Fisking the Independent's "Good" list

This morning, Croydonian drew my attention to another "list" which had apparently been drawn up by the Indy and was being reported on the BBC. The list is supposedly a "Good List" in comparison to the Times "Rich List". It's supposedly contains those who are "driven by an urge to make the world a better place".

The man from Croydon and I decided we'd go through the list as some of them leapt out at us as members of the extreme Left. There were a few people on the list that neither of us really found that objectional, however we got carried away looking for objectional things, hence people like Bob Geldof, and Shami Chakrabarti didn't escape. The list remains a work in progress as some of the people on it are quite elusive.

Mohammed Bari: He would make Britain a better place thus: "His aim, he says, will be to encourage Britain to adopt more Muslim ways, as well as to encourage Muslims to be good British citizens. He thinks that non-Muslim Britons would benefit from having arranged marriages and espousing stronger family values; they would also do well to stop drinking and gambling and to follow many of the teachings of Islam".

Ricard Adams: His company Traidcraft 'embodies the ideal that a business should work in the interests of all its stakeholders, and be accountable for its impact on the poor'. So it isn't really a company in any meaningful sense at all....

Shami Chakrabarti: 'She arrived at Liberty the day before the Twin Towers were bombed. "...All I could think of was that my friends at the Home Office were going to be a target..."

Donald Findlater: The Deputy director of child protection charity the Lucy Faithfull Foundation. Findlater suggested there be a hard drive amnesty for anyone that downloads kiddie porn in order to help them realise they're twisted deviants.

Niall Fitzgerald: "Big business people like Niall FitzGerald thought it would be a good idea to join the ERM, which turned out to be a total disaster. He has learnt nothing from his mistakes and doesn't seem to appreciate the full economic implications of the euro". Tim Martin, chairman, JD Wetherspoon pubs.

Bob Geldof: Calls people selling Live8 tickets on eBay "wretches" who engage in a "corporate culture which capitalizes on people's misery." Whilst simultaneously selling 5000 tickets for fenced off front stage area to corporate buyers.

John Harris: "I don't think infanticide is always unjustifiable. I don't think it is plausible to think that there is any moral change that occurs during the journey down the birth canal."

Bob Holman: academic / social worker: Moved his family to a sink estate for the good of his career in order that he could study his lab rats up close.

Bruce Kent: head of CND in the 80s. 'Nuff said.

Ken Loach: On the board of Respect, apparently. And as [Croydonian] noted before, has commented on this Sceptered Isle thus: "I don't know why they call it Great Britain, it is just a small island off the cost of France". But still quite happy to take tax payers money etc to fund his films.

Andrew Linzey: "Confining a de-beaked hen in a battery cage is more than a moral crime; it is a living sign of our failure to recognize the blessing of God in creation"

Mark Malloch Brown: Failed to get selected as an SDP candidate. How? Effectively called those in between the East and West coasts of America cretins whilst he was making a diplomatic speech at the UN.

Mohammed Mamdani: Believes that Islamism has nothhing to do with religion and is actually the product of the transition from colonialism to postcolonialism. Basically, it's all our fault. Not only this, apparently the USA has had a strategy of terror ever since the end of the Vietnam war.

Gareth Peirce: Has addressed Socialist Worker conferences, inter alia.

Jonathon Porritt AKA Sir Jonathon Espie Porritt, 2nd Baronet: "The combination of aggressive unilateralism in pursuit of a new American imperium, an unprecedentedly radical application of neo-conservative economic policies, and the mind-boggling adherence of Americans to ... religious fundamentalism poses ... the greatest threat to the prospect of sustainable development becoming the dominant political framework."

Tariq Ramadan: The grandson of Hassan al Banna, the founder of the revolutionary Muslim Brotherhood which is dedciated to jihad and the political ideology of Islamism (basically fascism with an Islamic edge). He's repeatedly said that attacks against British troops in Iraq are just. And has justifed terrorist attacks on civilians in Palestine, Israel, Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Tom Shakespeare AKA Sir Thomas William Shakespeare, 3rd Baronet: 'Birth of Jesus - no reason to celebrate': "For example, in Matthew 9.17, we read that Jesus restored sight to the blind man. Now, I don't want to be ungrateful here - let's face it, us disabled people need all the help we can get - but isn't this rather a Medical Model miracle? Wouldn't it have been far more awesome had Jesus taken the opportunity to invent Braille, saving the world a wait of nearly 1800 years?"

Jon Snow: Described rockets which killed Israeli civilians in the town of Sderot as "Rockets, pretty pathetic things - nobody gets injured".

Clive Stafford Smith: described conservative members of the Supreme Court as 'the lunatic fringe'.

Peter Tatchell: The rather famous Gay Rights campaigner. Ironically Tatchell's number one target these days are Islamists like Tariq Ramadan. However, in the past he has thought nothing of infringing people's privacy in order to "out" them for their own good.

Shirley Williams: destroyed the British education system, and would appear to be responsible for the urban legend about Bush claiming the French have no word for 'entrepreneur'.

Benjamin Zephaniah: Is 'a passionate vegan' and has summed up the British Empire thus "thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalized".