Melanie Phillips

[[File:Melanie Phillips.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Phillips in 2016]]
{{pundits}}
{{cquote|'''''I wouldn’t wish that on anyone except Melanie Phillips'''''|||Nelson, spEak You're bRanes.}}

'''Melanie Phillips''' {{lived|1951}}, also known as "'''Mad Mel'''", is an ex-[[communism|communist]], [[right-wing]], and batshit insane [[British]] [[journalism|journalist]]. And that's putting it ''nicely''. A former writer for ''[[The Guardian]]'', she used to predominantly write for ''[[The Daily Mail]]'' but has now defected to [[Rupert Murdoch]]-owned newspapers ''The Times'' and ''Sunday Times''. It's still the same garbage, just tweaked to sound less demented. Phillips describes herself, after Irving Kristol ([[William Kristol|William’s]] dad), as "a liberal who has been [[Dunning-Kruger effect|mugged by reality]]."

==Work and views==
She is a former contributor to the ''Spectator'' magazine<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071007074555/http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/ Melanie Phillips in the ''Spectator'']</ref> where she was willing to support any [[pseudoscience]], [[intelligent design]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090502161307/http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3573761/creating-an-insult-to-intelligence.thtml Melanie Phillips' article "Creating an insult to intelligence"]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090507061818/http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3587356/the-secular-inquisition.thtml Melanie Phillips' article "The secular inquisition"]</ref> [[global warming denialism]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040113042202/http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/archives/000253.html Melanie Phillips' article "The Global Warming Scam"]</ref> anti-[[Islam|Muslim]] [[propaganda]],<ref>{{wpl|Londonistan_(book) | Wikipedia article on her book "Londonistan"}}</ref> and general idiocy. She is particularly known for her support for [[Andrew Wakefield]] and [[vaccine hysteria]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090508094808/http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/05/melanie_phillips_crank_magnetism_in_acti.php Orac &mdash; Melanie Phillips: Crank Magnetism in Action]</ref>

She is also a fairly regular panelist on the [[BBC]]'s political discussion programme ''Question Time'', where she often pretends to be a [[witch]]. Phillips also appears as a regular panelist on BBC Radio Four as a pretend  philosopher on ''The Moral Maze''. 

She has been thought of as being a British [[Poe's Law|satirist]].<ref>[http://unspeak.net/change/ Unspeak article entitled "Change" on her views on the election of [[Barack Obama]] as US President]</ref> However, her articles have yet to show the intelligence required to be classed as [[satire]], so she is more accurately considered to be a British version of [[Ann Coulter]] or [[Michelle Malkin]]. Though, considering that Phillips was born back when dinosaurs walked the Earth, it's perhaps more accurate to say Coulter and Malkin are fledgling Mad Mels.

Discussing [[Barack Obama]]'s views on [[Israel]], Phillips stated that:<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20110525010101/http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/6966810/obamas-achievement-the-mouse-that-roared.thtml</ref>
{{quotebox|…for all his ludicrous protestations of friendship towards Israel, Obama believes the [[Palestinians]] have a legitimate grievance over the absence of their state. He thus believes their [[propaganda]] of historical falsehoods and murderous [[blood libel]]s. He therefore believes it is a just solution to reward murderous aggression. …[And that Obama is] a threat not just to Israel but to free societies everywhere.}}

Phillips's criticisms of liberal Jews who disagree with her positions on Israel have been condemned by writers such as [[Alan Dershowitz]], {{wpl|Rabbi David Goldberg}} and {{wpl|Jonathan Freedland}}. Freedland criticised Phillips's labeling Independent Jewish Voices, a group of liberal Jews, as "Jews For Genocide". He wrote in ''The Jewish Chronicle'', "Now, as it happens, I have multiple criticisms of IJV … but even their most trenchant opponents must surely blanch at the notion that these critics of Israel and of Anglo-Jewish officialdom are somehow in favour of [[genocide]]—literally, eager to see the murder and eradication of the Jewish people … it is an absurdity, one that drains the word 'genocide' of any meaning.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20111005065425/http://website.thejc.com/home.aspx?AId=51460&ATypeId=1&search=true2&srchstr=eager%20to%20see%20the%20murder%20and%20eradication%20of%20the%20Jewish%20people&srchtxt=0&srchhead=1&srchauthor=0&srchsandp=0&scsrch=0</ref>

In July 2011, it was revealed that [[Anders Behring Breivik]], the man responsible for 77 deaths in a combined bombing and shooting spree, quoted Phillips a few times in his manifesto.<ref>Sunny Hundal (July 25<sup>th</sup> 2011). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110726155642/http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/07/25/oslo-terrorist-cited-melanie-phillips-in-his-manifesto/ "Oslo terrorist cited Melanie Phillips in his manifesto"]. ''LiberalConspiracy.org''.</ref><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/25/norway-melanie-phillips-hits-back "Norway attacks: Writer quoted by gunman hits back"]. ''The Guardian''. 25 July 2011.</ref> Though certainly not ''extensively'' quoted throughout the 1500 page super-screed (and no one would accuse her of ''causing'' the attack, of course), Phillips was pretty pissed at the fact she was one of his influences, quoted as saying:
{{quotebox|The supposed beliefs of [[Norway]] massacre's perpetrator has got the left in general wetting itself in delirium at this apparently heaven-sent opportunity to take down those who fight for life, liberty and western civilisation against those who would destroy it.}}

==See also==
*[[Peter Hitchens]], another hard-left to hard-right wrongmerchant.
*''[[Daily Mail]]'' &mdash; The paper she used to work for before getting fired for being too right-wing.
*[[Pamela Geller]] &mdash; Her American equivalent with whom she's had a bit of a falling out.
*[[Debbie Schlussel]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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[[Category:Anti-vaccination movement]]
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[[Category:British people]]
[[Category:British right wing]]
[[Category:Chickenhawks]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Crank magnetism]]
[[Category:Declinists]]
[[Category:Denialists]]
[[Category:Global warming denialists]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:Islamophobes]]
[[Category:Jews]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Leftists who turned right with age]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Political pundits]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]

Categories: Anti-vaccination movement, Authors, British people, British right wing, Chickenhawks, Conspiracy theorists, Crank magnetism, Declinists, Denialists, Global warming denialists, Homophobes, Islamophobes, Jews, Journalists, Leftists who turned right with age, Living people, Political pundits, Pseudoscience promoters, Right-wing activists