Tag: Sir Philip Green

  • A Boat For Brenda

    A Boat For Brenda

    As decidedly dippy Dame Esther Rantzen calls for tyrannical twerp Sir Philip Green to hand over his behemoth boat to the Queen, we suggest Sir James Dyson or Sir Charles Dunstone’s gin palaces as other options that could be commandeered

    This morning on Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, Dame Esther Rantzen, for once in her somewhat curious career, made a valid suggestion when discussing the current hullabaloo over whether or not the nation should spend £200 million on a new royal yacht.

     

    Commenting to the programme’s Paddy O’Connell of a “pomp and ceremony” focused proposal that the Conservatives are plainly using to wind up Labour, Dame Esther remarked:

     

    “This is to me a crazy idea at a time when our economy has been obviously dealt something of a death blow by COVID, when we have no plans for social care, when food banks are thriving. Do we really think that the taxpayer, let alone the royal family, want £200 million spent on a royal yacht?”

     

    “I think it’s an example of a newspaper starting a campaign which is so out of touch. However, perhaps, I have the solution: Sir Philip Green, do you remember him? He has a knighthood – which some people have questioned. He lives in Monaco, where there’s plenty of other people with yachts. Why doesn’t he donate his boat to the royal family?”

     

    “If he’s got monograms with the words ‘Philip’ on it, that would be suitable for those who feel that the yacht should be named after Philip, Duke of Edinburgh… Prince Philip, you could just add a few, a few, you know…”

     

    Equally, given the late NCP car park tycoon Sir Donald Gosling left £50 million in his will towards a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia, we suggest some potentially cheaper boating options to Sir Philip Green’s £100 million gin palace below that could also be commandeered.

     

    Pictured top: The late Sir Donald Gosling’s former yacht Leander and its owner with the Queen and her late husband in 2012.

     

    Option 1 – Sir Philip Green’s ‘Lionheart’

    A Boat For Brenda 2021: Sir Philip Green should give his yacht to Queen – As decidedly dippy Dame Esther Rantzen calls for tyrannical twerp Sir Philip Green to hand over his gin palace to the Queen, we suggest Sir James Dyson or Sir Charles Dunstone’s tubs as other options.

    Pros – The disgraced businessman’s gin palace is definitely big at 295-foot and can accommodate 12 guests with a crew of 30. It’d probably also appeal to ‘Randy Andy’ given his liking for living it large and there is plenty of space on the boat’s deck for the ‘Duchess of Dork’ to engage in a bit of toe sucking as well.

     

    Cons – This boat’s décor would likely be considered a bit ‘lowbrow’ by the Queen given “Call Me Lady Tina” – the rotten retailer’s wife – is known more for brass than class. The tacky tub might need a bit of a clean also as in September 2020, the vessel was impounded in Monaco due to two of its staff contracting coronavirus.

     

    Option 2 – Sir James Dyson’s ‘Nahlin’

    A Boat For Brenda 2021: Sir Philip Green should give his yacht to Queen – As decidedly dippy Dame Esther Rantzen calls for tyrannical twerp Sir Philip Green to hand over his gin palace to the Queen, we suggest Sir James Dyson or Sir Charles Dunstone’s tubs as other options.
    A Boat For Brenda 2021: Sir Philip Green should give his yacht to Queen – As decidedly dippy Dame Esther Rantzen calls for tyrannical twerp Sir Philip Green to hand over his gin palace to the Queen, we suggest Sir James Dyson or Sir Charles Dunstone’s tubs as other options.

    Pros – Given all the breaks billionaire Sir James Dyson and his carpet designer wife ‘Lady Deirdre’ have been given by Boris Johnson in spite of disgracefully relocating their operations abroad, you’d think they might want to give something back and hand over their boat.

     

    As was reported in the Guardian yesterday, this steam yacht has also been subject to a £25 million restoration and has ‘previous royal form’ in that it housed the then King Edward VIII and Mrs Wallis Simpson just prior to the 1936 abdication crisis. Perhaps that might attract that devious duo’s modern day equivalents, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, onboard for peace talks.

     

    Cons – The Queen could find herself like the majority of the population, who’ve wasted money on his frankly mostly useless products, a little frustrated with the vessel’s hypocritical Brexiteer owner and we don’t think she’d like ‘Dreary Deirdre’s’ appalling rug designs either.

     

    Option 3 – Sir Charles Dunstone’s ‘Shemara’

    A Boat For Brenda 2021: Sir Philip Green should give his yacht to Queen – As decidedly dippy Dame Esther Rantzen calls for tyrannical twerp Sir Philip Green to hand over his gin palace to the Queen, we suggest Sir James Dyson or Sir Charles Dunstone’s tubs as other options.

    Pros – The 210-foot motor yacht Shemara is a favourite of all at The Steeple Times. Built by Sir Bernard Docker at the behest of his brilliantly batty wife, ‘Lady Nora,’ in 1938, this vessel has played host to everyone from King Farouk of Egypt to coalminers.

     

    Cons – If the Queen took over this boat, she might find herself a little beholden to the ‘Chipping Norton set’ given Sir Charles Dunstone is considered one of that group’s most illustrious members. Conversations with Rebekah Brooks about her thoughts on her wayward grandchild and his money grabbing wife might not prove easy, but Jeremy Clarkson could break the ice with a drink or five.

     

  • Shifty Job Killer

    Shifty Job Killer

    ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green’s legacy now should be just one thing; this beached whale billionaire should go down in history as a job killer

    Megalomaniac Robert Maxwell notoriously liked to pee off the top of his headquarters onto innocent members of the public below. He supposedly believed this made him ‘better’ than them and equally, mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s late papa is said to have held court with the lavatory door open so as to ensure his audience heard him ‘evacuate.’

     

    Other common traits amongst lunatics of this type include extreme vanity and just as a photograph emerged of ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green with his arms crossed attempting to look like a tyrannical dictator, it can now actually be simply concluded that this bloated billionaire will actually just go down in history as a jackass job killer.

     

    This morning, whilst the majority of the mainstream media shamefully simply passed this shocking story by, the Mirror revealed that the Boohoo ‘deal’ to buy Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton from Green’s failed Arcadia Group will immediately cost 7,450 jobs on top of 2,000 already made redundant.

     

    Whilst slobbish ‘Sir Shifty’ and his title-obsessed wastrel wazzock wife ‘Lady Greed’ wallow in luxury and spray champagne on their £100 million superyacht, that’s 7,450 more people and their families who are on their way to penury.

     

    In total between Debenhams and Arcadia, the Mirror added “up to 25,000 retail jobs have either gone or at risk” and whilst “Green wanted to turn Topshop into a global phenomenon, hiring Kate Moss to front a collection,” it is now time that Boris Johnson manned up and did the right thing: All that remains is to strip job killer Sir Philip Green of his knighthood.

     

    Join the nigh on 300,000 people who’ve signed the Change.org petition to demand Sir Philip Green by stripped of his knighthood by clicking here.

     

    Pictured top: A portrait of job killer and recent recipient of a £50 million personal pay day Sir Philip Green by Jake Walters who, of it, tweeted: “Taken on his Arcadia office balcony on Oxford Street. He was unpleasant and to me and my assistant when we arrived to photograph him so, I thought… Well if it’s OK for you to act like a prick, it must be OK to make you look like one. So, I did.”

     

    Shifty Job Killer – Sir Philip Green’s real legacy: 25,000 jobless – ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green’s legacy now should be just one thing; this beached whale billionaire should go down in history as a job killer.
    Shifty Job Killer – In September 2016, legendary actor, writer and producer Steven Berkoff commented of Sir Philip Green: “I can see Sir Shifty in the dock: A perfect Capone; think about it Phil” in an article for ‘The Steeple Times.’
    Shifty Job Killer – Sir Philip Green’s real legacy: 25,000 jobless – ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green’s legacy now should be just one thing; this beached whale billionaire should go down in history as a job killer.
    Shifty Job Killer – Whilst being a tubby twerp himself, in October 2018, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported that Sir Philip Green had “bullied” the PA of his “best friend” Richard Desmond and called her a “fat, Geordie c*nt.” At the time, Samantha Watson commented: “He is probably the worst person I have ever met, and was just so rude and obnoxious. He would phone in and if I was even a millisecond late in transferring the call he would call me every name under the sun… He was a greasy little squirt with his big belly sticking through his shirt buttons.”
  • Sir Shifty’s £50 million Pay Day

    Sir Shifty’s £50 million Pay Day

    That ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green will get a £50 million personal pay day from the sale of TopShop whilst 20,000 lose their jobs is an utter outrage

    ‘Badly behaved boozy Brit abroad’ Sir Philip Green likes to spray champagne rather than sip it and now with news that he and his wife are getting a £50 million personal pay day whilst 20,000 lose their jobs at TopShop, the public will be quite rightly outraged if he’s spotted brandishing a bottle or ten of bubbly.

     

    Whilst the temperamental tycoon’s sister, Elizabeth, quite rightly told ‘Sir Shifty’ and ‘Lady Greed’ to man-up and say sorry as “an expression of compassion and responsibility” in January, on Saturday the Guardian reported that 1,155 unsecured creditors of the Green’s collapsed company – amongst them clothing suppliers and landlords – will receive less than 1% of the money owed to them.

     

    Debts to the public purse via HMRC, another creditor, are not included in that tranche of debts also and what also must be remembered is that Sir Philip and Lady Green will still get to live in luxury just as 20,000 of their former staff head off into penury.

     

    Shame on this pair of pigs and shame on Boris Johnson for not already stripping this robber baron of his very much undeserved title.

     

    Join the 251,000 people already calling for the forfeiture committee to strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood on Change.org by clicking here.

     

    Pictured top: Asset stripper Sir Philip Green with his one-time chum and now jailed sexual abuser Harvey Weinstein.

     

    Sir Shifty’s £50 million Pay Day – Sir Philip Green gets £50m from TopShop – That ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green will get a £50 million personal payout from the sale of TopShop whilst 20,000 lose their jobs is an utter outrage.
    Sir Shifty’s £50 million Pay Day – Shameless scumbags Sir Philip and Lady Green on a dinghy with two crew members. Presumably, these two chaps will not suffer the same fate as 20,000 other former workers of theirs.
    Sir Shifty’s £50 million Pay Day – Sir Philip Green gets £50m from TopShop – That ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green will get a £50 million personal payout from the sale of TopShop whilst 20,000 lose their jobs is an utter outrage.
    Sir Shifty’s £50 million Pay Day – Tubby twerp Sir Philip Green and his family will be able to continue to ‘live-it-up’ on their £100 million superyacht, Lionheart. His former TopShop staff, meanwhile, will now find themselves living on the breadline.
  • Moron of the Moment 2021 – Karren Brady

    Moron of the Moment 2021 – Karren Brady

    Poundland muckspreader Karren Brady desperately seeks attention by bleating that men are “sexist” against her; Lady Brady brought up a story from years ago proving she has utterly nothing new to say

    “The arrogant, self-interested baroness,” “gutter gossip hack” and “all-round nasty piece of work” are just some of the descriptions that have deservedly stuck to Karren Brady (AKA The Right Honourable The Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge in the City of Westminster CBE) over the years.

     

    Also widely mocked for her links to “dildo floggers” and as “Mrs Blowjob or No Job,” Brady used her column in today’s The Sun on Sunday to yet again moan about people making “jibes” against her.

     

    Referencing an alleged incident long ago with Sky News’ football anchorman Richard Keys, Brady bleated to readers:

     

    He was later overheard talking about me when he thought the microphone was off.

     

    He said: “See charming Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Yeah. Do me a favour, love.”

     

    How condescending is that? Needless to say, I have never forgotten it. And I doubt I ever will.

     

    In the case of this acid-tongued harpy, nothing other than stones and glass houses come to mind. Now, please, Karren, just do us all a favour and put a sock in it in 2021.

     

    “Overpainted Aunt Sally” Karren Brady on…

     

    Her destroyer of jobs and the high street mate ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green

    “The most dynamic, the most energetic, the most relentless business-person I have ever come across, a whirlwind of energy and ideas.”

     

    The nearly as controversial businessman Mike Ashley:

    “I feel sorry for a guy like Mike Ashley… He tried his best… I feel tremendous sympathy for Ashley.”

     

    Her “precarious work-life balance”…

    “[It’s a] balancing act… [I feel] constant guilt over being a working mother.”

     

    Her being investigated in connection with corruption in football

    “I was in a very dark place… It was gut-wrenching… I didn’t want to have to justify myself to people.”

     

    The East End of London…

    “A hotbed of racism.”

     

    Condoms in the Birmingham City boardroom…

    “I found it floating in the toilet… And it became this big whodunit. I mean, in the boardroom toilet of all places.”

     

    Her “wickedly indiscreet newspaper column”…

    “It’s what I leave out that would make your hair curl.”

     

    Unsurprisingly getting abuse given her own vile tongue…

    “The abuse I get is vile. And so much worse now than it’s ever been.”

     

    Herself

    “At 23, I had skin as thick as a rhino… I don’t have any fears.”

     

    “I dare to put my head above the parapet, to have a mind and a voice of my own and to plough my own furrow.”

     

    “[I am now] one of the most highly sought-after motivational speakers in the world.”

     

    More modest than the late Mother Theresa, one is simply left asking: “What on earth was it about the very wealthy woman Karren Brady that David Cameron saw fit to elevate her to the House of Lords?”

     

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    Moron of the Moment 2021 – Karren Brady – Poundland muckspreader Karren Brady desperately seeks attention by bleating that men are “sexist” against her; Lady Brady brought up a story from years ago proving she’s nothing new to say.
    In 2016, Duncan Bannantyne described Karren Brady as a “nasty piece of trash” and “a complete coward” after she penned a column describing him as “hilariously repulsive.” Here, this mouthy muckspreader is pictured with her disgraced bestie Sir Philip Green.
    Moron of the Moment 2021 – Karren Brady – Poundland muckspreader Karren Brady desperately seeks attention by bleating that men are “sexist” against her; Lady Brady brought up a story from years ago proving she’s nothing new to say.
    It was ludicrously announced that plain old Karren Rita Brady would be given a seat as a Conservative life peer on the House of Lords on the 8th August 2014. She had previously addressed the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on 30th September 2013.
    Moron of the Moment 2021 – Karren Brady – Poundland muckspreader Karren Brady desperately seeks attention by bleating that men are “sexist” against her; Lady Brady brought up a story from years ago proving she’s nothing new to say.
    As this banner proves, football fans loathe her and on 6th June 2020, in yet another column in ‘The Sun on Sunday’ Karren Brady banged on about ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann before turning to sharing her bizarre belief that Big Macs are brilliant. If ever there’s been a columnist with a better ability to choose interlinking subjects, we’d argue that it was time the world was told.
  • Sorry is the Shiftiest Word

    Sorry is the Shiftiest Word

    ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green’s sister tells him to man up and say sorry over the Arcadia collapse debacle; the chubby chump will likely ignore her

    Having completed the ruination of the lives of 13,000 employees and their families in early December, ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green and his wife ‘Lady Greed’ showed how little they cared by booking a fancy £30,000 per night holiday in the Maldives to complete the picture of just how out of touch with ordinary folk they truly are.

     

    Responding in the Sunday People today, the disgraced, fallen tycoon’s “saddened” sister, Elizabeth Green – author of Not In The Script: The Black Sheep in the Billionaire’s Family and owner of a vegan restaurant in New York – quite rightly remarked:

     

    “Philip should [say sorry] to his staff for what has happened. An apology is an expression of compassion and responsibility.”

     

    “It is a statement that we’re willing to take responsibility for our actions. It is not an admittance of guilt, nor is it taking the blame.”

     

    Asked how their late mother would have reacted, Ms Green went further and suggested she “would have scolded [Sir Philip] over the demise of the fashion chain and the BHS scandal” and added: “She would have told him off and she would have told him he was being stupid.”

     

    She is right, but somehow we suspect this intervention will fall on deaf ears; Tina Green, after all, is too busy worrying about keeping her title whilst tubby, tantrum prone Philip is likely right now focused on nothing but topping up his tepid tan.

     

    Pictured top: “Sorry” isn’t a word one expects to hear from Sir Philip and Lady Green anytime soon. Instead, this grotesque pair are no doubt slobbed out in the sunshine counting their billions.

     

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    Sorry is the Shiftiest Word – Philip Green told to say sorry by sister – ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green’s sister tells him to man up and say sorry over the Arcadia collapse debacle; he’ll likely ignore her.
    Sorry is the Shiftiest Word – Sir Philip Green has always been smug. Here, him and his wife are pictured with their daughter Chloe and her now departed criminal ‘baby dada,’ Jeremy Meeks.
    Sorry is the Shiftiest Word – Sir Philip Green is known for his temper and arrogance. On that basis, the prospect of an apology from him over the collapse of the Arcadia Group seems highly unlikely and his sister may find herself never witnessing such.
  • Heroes & Villains – The Best & The Worst People of 2020

    Heroes & Villains – The Best & The Worst People of 2020

    ‘The Steeple Times’ chooses the 25 best and 25 worst people of the last year and the 25 who’ll be missed and the 25 who won’t

    Happy New Year to all our readers. Our ‘Heroes & Villains’ list was well received in 2019 and as we move into 2021, we join all celebrating ‘good riddance’ to the monstrous mess that was 2020.

     

    Whilst many bombed, most especially Dominic Cummings and Donald Trump in the sphere of politics, for example, the likes of the heroic footballer Marcus Rashford and his campaign for free school meals for poor children showed that even a footballer can make a difference in a pandemic.

     

    HEROES OF 2020

    Obvious heroes of the year: Jacinda Ardern for being a leader capable of acting with good sense, Captain Sir Thomas Moore for raising £32 million for the NHS, Lord Sumption for arguing for lockdown liberty and Joe Wicks for keeping the nation healthy and turning down a £2 million deal with a supermarket.

     

    Bob Grace - Heroes & Villains – The Best & The Worst People of 2020 – ‘The Steeple Times’ chooses the 25 best and 25 worst people of the last year and the 25 who’ll be missed and the 25 who won’t. Winning Villain of 2020: Priti Patel; winning Hero of 2020: Bob Grace.

    WINNER – Bob Grace

    Eternally cheerful groom Bob Grace led out his first winner after 38 years of racing at Royal Ascot in June when his trusty steed Battaash romped home in the King’s Stand. He raised the spirits of the nation and of this humble hero, one Twitter user concluded: “Bob is wonderful, be like Bob.”

     

    Emily Bolton

    One of “Britain’s most powerful civil rights lawyers,” Emily Bolton boldly fought for the likely wrongly convicted ‘Freshwater Five’ fisherman in 2020. She is tenacious and dedicated and a force for genuine good.

     

    Steve Cotton

    Alongside his cat named Hitler as his barman, “Britain’s grumpiest landlord” proved the spirit of Victor Meldrew was well and truly still alive in 2020. Summing up his approach to business and life in general, Steve Cotten remarked:

     

    “I just make it up as I go along.  I might not know how to run a pub but I know what’s wrong with every pub I’ve ever been in. There’s no landlord anywhere, nobody talks to each other.  I involve the whole community – everyone knows it’s not my pub, it’s everybody’s pub… We are a dark and cold and miserable boozer – and that’s what people like about it.”

     

    “They all know you can do what you want here, use it for what you want, come here on your own at any time of the day or night and help yourself to a tea or coffee. Everybody will talk to everybody… You can discuss any topic under the sun here, nothing is taboo… Everyone has a go serving behind the bar, we all have a laugh and everyone joins in… No one else talks to them like crap like I do.”

     

    Bilkis Dadi (real name: Bilkis Bano)

    This 82-year-old crusader and anti-Modi protester became the “voice of the marginalised” in India in 2020 and was escorted away from the farmers’ protest by the police. This heroine was included in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of the year and remarked: “We will not stand for this division.”

     

    Alfie Diaper

    Ten-year-old “little star” Alfie Diaper recovered from a ruptured spleen in 2019 and “came back fighting” with riding successes in 2020. One Scottish reader of The Steeple Times quite rightly termed this pint-sized hero a “talented, spirited wee soul.”

     

    Julia Donaldson

    The author of The Gruffalo went down in literary history as the biggest seller of the last decade in any genre in 2020 and now sells a book about every 11 seconds. JK Rowling did not even make the top five.

     

    Hollie Doyle

    Whilst she was ridiculously robbed of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020 and came third, Hollie Doyle amazingly scored 151 wins in 2020. She also broke another record in becoming the first woman to win five races on a card at Windsor and our money is on her to become a hero of 2021 too.

     

    Alain Ducasse

    In January, Alain Ducasse spoke complete sense is echoing Iris Apfel’s “more is more and less is a bore” mantra. This culinary remarked: “I’ve noted [the Dry January] trend, but I don’t want to see or hear of it, I am opposed to it… “[I want to] rid consumers of their inhibitions [with regard to wine drinking].”

     

    Lord Fowler

    The Lord Speaker of the House of Lords quite rightly argued “there are too many Lords” in December. He added: “As we have just seen, its recommendations can be overridden by No 10. The result is that a prime minister has the power on his or her own to add peers to a house of parliament that can make and, within limits, unmake laws. Is this what the public expect in the third decade of the 21st century?”

     

    Bryony Frost

    Rising-star jockey Bryony Frost became the first woman ever to win the King George VI at Kempton on Boxing Day. This true heroine of the year is undoubtedly going to break many other glass ceilings in 2021.

     

    Lady Glenconner

    The former lady-in-waiting to the late Princess Margaret declared of coronavirus: ““I’ve been through the second world war and lived with someone with Aids at the beginning [of the Aids crisis]. I’m not scared of a little virus, you know.”

     

    Agnes Gund (AKA ‘Aggie’)

    A “put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is” philanthropist, Agnes Gund was described as “the last good rich person” by the New York Times in 2018 and in 2020 used money from the sale of one the most valuable artworks from her collection, a Roy Lichtenstein worth £120 million, to fund US prison reform. She has also given more than 900 significant works to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the last 50 years.

     

    Anders Holch Povlsen

    Asos billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen led the way in rewilding in 2020. He also paid back the government £300,000 of furlough money during the year voluntarily and thus made a mockery of the likes of Sir Richard Branson and Sir Philip Green.

     

    Patrick Hutchinson

    Compassionate “fitness buff” Patrick Hutchinson carried an injured far-right racist protestor to his safety in spite of being himself black in June. Sensibly, he remarked: “Living with the image of a man being beaten to death isn’t something I could stomach. How do the police do that? They just seemed to be standing there watching it and filming with their selfie sticks. One of them said ‘well done’ to me, but I couldn’t really comprehend it.”

     

    Jeremy King

    The co-owner of The Wolseley rightly slammed Boris Johnson repeatedly during 2020. He rightly described lockdown Tier 2 coronavirus restrictions as “another knee jerk, ineffective, window-dressing, butt-covering initiative that hasn’t been thought through properly.”

     

    Abdulkareem Musa Adam

    This child refugee from a war zone in Darfur shone at Royal Ascot 2020. Accompanied by Shadn, this 22-year-old’s story was described by Clare Balding as “[showing] the incredible power of sport to bring people together and help them to heal, even after the most appalling suffering.”

     

    Dolly Parton

    In 2020, Dolly Parton gave £733,000 to fund a COVID-19 vaccine. The Guardian rightly said of her: “She understands that money is something you do, rather than something you have.”

     

    Sister Norma Pimentel

    Described as the “pope’s favourite nun,” Sister Norma Pimentel featured on Time magazine’s “100 most influential people of 2020” list. She has supported over 100,000 people seeking refuge at the border between Texas and Mexico and of her Julián Castro, former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, remarked: “Sister Pimentel will keep changing the world, one act of kindness at a time.”

     

    Dr. Ugur Sahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci

    The “dream team” husband-and-wife team behind the leading vaccine to solve COVID-19 were amongst the ultimate healthcare heroes of 2020.

     

    MacKenzie Scott

    The ex-wife of Jeff Bezos gave £4.3 billion of her fortune to charity during 2020. In doing so, she became one of the biggest single donors to charity in a single year ever.

     

    Santosh Shah

    He didn’t win, but the unlikely star of MasterChef Professionals 2020 was this Nepali chef. He was eternally positive and widely lauded as the “people’s champion.”

     

    Shirley Sherwood OBE

    Britain’s leading botanist, after losing her tycoon husband at the age of 87, has become an unlikely star of Facebook with her videos sharing positivity and her passion for plants. She has rightly been described as the “driving force behind a revival of interest in botanical art.”

     

    Micheline Stephen

    A martini drinking 90-year-old and Dame Maggie Smith-lookalike, Micheline Stephen fought off a burglar and told him: “You’re a wee shite” in 2020.

     

    ‘Window Twerky’

    Spotted on both the Fulham Road and Kings in Chelsea, this unknown woman amused many with her maniac moves during Lockdown 1.0. Her Fifty Shades of Crazy antics during that Strictly insane time were batshit bonkers but brilliant.

     

    Tobias Weller (AKA ‘Captain Tobias’)

    This heroic 9-year-old with cerebral palsy and autism raised over £150,000 for a children’s hospital during Lockdown 1.0 by completing marathons. He remarked: “It feels amazing to have completed both marathons. I feel fantastic. Thank you for clapping and cheering me every step of the way. You are all awesome. I love doing challenges so who knows what will be around the next corner?”

     

    VILLAINS OF 2020

    Previous list makers, but repeat offenders included Sir Philip Green, Sir Richard Branson, Tim Martin, Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson, Darren Grimes, David Starkey, Sir Cliff Richard, Prince Andrew, Matt Hancock, Ghislaine Maxwell, Larysa Switlyk, Liz Hurley, Owen Jones, Richard Madeley, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Michael Barrymore, Vivienne Westwood, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump and Ferne McCann, but our winner just had to be:

     

    Priti Patel - Heroes & Villains – The Best & The Worst People of 2020 – ‘The Steeple Times’ chooses the 25 best and 25 worst people of the last year and the 25 who’ll be missed and the 25 who won’t. Winning Villain of 2020: Priti Patel; winning Hero of 2020: Bob Grace.

    WINNER – Priti Patel

    When she wasn’t “minglin’” and “movin’” and misusing the English language, Priti Patel was angling for a return to the death penalty in the UK in 2020. Asked what kept her going in 2020, when even Emily Thornberry declared “gin,” the most awful Home Secretary in generations ridiculously responded: “Showing the perpetrators of crime that they have nowhere to hide and joining our police on early morning raids – reminding the criminals that we’re coming after them.”

     

    James Abbott-Thompson

    The son of calculator lacking Diane Abbott MP appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in January after “spitting at a police officer and biting his colleague.” He’d previously exposed himself on a hospital ward and had crystal meth delivered to his mother’s £1.2 million home.

     

    Victoria Baker Harber and Inigo Philbrick

    Though ‘Mini Madoff’ Inigo Philbrick was deservedly was dragged to the clink by the FBI in June and remains in custody, his latest ‘baby mama,’ Victoria Baker Harber, couldn’t keep her almightily large trap shut. Shortly afterwards, she turned on one of his many victims, Kenny Schacter, and crudely tweeted: “Are you crying about cash or cock?”

     

    Brian Basham

    Bombastic PR peddler Brian Basham didn’t manage to get the mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell out of jail in 2020. In response he angrily ranted to his friends at the Daily Mail and called Finding Ghislaine podcast host John Sweeney a drunk and someone he “despises.”

     

    Scott Borgerson (AKA ‘Scott Marshall’ and ‘Mr Ghislaine Maxwell’)

    This tech company CEO was revealed to be Ghislaine Maxwell’s “secret husband” in December. He then tried and thankfully failed to use their millions to get her out on bail in time for Christmas.

     

    Benjamin Clark

    After attacking the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square in September, son of a pastor Benjamin Clark deservedly got fined. His solicitor’s attempts to try to defend him quite rightly fell on deaf ears.

     

    Lizzie Cundy

    Desperate-and-will-do-anything-for-attention Lizzie Cundy, 52, turned coronavirus into a photo opportunity in a bikini made out of face masks in October. For her, nothing isn’t worth using for self-publicity.

     

    Ellen DeGeneres

    The wheels fell off for goody two shoes Ellen DeGeneres when she was shown to be anything but nice. Her attempt at an apology for allowing workplace bullying was mocked as “underwhelming.”

     

    Alan Dershowitz

    Having defended multiple rapist Harvey Weinstein in 2018, Alan Dershowitz went one stage further in 2020 when he leapt to the defence of Ghislaine Maxwell and trashed the reputations of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.

     

    Tamara Ecclestone Rutland (AKA ‘Miss Piggy’)

    Banshee-like billionairess Tamara Ecclestone Rutland appeared on ITV1’s This Morning in April. This daughter of a man whom once disgustingly described Hitler as someone who “was able to get things done” pestered people far poorer than her to donate to the NHS. Of this shameless attention seeker, a Twitter user remarked: “No offence but this feature on #ThisMorning is embarrassing. Trying to raise £1m but they have a family net worth of almost £4bn? Good publicity stunt though…”

     

    Charlie Elphicke and Natalie Elphicke OBE MP

    Ex-MP turned sexual predator and “Naughty Tory” Charlie Elphicke and his replacement MP wife Natalie got caught out after urging fellow parliamentarians to pester the judiciary after he got sent down. She was also very nasty about immigrants.

     

    Laurence Fox

    Actor Laurence Fox morphed from a housewives favourite and telly box treasure into a tedious twerp in 2020. His Reclaim Party became a laughing stock online and his decision to tattoo “freedom” and “space” on his hands was mocked unsurprisingly.

     

    Mark Francois MP

    This tedious Tory was pilloried online when he “disappeared” after an MP was accused of rape. He returned just-in-time to bang on and bore about the brilliance of Brexit in December. We can only hope he’ll “disappear” again in 2021.

     

    Lady Green (AKA ‘Lady Greed’)

    This very, very, very, very rich woman did nothing for the 13,000 dismissed workers of her husband’s failed companies. Instead, she sat on one of her £100 million yachts and moaned about not being able to sail away due to her crew getting coronavirus.

     

    Angela Gulbenkian (AKA Angela Ischwang)

    Art fraudster Angela Gulbenkian attempted to flee to Portugal to escape going on trial in June. She was quite rightly extradited back to the UK and victims including Percy Bass of Walton Street should finally get justice against this blonde bimbo in 2021.

     

    Julia Hartley-Brewer (AKA ‘Julia Heartless-Brouhaha’)

    She’s awful every year without a doubt and will never be a hero to anyone, but in ignorantly defending a right-wing thug who’d relieved himself on a memorial to murdered constable Keith Palmer, this tedious twerp made a total prat of herself. In response, one Twitter user asked her: “Why do you as a woman think it is ok for a bloke to expose himself by getting his dick out and urinating in a public place?”

     

    Michael Heaver

    In blubbering like a baby after Nigel Farage failed to make the New Year’s Honours List, “milk bottle white” Westmonster co-owner Michael Heaver again showed himself as just one thing: “A remarkably unpleasant child.”

     

    Lady Victoria Hervey (AKA ‘Toff Totty Vicky’)

    Accurately described by the late Tara Palmer-Tomkinson as “unpleasant” and “a right snob,” dimwitted dope Lady Victoria Hervey defended Prince Andrew in 2019 and then stated: “Fuck BLM [Black Lives Matter]” in 2020 on her Instagram page. The world hope she remains silent in 2021.

     

    Eamonn Holmes

    Crackpot conspiracy theorist Eamonn Holmes morphed into the David Icke of 2020 when he declared that the “mainstream media’ was hiding a link between 5G technology and coronavirus. Him and his wife were unsurprisingly subsequently dropped from their weekly presenting roles on ITV1’s This Morning.

     

    Dr. Walter Palmer (AKA ‘The Driller Killer’)

    Having slayed ‘Cecil the Lion’ in 2015, deranged dentist Dr. Walter Palmer returned to his barbaric ways when he massacred an endangered ram in July 2020. Though he claims to be “looking forward” to his next “adventure,” one can only hope that this monster meets a sticky end in 2021.

     

    Stephanie Pratt (AKA ‘Shady Steph’)

    One-time crystal meth addict demanded shoplifters be shot in May 2020 on Twitter. Unfortunately for her, the public were on hand to remind her she’d been arrested for stealing a £1,000 of clothing from Neiman Marcus in May 2006.

     

    Phillip Schofield

    Aside from “claiming to have been murdered in a past life because of a debt” in October, Phillip Schofield attempted to rival Sir Cliff Richard and launched quite possibly the most loathed collection of boxed wines ever in September. What a plonker!

     

    Carrie Symonds (AKA ‘Carrie Not On Regardless’ and ‘The Duchess of Downing Street’)

    Boris Johnson’s wine chucking puppet mistress proved herself to be a total busybody in 2020. Despite not being elected herself, that the PM’s latest ‘baby mama’ got her own cronies into Downing Street during the year was a total disgrace.

     

    Alexandra Tolstoy

    Miserable moaning Minnie Alexandra Tolstoy bleated about not being able to live on £10,000 per week before getting £606,000 for a few of her possessions in a Christie’s auction in November. Loopy to her core, she remarked: “We’re just surviving.”

     

    Dominic West

    Aside from being caught kissing actress Lily James in October, actor Dominic West got caught breaching social distancing rules on a shoot in Wiltshire in December. He also claimed to have “jumped for joy” when he found out Donald Trump had coronavirus.

     

    Heroes & Villains – The Best & The Worst People of 2020 – ‘The Steeple Times’ chooses the 25 best and 25 worst people of the last year and the 25 who’ll be missed and the 25 who won’t. Winning Villain of 2020: Priti Patel; winning Hero of 2020: Bob Grace. Lizzie Cundy (left) and Inigo Philbrick and Victoria Baker Harber (right).
    Heroes & Villains 2020 – Lizzie Cundy (left) and Inigo Philbrick and Victoria Baker Harber (right) – Examples of the worst people of 2020 without a doubt.

    THOSE WHO’LL BE MISSED

    Sadly, many great people were lost in 2020 and amongst those most widely mentioned were Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Honor Blackman, Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, Jack Charlton, Sir Sean Connery, Des O’Connor, Kirk Douglas, George Floyd, Dame Olivia de Havilland, Eddie Van Haylen, Irrfan Khan, Dame Vera Lynn, Diego Maradona, David Prowse, Gene Reynolds, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sachs, Jackie Stallone, Larry Tesler and Bill Withers.

     

    WINNER – John le Carré (born David Cornwell)

    Having sensibly summed up Donald Trump’s election and the banality of Brexit, novelist John le Carré died from pneumonia aged 89 in December. Of his passing, his agent Johnny Geller remarked: “[He was] an undisputed giant of English literature. He defined the cold war era and fearlessly spoke truth to power in the decades that followed… We will not see his like again.”

     

    John le Carré – Heroes & Villains – The Best & The Worst People of 2020 – ‘The Steeple Times’ chooses the 25 best and 25 worst people of the last year and the 25 who’ll be missed and the 25 who won’t. Winning Villain of 2020: Priti Patel; winning Hero of 2020: Bob Grace.

    Michael Angelis

    Liverpudlian actor Michael Angelis brought happiness to many. He was the narrator of Thomas & Friends for 21 years and also appeared in Bergerac and Z-Cars. He died in May aged 76.

     

    Lady Elizabeth Anson CVO (married named Lady Elizabeth Shakerley)

    This first cousin-once-removed of Queen Elizabeth II was “discreet and professional.” She observed that “the very rich, the very idle, the very busy and the ones who simply haven’t a clue what to do” didn’t have the skills to organise events, so set up a party planning business. She died in November aged 79.

     

    Sir Terence Conran

    Multi-skilled and described as “the most passionate man in Britain when it comes to design,” Sir Terence Conran died in September aged 88. He once remarked: “It’s thrilling as a designer when you see something you’ve designed and built actually being used. Seeing a shop filled with people, or a restaurant with people smiling away happily, it’s like, gosh, all my dreams have come true.”

     

    Alan Davidson

    This legendary newspaper photographer captured stars at play from 1969 until his death in March aged 70. Of him, the Daily Mail’s Richard Kay remarked: “No event was off limits to Alan.”

     

    Sir Harold Evans

    Described in an obituary in the Guardian as “the most admired newspaper of his generation,” Sir Harold Evans died aged 92 in September. He will be best remembered for exposing Robert Maxwell as a fraudster and Kim Philby as a traitor. In doing so, he became the first editor to order a D-notice and summing him up, here was someone who’ll be remembered as someone “loved by his staff.”

     

    Lynn Faulds Wood

    The wife of fellow television presenter John Stapleton was best known for co-hosting the BBC’s Watchdog with him. She died after a stroke in April aged 72.

     

    Derek Fowlds

    Affable actor Derek Fowlds was best known for his roles in Yes Minister and The Basil Brush Show. He died as a result of complications from pneumonia in January aged 82.

     

    Desmond Guinness

    Brewing heir Desmond Guinness was an author and expert on Georgian architecture. He will be remembered as a “great dandy of his generation” and saved countless buildings from the wrecking balls of property developers. He died in August aged 88.

     

    John Hays

    Having doubled his workforce and saved thousands of jobs when him and his wife bought Thomas Cook in 2019, “high street hero” John Hays died suddenly at his offices in November aged 71. He considered his workers “family” and laughed off people comparing him to a “country bumpkin.”

     

    Shere Hite (born Shirley Gregory)

    Twice married sex educator and feminist Shere Hite renounced her US citizenship in 1995, was briefly stateless and then became German. She posed in the nude for Playboy whilst at university and died of corticobasal degeneration in September aged 77.

     

    Thomas Hoare (AKA ‘Mad Mike Hoare’)

    This fervently anti-communist British mercenary leader died in February having led campaigns in the Congo and a failed “package-holiday coup” in the Seychelles. Of him, his son remarked: “Mike Hoare lived by the philosophy that you get more out of life by living dangerously, so it is all the more remarkable that he lived more than 100 years.”

     

    Tony Hooper

    A founder member of the Strawbs, singer and guitarist Tony Hooper died in December aged 81. He left the band after argument over whether they should be more folk or rock in 1972 and became an educational author and book jacket designer in the 1990s.

     

    Knut Kloster

    With a name that sounded like a brand of breakfast cereal, “visionary” cruise line king Knut Kloster died in September aged 91. He was best known for co-founding the hugely successful Norweigan Caribbean Line in 1966, but his attempt to build a “world peace boat” eventually came to nothing.

     

    Sir Stirling Moss OBE

    “Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?” will go down in history as a much-quoted punchline of policemen, but this racing driver will be remembered for two other quotes also: “If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?” and “There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well: drive and make love.” He died in April aged 90 having survived falling down the lift shaft of his Mayfair home in 2010.

     

    Geoffrey Palmer OBE

    As Time Goes By star Geoffrey Palmer died in November aged 93. Of him, his co-star Dame Judi Dench concluded: “Geoffrey was master of comedy.”

     

    Julia Peatling

    This Stockwell based medical secretary loved a gin and tonic at PJ’s on Fulham Road and her Downton Abbey star dog, Poppy.

     

    Margarita Pracatan (born Margarita Figueroa)

    Cuban novelty singer Margarita Pracatan, who died in June in New York aged 89, was best-known for performing on Clive James’ television show Saturday Night Clive in the 1990s. Of her, he remarked: “She never lets the words or melody get in her way. She is us, without the fear of failure.”

     

    Carl Reiner

    Born in The Bronx, actor, author and comedian Carl Reiner joined Twitter at the ripe old age of 90 in 2012.  Two days before he passed in June, he tweeted: “Nothing pleases me more than knowing that I have lived the best life possible by having met and marrying the gifted Estelle (Stella) Lebost – who partnered with me in bringing Rob, Annie & Lucas Reiner into to this needy & evolving world.”

     

    Michael Russell

    “Publisher, wit and author” Michael Russell was the creator of the spoof memoirs of J. R. Hartley, he of Yellow Pages fame. He also published Richard Spitzy’s How We Squandered the Reich – a book that described Hitler as being “like a cross between a head waiter and a chimney sweep.”

     

    James Sherwood

    Buccaneering American businessman James Sherwood revived the Orient Express, built up a chain of hotels and created the Sea Containers empire. He died in May aged 86 having once been stranded at 16,000 feet in the Andes with Princess Michael of Kent after his helicopter had to make an emergency landing.

     

    Barbara Smoker

    This “promoter of many causes now take for granted” died in April. Barbara Smoker will be best remembered for saying: “Don’t always be obedient. Obedience is overrated. You’ve got to work out your morality for yourself, not do everything you’re told. Obedience can be more of a vice than a virtue.”

     

    Alexandra Sykes (born Alexandra Sotomayer)

    The third wife of businessman Mark Sykes was vivacious and bubbly. “Wise and kind” Alexandra Sykes loved to keep fit and at a party, hers was always the liveliest voice in the room.

     

    Helen Taylor-Thompson OBE

    After having worked as a spy in occupied France in the Second World War as part of Churchill’s “secret army,” Helen Taylor-Thompson co-founded Europe’s first AIDS hospice. She died in September aged 96.

     

    Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath

    Polygamous Lord Bath was as famed for his ‘wifelets’ as he was for his erotically styled paintings. He played an aristocrat in the 1987 video for the Pet Shop Boys song ‘Rent’ and died of COVID-19 in April aged 87.

     

    The late Margarita Pracatan is exactly the kind of person we could do with now.

    THOSE WHO WON’T BE MISSED

    Peter Sutcliffe - Heroes & Villains – The Best & The Worst People of 2020 – ‘The Steeple Times’ chooses the 25 best and 25 worst people of the last year and the 25 who’ll be missed and the 25 who won’t. Winning Villain of 2020: Priti Patel; winning Hero of 2020: Bob Grace.

    WINNER – Peter Sutcliffe (AKA ‘The Yorkshire Ripper’)

    This evil HGV driver claimed he’d “heard voices that ordered him to kill prostitutes while working as a gravedigger” as an excuse for slaughtering at least 13 women and attempting to murder 7 more between 1975 and 1980. He died as a result of complications from COVID-19 in November.

     

    Tariq Aziz

    Saddam Hussein’s principal spokesman died in June aged 79. He had been found guilty of “deliberate murder and crimes against humanity” in October 2010.

     

    Donato Bilancia (AKA ‘The Liguria Monster’ and ‘The Killer on the Trains’)

    This Italian serial killer murdered 17 people between October 1997 and April 1998 on the Italian Riviera. A compulsive gambler with a passionate hatred for night watchmen and sex workers, Bilancia died of COVID-19 in Due Palazzi prison in Padua in December.

     

    George Blake

    This remorseless British MI6 officer turned double agent for Soviet Union believed he was not a traitor and once remarked: “To betray, you first have to belong. I never belonged.” He died on Boxing Day having caused the deaths of at least 40 British agents in Russia as a result of his treachery.

     

    Alfred Bourgeois

    This trucker molested and murdered his 2-year-old daughter and then joked about it. He was given a lethal injection of pentobarbital in December at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

     

    Anthony Casso (AKA ‘Gaspipe’)

    An American mobster and serial killer considered a “homicidal maniac.” He confessed involvement in upto 36 murders and was imprisoned for 455 years in 1998. Casso died from complications related to COVID-19 in December.

     

    Brian Daniels

    A bus driver turned paedophile serial rapist, Daniels was approaching the end of an 18-year sentence for attacks on four young girls in May when it was discovered he had further victims.  He died in prison in October having remarked: “I did something against kids and I was punished. I don’t deserve to live. My final punishment will be death.”

     

    Roy Den Hollander

    This American lawyer shot himself in July after being made a suspect in the murder of fellow lawyer Marc Angelucci in California and the son of Judge Salas in New Jersey earlier that month. He had been a member of the National Coalition for Men, but after being kicked out called them “wimps and whiners.”

     

    Terry Dicks (AKA ‘Phil’)

    Possibly the most bigoted ex-Conservative MP ever, Dicks termed Nelson Mandela a “black terrorist” and ridiculed a Somali refugee family buying water in a supermarket by saying “where they come from they’re happy to drink out of puddles.” He referenced himself as a “spastic” due to his cerebal palsy and said of an Observer journalist sentenced to death by his hero Saddam Hussein: “He deserved to be hanged.” He loathed gay people and was nicknamed ‘Phil’ – for “elevating Philistinism to an art form.”

     

    Vikas Dubey

    An Indian gangster and history-sheeter turned murderer, Dubey was “killed” in July after “the police vehicle carrying him met with an accident and overturned.” He snatched a pistol from a policeman trying to fix a flat tyre, tried to run away and was then shot by another officer.

     

    Scott Erskine

    This American serial killer and rapist was responsible for the death of at least 3 child victims. He died in July after contracting COVID-19 in July.

     

    Lonnie Franklin (AKA ‘The Grim Sleeper’)

    This LA born serial killer committed at least 10 murders between 1984 and 2007. The majority of his victims were black women.

     

    Dustin Honken

    This serial killer was responsible for the murders of 3 adults and 2 children in Iowa in 1993. Before being executed in July, his last words were: “Hail Mary, Mother of God, pray for me.”

     

    William LeCroy

    This former soldier murdered a woman he believed was a witch in Georgia in 2001. He never showed any remorse for his actions and his last words were to his “spiritual adviser.” He remarked: “Sister Battista is about to receive in the postal service my last statement.”

     

    Daniel Lewis Lee

    This American white supremacist murdered a gun dealer and his family in Arkansas in 1996. He claimed to be innocent until the end.

     

    Samuel Little

    An American serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least 60 women, Little claimed to have killed as many as 93 between 1971 and 1997. He died in a Los Angeles County area hospital in December.

     

    John Lowe (AKA ‘Keepers Cottage Stud Murderer’)

    This puppy farm owner fatally shot his partner and her daughter in February 2014. He claimed he wanted them “put down” and himself died in a hospice in August.

     

    Ba Ag Moussa

    A Malian militant and jihadist, Moussa was shot and killed by French Armed Forces in November.

     

    Roy Norris (AKA ‘The Toolbox Killer’)

    Along with Lawrence Bittaker, Norris kidnapped, raped, tortured 5 teenage girls in 1979 in Southern California with pliers, ice picks and sledgehammers. He died of natural causes in February.

     

    Abel Ochoa

    High on crack, Ochoa killed five members of his family and tried to justify it due to being “intoxicated and in a delirium.” His final words were: “I would like to thank God, my dad, my Lord Jesus savior for saving me and changing my life. I want to apologise to my in-laws for causing all this emotional pain. I love y’all and consider y’all my sisters I never had. I want to thank you for forgiving me.”

     

    Gordon Pinkerton

    An RAF serviceman turned child abuser, Pinkerton sexually abused 6 young girls between 1963 and 2011. He was jailed in 2013 and died of coronavirus in prison in April.

     

    Wesley Ira Purkey (AKA ‘The Claw Hammer Killer’)

    Executed by lethal injection in July, Purkey raped and killed a teenager in 1998 and beat an 80-year-old to death with a claw hammer later that year.

     

    Omar Sadiq (AKA ‘Roger’)

    This Glasgow gangster and racial hatred inciter was killed by two of his associates in September. A floral tribute at the location of his shooting read: “Absolutely devastated. There was a better plan for you.”

     

    Cathy Smith

    This Canadian backup singer injected Saturday Night Live’s John Belushi with a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine in 1982. She died in August and had received a further drugs conviction in 1991 after serving 15 months between December 1986 and March 1988 for involuntary manslaughter.

     

    Howie Winter

    This mobster and leader of the Winter Hill Gang was implicated in a number of slayings in the 1960s and 1970s, but never charged. Of his demise in November aged 91, Thomas Foley, a retired Massachusetts State Police colonel, remarked: “It’s the end of a legend, but not a good legend… He is a guy that actually got away with murder.”

     

    Pictured top: Winning Villain of 2020 Priti Patel and winning Hero of 2020 Bob Grace.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

    Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

    Twitter: @SteepleTimes

     

  • Wally of the Week – Mike Alan

    Wally of the Week – Mike Alan

    “International magician” Mike Alan goes mental with a cucumber after alleging a “razor sharp” M&S shelf “savaged” his coat and left him “looking like a snowman”

    At a time when 13,000 families are worrying about ending up in penury thanks to retail rotter ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green’s empire collapsing, there’s one very, very angry man with bigger issues to fry with the sinking high street shopping sector.

     

    Featured for “crying to the papers” first via the Facebook group ‘Angry People in Local Newspapers,’ an “international magician” named Mike Alan – a man mocked as the type that “shops in M&S but cuts a Lidl version of Richard O’Brien” – claims to have paid £75 for a coat that one commentator described simply as “I’ve seen nicer jackets on hot water tanks.”

     

    Aptly ‘Digusted of Tunbridge Wells’ (and yes, Mr Alan just had to be from Tunbridge Wells) moaned to KentLive’s multimedia journalist John James that he was left “seething” after an encounter with a shelf in the spa town’s Calverly Road Marks & Spencer store.

     

    Of the calamitous incident, Mr Alan – whom claims to have performed for both the Queen and the Sultan of Brunei – explained:

     

    “I went into the store like I do most days. I don’t have a problem with the shop or the staff themselves, they’re very polite. I go to look at a tin of biscuits and as I pull them off the shelf it rips my coat.”

     

    “I went to the desk and asked to speak to a manager and they said they didn’t have one on shift at the moment, I said ‘What are you? A corner shop?’”

     

    “By this point I looked like a snowman walking around with all the feathers coming out of my coat. I was told to call up head office.”

     

    Wally of the Week – Magician Mike Alan gets his coat savaged in M&S – “International magician” Mike Alan goes mental with a cucumber after alleging a “razor sharp” M&S shelf “savaged” his coat and left him “looking like a snowman.”
    Wally of the Week – Mike Alan – Especially for ‘Kent Live’ readers, “as seen on TV” Mr Alan shared an image of the damage he did to a cucumber with the offending shelf. He did not declare whether he paid for said vine plant fruit.

    Continuing of his subsequent lengthy less than magical correspondence with the retailer, Mr Alan – a man plainly lacking a Debbie McGee to do his biscuit buying – then angrily added:

     

    “They’ve denied it’s sharp, so yesterday I went back in there and cut one of their cucumbers with the shelf. And they still say it’s not sharp. It’s like a razor!”

     

    “All I’m after is for them to own up to it and give me £50 for the coat, which I’d give to a homeless charity so they could buy a coat.”

     

    “I’m just really annoyed with their attitude. I’ve not been going in there since the incident. I’ve sent an invoice to them, I’m going to charge them for every email I send them.”

     

    “The shelf is sharp and it’s at the same height as a child’s face. It’s a joke.”

     

    Plainly sick of this moaning Minnie, an M&S spokesman responded: “We are giving him a gesture of goodwill to cover the cost of his coat.” Magic that, Mike.

     

    Pictured top: Mike Alan displays his “savaged” coat for the benefit of readers of ‘Kent Live’ (left); previous encounters with retailers including Sports Direct feature on his Facebook page.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

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    Wally of the Week – Magician Mike Alan gets his coat savaged in M&S – “International magician” Mike Alan goes mental with a cucumber after alleging a “razor sharp” M&S shelf “savaged” his coat and left him “looking like a snowman.”
    Wally of the Week – Mike Alan – ‘Angry People in Local Newspapers’ members had a field day with Mr Alan subsequently. “It’s not just any savaging. It’s an M&S shelf savaging,” remarked one Michael Burke.
    Wally of the Week – Magician Mike Alan gets his coat savaged in M&S – “International magician” Mike Alan goes mental with a cucumber after alleging a “razor sharp” M&S shelf “savaged” his coat and left him “looking like a snowman.”
    Wally of the Week – Mike Alan – “This is a proper Quentin Tarantino film in the making” added a ‘top fan’ named Marcus Marr. Another ‘top fan,’ Cath Dodge, added: “Wearing a natty hat does not make you a magician, mate,” whilst one Danny Beattie observed: “I know what has a problem, and it’s not the shelf!”
    Wally of the Week – Magician Mike Alan gets his coat savaged in M&S – “International magician” Mike Alan goes mental with a cucumber after alleging a “razor sharp” M&S shelf “savaged” his coat and left him “looking like a snowman.”
    Wally of the Week – Mike Alan – “That shelf could have cut a woman in half… and that’s my job!” mocked one Jim MacNee.
  • Petitioning Sir Shifty

    Petitioning Sir Shifty

    Change.org petition seeking to have ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green stripped of his knighthood soars to 190,000 supporters in just 48 hours

    We’ve seen the power of Change.org ourselves and with our petition seeking to ban the bear slaying barbarian bitch Larysa Switlyk from Instagram now at nearly 13,300 signatures, we hope that social media outlet will soon pay attention and send her to silence in Siberia.

     

    Another petition on the site, created two days ago by someone named Sophia Mepham, that was actually first brought to our attention by a former social associate of ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green, however, has rocketed to 190,000 signatures in just hours.

     

    The campaign to “Strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood” is one we urge readers to sign by clicking here. It is accompanied by the following missive:

     

    Sir Philip Green’s net worth is £930m according to the Sunday Times rich list, although other reports say it’s even higher. His retail empire has just collapsed, taking along with it employees financial stability and part of their hard earned pensions.

     

    Sir Phillip Green is a British businessman, whose wife is the owner of the investment group Taveta Investments. This said investment group owns the retail company ‘Arcadia Group’ for which Green is Chairman. It is made up of fashion brands such as Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, in total eight high street retailers.

     

    Sir Philip Green was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2006 Queen’s Birthday Honours “For services to the Retail Industry”.

     

    Now, it is 2020 and for a number of years the Arcadia Group has continued to spiral in to financial turmoil, ending in the Arcadia Group going in to administration on 30th November 2020. Putting 13,000 jobs at risk, along with over 10,000 of the employees pensions pots at risk of being cut.

     

    This said pension pot has an estimated deficit of £350m, which at the time of writing both the industry and MP’s have called on Green to plug the shortfall, whilst he sits on his £100m yacht, in Monaco (the tax haven he lives in with his wife, not to be confused with where Taveta Investments is registered – in another tax haven, Jersey).

     

    Sir Philip Green has mis-managed the Arcadia Group by not providing the resources it requires (both financial or otherwise) to stop the company going in to the brink of financial ruin for years. He is responsible for putting peoples livelihoods in jeopardy.

     

    Adding to it now, the uncertainty around him plugging the deficit of the pension pots. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he ‘stands ready’ to help the employees at risk of job losses at Arcadia. However, when a man has become so incredibly wealthy from a retail empire, (allegedly avoiding tax), he should not be seeking help from the official lifeboat scheme – the Pension Protection Fund or the government to use taxpayers money to fund the deficit.

     

    Other holders of a knighthood that have been revoked include, Fred Goodwin who is the former RBS boss. He was knighted in 2004 for ‘Services to the Banking Industry’ but his title was revoked because he let the bank to the brink of collapse in 2008. The Cabinet Office based their decision on the fact that the catastrophe required a £45billion bailout from the taxpayer.

     

    Green does not deserve a knighthood ‘For Services to the Retail Industry’, the only service this man has provided is to help Arcadia Group’s 13,000 employees have an uncertain future. He too, much like Fred Goodwin, has left the Arcadia Group, which is owned by his company Taveta Investments on the brink of collapse.

     

    To get a knighthood stripped we need to get the Forfeiture Committee to consider the honour be removed. The Committee’s recommendations for forfeiture are submitted through the Prime Minister to the Queen, who will then approve it.

     

    By signing this petition, we can get this issue in the laps of the Forfeiture Committee and strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

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    Petitioning Sir Shifty – Change.org petition to strip Philip Green of title – Change.org petition seeking to have ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green stripped of his knighthood soars to 190,000 supporters in just 48 hours.
    Shameless and Shocking – Whilst 13,000 employees of Arcadia Group face Christmas and beyond in penury, tubby turd Sir Philip Green and his title-obsessed wife Tina continue to live-it-up on their 295-foot long yacht, Lionheart. The petition to strip this grubby duo of their titles deserves everyone’s support.
  • Greedy Green Goes Red

    Greedy Green Goes Red

    As ‘The Sun’ quite rightly rebrands Tina Green ‘Lady Greed,’ we join those demanding this creep cough up before Christmas; why should 13,000 families suffer whilst she sits smugly on a £100m yacht?

    Luxury loving Lady Green – who is known to pompously demand those she regards as serfs call her ‘Lady Tina’ – got herself a new moniker in the red-topped The Sun this morning.

     

    Deservedly rebranded ‘Lady Greed’ today, this twice married mother of four and all-round disgrace of a woman is actually worse than her hideous hulk of a husband, ‘Sir Shifty.’ She actually controls the purse strings of the now collapsed Arcadia Group as her very own company owns 92% of it and now it’s in the red, it is time this cash-tin-collecting cretin accepted some personal responsibility.

     

    As 13,000 poor employees and their families face Christmas and beyond in penury due to the mismanagement of ‘Tacky Tina’ and her husband, now is the time when this wicked wench could finally do the decent thing: Lady Green should sell one of her £100 million yachts and pull off a publicity coup by paying off those that her business failings will otherwise make suffer.

     

    Pictured top: The grubby Greens love living it up, quaffing champagne and used to often be found lauding it over the plebs in Annabel’s. These “modern day Dockers” should now become social pariahs.

     

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    Grubby Green Goes Red – Lady Green rebranded ‘Lady Greed’ – As ‘The Sun’ quite rightly rebrands Tina Green ‘Lady Greed,’ we join those demanding this creep cough up before Christmas; why should 13,000 families suffer whilst she sits smugly on a £100m yacht?
    Grubby Green Goes Red – Tina Green supposedly cares about her title and status more than anything else. She ought to have been stripped of it after the BHS pensions debacle whilst her fame seeking criminal shagging daughter, Chloe, should jolly well fade into obscurity also.
  • Sir Shifty Returns to Zero

    Sir Shifty Returns to Zero

    As Arcadia looks set to go under today, ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green will deservedly become this season’s pantomime villain

    This morning in the Guardian, a “veteran retail analyst” named Richard Hyman declared of ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green: “He’s gone from zero to hero, and now it looks like he’s going back to zero again.”

     

    Sadly, why that outcome would be very much deserved for a man the legendary actor-writer-producer Steven Berkoff termed “a cross between Shylock and Al Capone” in this very publication, on the day that his retail empire likely goes under, this rotten rat and his sleazy scumbag family will retain their £100 million yacht just as 13,000 people will likely lose their jobs.

     

    Whilst Sir Philip turned down his arch rival Mike Ashley’s offer of a “£50 million lifeline” to keep Arcadia out of administration – with a spokesman for the fat fool telling The Sun on Saturday: “It’s laughable… Sir Philip is not keen to jump into bed with a chancer” – it is now once again time to remind our government of what should really come next.

     

    As the video below proves, Sir Philip Green is not a man of good personal character and in addition he is also not a businessman of sterling quality. This brash braggart and his tax avoiding wench of a wife should be stripped of their ill-gotten titles and they should now finally be told to bog off to super yachting Siberia. Forever.

     

    Pictured top: Sir Philip Green once thought it funny to wander around in a T-shirt emblazoned with: “Phil Says Relax.” He must now be condemned for causing the Christmases of 13,000 families to be anything but relaxed. Shame on him.

     

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    Sir Shifty Returns to Zero – Sir Philip Green pantomime villain 2020 – As Arcadia looks set to go under today, ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green will deservedly become this season’s pantomime villain.
    Sir Shifty Returns to Zero – Looking as if he didn’t care in the world and wearing scummy white socks, beached whale Sir Philip Green sprawled his colossal belly out on the deck of his £100 million super yacht. According to ‘The Sun,’ the shameless tycoon supposedly will Christmas with a £30,000 per night getaway whilst “13,000 of his staff face the sack.”
    Sir Shifty Returns to Zero – Sir Philip Green pantomime villain 2020 – As Arcadia looks set to go under today, ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green will deservedly become this season’s pantomime villain.
    Sir Shifty Returns to Zero – “Shylock crossed with Al Capone-esque” Sir Philip Green, his title obsessed wife Tina and well-known village bike of a daughter, Chloe.
    Sir Shifty Returns to Zero – A bit like bum slapping, sex offending ex-Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, rotten rat Sir Philip Green likes a bit of a grope and fondle whilst shouting: “I’ve got Naughty.”