Hate, I think we can all agree, is a negative and damaging emotion. Brendan Cox, whose wife Jo was murdered by Thomas Mair, said that he felt not hate but pity for him. I am not sure I could feel that benevolent, if the truth be known. There are still some people I truly hate and one of them has been dead for years.
My list of hate is not finite but it’s consistent. Margaret Thatcher will always be top, ahead even of vicious murderers, because of the pernicious effects she had on our country which we still feel today. I cannot think of a single good word to say about her. She made greed seem good, she taught people that neighbours didn’t matter, she believed people, even when they had no legs, should stand on their own two feet. She divided the country between those who believed in society and those who didn’t. I doubt that her poisonous legacy will ever be lifted in my lifetime.
Then there are those who own and run the national press. Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Sun, presides over sheer evil. He employs or employed vile individuals like Katie Hopkins, Kelvin McKenzie, Richard Littlejohn and Trevor Kavanagh, enemies all of working people, collectivism, loving thy neighbour, liberal values and telling the truth. And I mean evil. It is not a word I hesitate to use with Murdoch and certainly not with Paul Dacre, editor of Britain’s nastiest newspaper, the Daily Mail. The Mail, as I often say, supported Hitler before World War Two but has moved considerably to the right since then. It lies, it distorts and it poisons the nation. Never believe the old adage that people don’t believe what they read in the papers. It is a real worry people believe anything they read in our right wing media.
I am not sure Nigel Farage is evil. A racist and a xenophobe, for sure and by leading Britain out of the EU his legacy will be a poorer, less liberal, less tolerant and less prosperous nation. He’s a horrible, horrible individual whom I dislike intensely but that’s different from hate.
Add to the list, quite near the top, the former football coach and scout Barry Bennell. I am not pronouncing him guilty for alleged abuse to young boys that is now coming to light because that is a matter for the authorities. But read about him and why he ended up in prison. He carried out his attacks in plain sight, rather like Jimmy Savile. Bennell, who is now out on licence but has been jailed three times for sexual abuse, is what he is. Like someone who is attracted to people of the opposite sex or indeed the same sex, he is attracted to young boys. That’s just the way he is, born evil. And I hate anyone – anyone – who abuses anyone else, but particularly children.
Margaret Thatcher, Rupert Murdoch, Paul Dacre, Barry Bennell – evil people, all of whom have done bad things in their lives and very little good. And I hate all of them, even the ones who are dead.
