FORMER Conservative MP Edwina Currie appeared on Good Morning Britain advising the financially challenged British population to put tin foil behind their radiators as a means of maximising the heating of homes.
Her advice had financial guru and GMB presenter Martin Lewis with his head in his hands. He acknowledged that while her advice was useful, it goes nowhere near solving the problem of the soaring cost of energy.
Currie has a history of making egregious and outrageous remarks and being completely out of touch with the mood of the British public. She is a shameless self-publicist.
READ MORE: Martin Lewis despairs on GMB as Edwina Currie shares energy saving foil 'tip'
When she became a junior health minister in September 1986, she was noted for having a loose tongue and for saying something outrageous about anything including, “good Christian people don’t get AIDS” even though she was not a Christian herself.
Currie’s record as a junior health minister came under thorough examination because of her close association with Jimmy Savile. She made Savile chairman of Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, where he molested and raped mentally unstable patients. She also advised the elderly who could not afford their heating bills to wear an extra layer and said that northerners die of “ignorance and chips”.
READ MORE: 'War on woke' candidate Suella Braverman made Home Secretary after Priti Patel resignation
Currie was forced to resign as parliamentary under-secretary for health in December 1988 when she said, “most of the egg production in this country, sadly, is now affected with salmonella.” Farmers and egg producers reacted with fury as egg sales in the country declined by 60%. She became known as “Eggwina”. In order to boost sales of her autobiography, she revealed she had a four-year affair with Prime Minister John Major.
Her appearance on GMB and her remarks have made it obvious that this heartless, self-regarding woman with her unguarded tongue still eagerly embraces controversy, that the years haven’t bestowed wisdom on her and that her penchant for indulging in polemics remains undiminished.
Sandy Gordon
Edinburgh
MURDO Fraser is following the “respect” agenda of his fellow Tory MSP Stephen Kerr.
He refers to the First Minister “swanning around” eg Denmark and the Fringe – so respectful.
He says there are rats in the streets – I can tell him there are always rats in the streets – where there is water, there are rats. But most of them I would suggest are in Westminster.
READ MORE: Murdo Fraser says 135 ethical complaints against him dismissed by watchdog
As far as setting aside £20 million for an independence referendum, that is a fly in the ocean of waste by Westminster and Boris: his garden bridge, the billions spent on a new warship which did not manage to get past the Isle of Wight etc, and that is only what we know of – still no figures for the “Union” branch and their spending.
In the meantime Boris is still playing with his dressing-up box and his best advice is to buy a new kettle and save £10 a year. Some of us are having to be so careful, that idea is as ridiculous as Boris is himself.
Don’t forget the Tories in Holyrood are the only party not willing to sign a motion to freeze energy prices. It seems they are as concerned as Boris.
Winifred McCartney
Paisley
I SO enjoyed Alan Riach’s assessment of one of my true literary and political heroes, R B Cunninghame Graham (RB Cunninghame Graham’s unique literary legacy, Sep 5).
The quotes Alan included were expertly chosen to give us the very essence of the man.
Let me add my own favourite Graham quote, which I find to be a summation of so many things.
“I have no theory of empires, destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race, spread of the Christian faith, of trade extension or of hinterlands; No nostrum by means of which I hope to turn Arabs into Christians, reconcile Allah to Jahve, remove the ancient lack of comprehension between East and West, mix oil and vinegar, or fix the rainbow always in the sky!
“I fear I write of things without a scrap of interest to right-thinking men! On the contrary, of lonely rides, desolate empty places or ruined buildings seen in peculiar lights, of simple folk ... in fact of things which, to a traveller, his travels o’er still conjure up the best part of all travel – it’s melancholy.”
Ah, such exquisite melancholy!
Drew MacLeod
Wick
A WORD of thanks to The National and to David Pratt for his diary, reports and photos from the ongoing war in Ukraine. His interviews and travels through this war-ravaged country, meeting those whose lives have been torn apart, has kept in focus the awful horror they are experiencing.
IN PICTURES: How ordinary Ukrainians are coping six months into Russia's invasion
This has been in sharp contrast to our main evening television news bulletins, where for many weeks now Ukraine has often not even featured, the news being pre-occupied with the charade of a Tory leadership contest. We as readers are indebted to David for this and his other foreign journeys.
John Macleod
Milngavie
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