Category: OBSERVERS

  • Frank Furedi (born Ferenc Furedi)

    Frank Furedi (born Ferenc Furedi)

    Frank FurediThis Hungarian “former student radical” and emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent argued that historic abuse offences should effectively be swept under the carpet on Newsnight in July 2014. Faversham based Furedi – who is married to the CEO of the UK’s largest independent abortion provider – has previously bizarrely leapt to the support of Sarah Palin, attacked the scientific consensus on Global Warming and published a book titled “First World War: Still No End in Sight”. His supporters argue that his critics are just “jealous, small-minded and unable to engage politically or intellectually with the ideas he devises and promulgates on a cooperative, non-coercive basis” whilst he loftily sees himself as “the Lenin de nos jours”. That this academic, wannabe politician and author wrote a book describing the Jimmy Savile scandal as a “moral crusade” in 2013 about says it all. Frank Furedi is nothing more than a pompous, ridiculous man.

     

  • The Rt. Hon. Margaret Bondfield PC (1873 – 1953)

    The Rt. Hon. Margaret Bondfield PC (1873 – 1953)

    Margaret Bondfield“The name’s Bondfield, Margaret Bondfield”: This left-winger was the first female Cabinet Minister in the UK and the only woman present at the Accession Council which proclaimed King George VI’s accession to the Throne upon the abdication of King Edward VIII. The daughter of a textile worker, Bondfield was only in Parliament between 1926 and 1931 but will forever be remembered for “improving the lot of the downtrodden”.

     

  • Anna Soubry MP

    Anna Soubry MP

    Anna SoubryIn discussion with UKIP’s Nigel Farage MEP in June 2014, “lighthearted” Soubry suggested that some people who raise concerns about immigration are “frankly racist”. Immediately disowned by Downing Street, this former television presenter turned Conservative politician is a single mother of two children and a supporter of the legalisation of cannabis. In December 2013, she described Farage as looking “like somebody [who] has put their finger up [their] bottom and [who] really rather likes it” whilst earlier that year, the Speaker told her “to sit there and be quiet or to leave the chamber” after she heckled a fellow MP. She’s not easily silenced.

     

  • Tim Walker

    Tim Walker

    Tim WalkerThe Telegraph’s ‘Mandrake’ columnist is a man not afraid to take on the establishment. Together with his now former colleague Richard Eden, Walker’s diary extensively featured stories about the charitable activities of Lady Meyer in 2011 and made a fool of the PR for Mastercard after they told him what he was to tweet in exchange for tickets to the Brit awards in February 2014. Walker also finds time to write theatre critiques and occasionally makes it onto the stage himself also. In Spamalot, this talented journalist played God and of Gillian Duffy, he once tweeted: “What I loved about Gillian Duffy – & this country – is that an OAP on her way to get a loaf of bread can bring down a PM”. Here is a remarkable man whose column is on our list of “must reads”.

     

  • Ryan Holle

    Ryan Holle

    Ryan HolleConvicted of first-degree murder in 2004 simply for lending his car to a friend and housemate named William Allen, Jr. who killed a drug dealer, Holle is serving a life sentence without parole at the Graceville Correctional Facility in Florida. (more…)

  • Barbara Driver

    Barbara Driver

    PX*1052178This Cheltenham Borough Council councillor likened housing development to a sex attack and said: “There is a saying and I am going to say it:  When rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it” during a council meeting in April 2014. When criticised, Conservative member Driver responded: “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone”. This ridiculous mouthpiece – who states that “all views expressed are entirely my own” to her 339 Twitter followers – needs to be silenced.

     

  • Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman DBE (1923 – 2014)

    Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman DBE (1923 – 2014)

    Dame Elaine Kellett-BowmanAt one point both an MP and an MEP at the same time, this former Conservative member for Lancaster (1970 – 1997) was known for her “trill” voice and once described as sounding like a “squawking parrot”. A strict Methodist, Kellett-Bowman was a campaigner for the return of the death penalty and against moral laxity and Sunday trading. She was voted the “number one country housewife of 1960” by the Women’s Institute and of the sex educator Dr Martin Cole, commented: “I would shoot that man”. She was no feminist but her determination certainly set the way for other women to enter politics.

  • Anton Casey

    Anton Casey

    Anton CaseyThis Singapore based banker caused an uproar in January 2014 by apparently describing a cabbie as a “retard” and moaning about the stench of public transport on both Facebook and YouTube. The Crossinvest Asia employee – who is married to a former Miss Singapore Universe named Bernice Wong – subsequently apologised for his “poor judgement” but received death threats aplenty and was widely condemned online. Closing his Facebook profile was probably the best decision Casey’s ever made.

     

  • The Rt. Hon. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller DCB

    The Rt. Hon. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller DCB

    Dame Eliza Manningham-BullerThe head of MI5 between 2002 and 2007 was once nearly thrown out of a pub after being mistaken for a prostitute whilst training to be a spy. In December 2013, Manningham-Buller guest presented Radio 4’s Today programme and interviewed an the actress who has played her fictional counterpart, Dame Judi Dench. Northampton born and the daughter of Viscount Dilhorne, the surname of this expert intelligence analyst’s husband has only ever been revealed as “David”. Spooky.

  • Grace Dent

    Grace Dent

    Grace DentThis Carlisle born author, broadcaster and columnist loathes Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland but loves Tartufo in Cadogan Gardens, SW3. Dent’s witty weekly Evening Standard column ‘Grace and Flavour’ is a must read as her acerbic commentaries about London’s best and worst eating spots are just brilliant. She has nearly 200,000 followers on Twitter and has also written eleven novels.