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Opinions (TV Series)
''Opinions'' was a British talk programme broadcast on Channel 4 television in the 1980s and 1990s. According to ''Time'' magazine, ''Opinions'' gave "a public figure 30-minutes of airtime each week to expound on a controversial topic (Germaine Greer on Margaret Thatcher, Edward Teller on nuclear defence)". "A speaker could express his or her own views straight to camera for 30 minutes" "an earnest of Channel 4's faith and mission to bring edgy, alternative fare to the public and to excite reaction". During the time it was produced by Open Media, the series featured such figures as Edward de Bono, Alan Clark, Linda Colley, Brian Cox, James Goldsmith, Paul Hill, Dusan Makavejev, G.F. Newman, George Soros and Norman Stone. One - by Dennis Potter, in 1993 - was given a cinema screening by the BFI in July 2014. Among those appearing in the ''Opinions'' 1993 debate in Westminster Central Hall about democracy in Britain chaired by Vincent Hanna were Zaki Badawi, Christine Crawley, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Clark
Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade and Defence. He became a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1991. He was the author of several books of military history, including his controversial work ''The Donkeys'' (1961), which inspired the musical satire ''Oh, What a Lovely War!'' Clark became known for his flamboyance, wit, irreverence and keen support of animal rights. Norman Lamont called him "the most politically incorrect, outspoken, iconoclastic and reckless politician of our times". Clark is particularly remembered for his three-volume ''Alan Clark Diaries'', which contains a candid account of political life under Thatcher and a moving description of the weeks preceding his death, when he continued to write until he could no longer focus on the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (1986), and the BBC television plays '' Blue Remembered Hills'' (1979) and ''Brimstone and Treacle'' (1976). His television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social, and often used themes and images from popular culture. Potter is widely regarded as one of the most influential and innovative dramatists to have worked in British television. Born in Gloucestershire and graduating from Oxford University, Potter initially worked in journalism. After standing for parliament as a Labour candidate at the 1964 general election, his health was affected by the onset of psoriatic arthropathy which necessitated Potter to change career and led to him becoming a television dramatist. He began with contributions to BBC1's regular serie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janet Paraskeva
Dame Janet Paraskeva (born 28 May 1946, Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales) is a British government official. She was appointed as the First Civil Service Commissioner on 1 January 2006. On 15 November 2007 Paraskeva was announced by Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, as first Chair of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. Her appointment, which lasted four years, took effect on 19 November 2007. Paraskeva began her career as a science and mathematics teacher in 1967. After graduating from the Open University The Open University (OU) is a British Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's underg ... in 1983 with a social sciences degree, Paraskeva joined Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education, HM Inspector of Schools where she served until 1988. She has served as chief executive at the Law ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincent Nichols
Vincent Gerard Nichols (born 8 November 1945) is an English cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He previously served as Archbishop of Birmingham from 2000 to 2009. On 22 February 2014, Pope Francis admitted Archbishop Nichols to the Sacred College of Cardinals at a general consistory. Nichols wrote to Pope Francis offering his resignation as archbishop as of his 75th birthday on 8 November 2020, as is customary; the pope asked him to stay on as archbishop until the appointment of a successor. In November 2020 the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse heavily criticised Nichols as the leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales for lack of personal responsibility, of compassion towards victims, of the leadership expected, and for prioritising the reputation of the church above the suffering of victims. A church spokesperson said Nichols would not be resigning a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoff Mulgan
Sir Geoff Mulgan CBE (born 1961) is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). From 2011 to 2019 he was Chief Executive of the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and Visiting Professor at University College London, the London School of Economics, and the University of Melbourne. In 2020, he joined the Nordic think tank Demos Helsinki as a Fellow. Previously he was: *CEO of the Young Foundation based in London *Director of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit (and before that Director of the Performance and Innovation Unit) *Director of Policy at 10 Downing Street under British Prime Minister Tony Blair *Co-founder and Director of the London-based think tank Demos (from 1993 to 1998) *Chief adviser to Gordon Brown MP in the early 1990s Mulgan obtained a first-class degree from Balliol College, Oxford and a PhD in telecommunications from the University of Westminster. He was also a Fell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Miliband
David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Shields from 2001 to 2013. He and his brother, Ed Miliband, were the first siblings to sit in the Cabinet simultaneously since Lord Edward and Oliver Stanley in 1938. He was a candidate for Labour Party leadership in 2010, following the departure of Gordon Brown, but was defeated by his brother and subsequently left politics. He started his career at the Institute for Public Policy Research. Aged 29, he became Tony Blair's Head of Policy while the Labour Party was in opposition, and he was a contributor to Labour's manifesto for the 1997 election, which brought the party to power. Blair subsequently made him head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit from 1997 to 2001, at which point Miliband was electe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Mansfield
Michael Mansfield (born 12 October 1941) is an English barrister and head of chambers at Nexus Chambers. He was recently described as "The king of human rights work" by The Legal 500 and as a Leading Silk in civil liberties and human rights (including actions against the police). A British republican, vegetarian, socialist and self-described "radical lawyer", he has participated in prominent and controversial court cases and inquests involving accused IRA bombers, the Birmingham Six, Bloody Sunday massacre, the Hillsborough disaster and the deaths of Jean Charles de Menezes and Princess Diana and the McLibel case. Early life Mansfield grew up in north Finchley, North London, and attended Holmewood Preparatory School (Woodside Park) before going to Highgate School and the University of Keele, where he graduated with a BA (Hons) in history and philosophy, and was Secretary of Keele's Students' Union. Career Mansfield was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1967, beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Kennedy
Paul Michael Kennedy (born 17 June 1945) is a British historian specialising in the history of international relations, economic power and grand strategy. He has published prominent books on the history of British foreign policy and great power struggles. He emphasises the changing economic power base that undergirds military and naval strength, noting how declining economic power leads to reduced military and diplomatic weight. Life Kennedy was born in Wallsend, Northumberland, and attended St. Cuthbert's Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne. Subsequently, he graduated with first-class honours in history from Newcastle University and obtained his doctorate from St. Antony's College, Oxford, under the supervision of A. J. P. Taylor and John Andrew Gallagher. He was a member of the History Department at the University of East Anglia between 1970 and 1983. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a former visiting fellow of the Institute for Ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, Hitchens worked as a journalist with the ''New Statesman'' magazine in London in the 1970s after leaving Oxford. In the early 1980s he emigrated to the United States and wrote for '' The Nation'' and ''Vanity Fair''. Hitchens political views evolved greatly throughout his life. Originally describing himself as a democratic socialist, he was a member of various socialist organisations in his early life, including the International Socialists. Hitchens eventually no longer regarded himself as socialist, but continued to admire aspects of Marxism. He was critical of aspects of American foreign policy, including its involvement in Vietnam, Chile, and East Timor. However, he also supported the United States in the Kosovo War. After Hitchens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Ekins
Professor Paul Ekins OBE (born 1950) is a British academic in the field of sustainable economics, currently co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre. He is a former member of the Green Party. Political career Ekins was a prominent member of the Green Party UK (now the Green Party of England and Wales) in the 1970s and 1980s. He left in 1986 after controversy over reforms he and others were promoting to streamline Green Party structures. This group, known as "Maingreen", was seen as a forerunner of the moves to reform the party's internal structures by a later group known as Green 2000.Wall, Derek, ''Weaving a Bower Against Endless Night: An Illustrated History of the Green Party'', 1994 Career after politics Ekins has been a prominent green academic in the field of sustainable economics. He has also worked as a consultant. In 1996, he set up Forum for the Future with Sara Parkin and Jonathon Porritt. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christine Crawley
Christine Mary Crawley, Baroness Crawley FRSA (born 9 January 1950) is a British politician for the Labour Party. Early life Crawley was educated at the Notre Dame High School School in Plymouth before going to Digby Stuart College (University of Roehampton) to train as a teacher. After graduation she began teaching children aged between 9 and 15, and also ran the local youth theatre. Political career Her work to gain funding for the youth theatre brought her into contact with local politicians, and she became involved in politics, joining the Labour Party. Soon after joining the party she became secretary of the local branch, and then Social Secretary for the local Women's Branch. She was elected as a District Councillor for the South Oxfordshire District Council, at a time when the Labour Party was a minority party on the council. In 1983, she ran for a seat in the House of Commons but was not elected, instead spending a year working on local issues before she was elected ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zaki Badawi
Sheikh Mohammed Aboulkhair Zaki Badawi ( ar, الشيخ محمد أبو الخير زكي بدوي), KBE, GCFO (14 January 1922 – 24 January 2006) was a prominent Egyptian Islamic scholar, community activist, and promoter of interfaith-dialogue. He was the principal of the Muslim College in London, which he founded in 1986. He also was a frequent writer and broadcaster on Islamic affairs. Early life and education Born in Egypt, Badawi trained at al-Azhar University in Cairo, gaining an undergraduate degree in Theology. He received the King Farouk First Prize for the best undergraduate student, and obtained subsequently a master's degree in Arabic Language and Literature in 1947 at the same university. He again received the King Farouk First Prize for the best postgraduate student. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1951 and studied Psychology at University College London, obtaining his B.Sc. degree in 1954 and a Ph.D. degree in Modern Muslim Thought from the Uni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
