Which 50 people made Britain the wreck she is? Which 50 idiots did it? From ludicrous propagandist Alastair Campbell to the Luftwaffe's Hermann Goering and his allies, it's time to name the guilty men and women. Quentin Letts sharpens his nib and stabs them where they deserve it, from tennis player John McEnroe to TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh, the dumbed-down buffoon who put the 'h' in Aspidistra. Margaret Thatcher ruptured our national unity. The creators of East Enders trashed our brand over high tea. Here, he argues, are the people who made our country the ugly, scheming, cheating, beer-ridden bum of the Western world.Here are the fools and knaves and vulgarians who ripped down our British glories and imposed the tawdry and the trite. In a half century, we have gone from end-of-Empire to descent-into-Hell. How did this happen? Whose fault was it? Letts' outrageous pen portraits, some comical, some steaming with anger, include royalty, politicians, artists and even the man who invented the mini-roundabout. Readers will be invited to draft alternative lists. But can any of them be quite as politically incorrect as this The complete 50 are: Jean and Gareth Adamson; 'Anonymous'; Jeffrey Archer; Kenneth Baker; Ed Balls; Peter Bazalgette; Richard Beeching; John Birt; Frank Blackmore; Tony Blair; David Blunkett; Rhodes Boyson; Gordon Brown; Paul Burrell; James Callaghan; Alastair Campbell; Anthony Crosland; Richard Dawkins and Charles Simonyi; Princess Diana; Andrew Dismore; Greg Dyke; Sir Alex Ferguson; Maurice 'Maus' Gatsonides; Tony Greig; Edward Heath; The Very Rev Ronald Jasper; Graham Kelly; Graham Kendrick; Sir Denys Lasdun; Dame Suzi Leather; John McEnroe; Stephen Marks; Michael Martin; Alun Michael; Rupert Murdoch; John Prescott; Nicholas Ridley; Geoffrey Rippon; Charles Saatchi; Sir Jimmy Savile; John Scarlett; Howard Schultz; Julia Smith; Janet Street-Porter; Margaret Thatcher; Alan Titchmarsh; Harold Walker; and Helen Willetts.
