Readers of Left Foot Forward have voted Owen Jones, academic and author of “Chavs: the Demonisation of the Working Class”, as the most influential leftwing thinker of the year 2010/11. He came ahead of Caroline Lucas, Tom Watson and Polly Toynbee to take the top spot.
The full results are listed below:
1) Owen Jones (Academic, author and commentator)
2) Caroline Lucas (Leader of the Green Party)
3) Tom Watson (Media campaigner)
4) Polly Toynbee (Journalist)
5) Paul Krugman (Economist and opinion journalist)
6) Naomi Klein (Author and journalist)
7) Richard Murphy (Tax expert and blogger)
8) Ed Miliband (Leader of the opposition)
9) Ken Livingstone (Mayoral candidate)
10) Mehdi Hasan (Journalist)
11) Nick Davies (Guardian media journalist)
12) Ed Balls (Shadow chancellor)
13) Will Hutton (Author and commentator)
14) The Disability Rights Community
15) Barack Obama (US President)
16) Peter Tatchell (Human rights campaigner)
17) Nicholas Shaxson (Author, researcher and campaigner)
18) Maurice Glasman (Academic, author and lord)
19) Alex Salmond (First Minister of Scotland)
20) Tony Blair (Middle East peace envoy)
21) Andrew Simms (Policy director of New Economics Foundation)
22) Vince Cable (Business Secretary)
23) Neil Lawson (Chair of think tank Compass)
24) Anthony Painter (Researcher and theorist)
25) Bernard-Henri Levy (Philosopher and commentator)
26) Dani Rodrick (Academic and tweeter)
27) Elizabeth Anderson (Philosopher)
28) Deborah Mattinson (Pollster)
29) Lane Kenworthy (Sociologist and blogger)
30) Jacob Hacker (Academic and author)
Congratulations to Owen and many thanks to those who voted for me.
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Congrats, but sorry, I’m not sure I’d want to be in a list that had Tony Blair at 20. Kinda wonder what defines ‘left’.
OK! He may not have been the only one….
But a lot of good friends on their too who I have been pleased to work with
I’ll live with Blair in that case…largely because I suspect he’d rather not be on a list with me
“largely because I suspect he’d rather not be on a list with me”
He probably hasn’t got the faintest idea who you are.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/dec/17/mystery-tony-blairs-money-solved
Bet he has
Of course Tony Blair has heard of Richard Murphy.
Probably causes him to have nightmares!
Just as others will enjoy a good night’s sleep knowing that RM is out there actively campaigning for justice and common sense.
Owen Jones may well deserve the accolade “most influential leftwing thinker of the year 2010/11” — but not because of his book – “Chavs: the Demonisation of the Working Class”,
That working class equals “chav” is about as ridiculous as claiming that “chav” equals “working class”. There were plenty of “upper class chavs” on view in Rock and other Cornish holiday villages this summer.
And last week one Tory broad sheet even referred to Zara Phillips as a “chav”
That the use of the word “chav” is part of a plot by elite Tories to keep the lower orders in their place is clearly ridiculous and an attempt to stir up a class war forgotten years ago — as typified by linking the media coverage of Shannon Matthews and Madeleine McCann cases which is both facile and inflammatory.
There are plenty of more useful books out there to spend you money on!
No doubt (some) other readers will disagree.
As someone else has already pointed out – Tony Blair at number 20 on the list? They’re having a giraffe, aren’t they?? 🙂
Groucho Marx,’I don’t want to be a member of any club that will have me’.
Yeh
I know places I’d say that about
But not everywhere
Not an industrialist amongst the top 30. No modern day Robert Owen or Cadbury.
The usual suspects, most of them economic drones. I am not sure you should be proud to be on this list. That does not mean to say I don’t value your work, but if you want to be a card carrying lefty you may gain tempoarary fame among the chattering class, but your cause will not endure.
Let me unpack that.
What you’re saying is that if I’m o the left I’m bound to fail
But if I become a right wing industrialist I’ll succeed
Might I question your success criteria in that case?
I don’t want to be part of the problem. I want to be part of the solution