art world really doesn’t interest me. By modern art, I mean this obsession with installation work. I don’t understand what it’s for or what it means. Sheep in formaldehyde just don’t interest me.

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be?
I was 27 when I first got into film-making – quite late, really. Before that I was a qualified bookkeeper, so I would probably have just spent my entire life in an office. No other art form attracted me.

If you were world leader, what would be your first law?
I would make sure there was a minimum equity in contemporary society. The obsession we have with money is obscene. The recession hasn’t helped, but one of the roots of the problem was in the 1980s – Thatcher made venality a virtue, and once the genie was out of the bottle we were stuck with it for ever.

Who would be your top advisers?
I’d have Rory Bremner in the cabinet, as he could potentially imitate all the leaders of the world at any one time. I’d have Victoria Wood and Ken Dodd in the office, too, to keep the eternally dull business of politics very funny. I think they’d also help to give some kind of perspective; politics really isn’t everything.

What would you censor?
Formula One racing should be banned because of the terminal boredom it induces in the people who watch it.

Who would you banish?
It would be a toss-up between the royal family and the Pope. But in the end I think the Pope would have to go – for starters, he has terrible dress sense.

What are the rules that you live by?
I try to live by the periodic table. Sorry, I can’t explain any further.

Do you love your country?
I love it when I’m abroad and hate it when I’m here, but that’s patriotism for you. Contemporary Britain has a terrible litter problem and very bad manners. Also the fact that we generally speak so badly is one of the major evils of our time. I know I’m a product of my age, but the things that are important to me are the elementary things, like manners. I was from a lower-working-class family background in Liverpool but we were still taught manners.

Are we all doomed?
Of course we are. I’m not prepared to elaborate on that – it’s obvious.

Terence Davies’s Liverpool memoir “Of Time and the City” is out now on DVD (BFI, £19.99)

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