Brendan O'Neill (columnist) facts for kids

Brendan O'Neill is an English writer and commentator. He was the editor of a magazine called Spiked from 2007 to 2021. He is now its main political writer. He also writes regular articles for newspapers and magazines like The Australian, The Big Issue, and The Spectator.

Brendan O'Neill used to be part of a political group called the Revolutionary Communist Party. He wrote for their magazine, Living Marxism. In 2019, he described his political views as being a "Marxist libertarian." This means he believes in some ideas from Karl Marx but also strongly supports individual freedom.

Brendan O'Neill's Career

Brendan O'Neill started his writing career at Living Marxism. This magazine was the earlier version of Spiked. Living Marxism stopped publishing after a TV news company, ITN, won a legal case against them. Living Marxism had claimed that ITN showed a misleading picture of a prison camp during the Bosnian war.

Since then, O'Neill has written for many different publications. These include The Spectator, the New Statesman, and BBC News Online in the United Kingdom. He has also written for The Christian Science Monitor and Salon in the United States. In Australia, he writes for The Australian. He also writes a column for The Big Issue in London and articles for The Sun.

Brendan O'Neill's Views

Views on Northern Ireland

Brendan O'Neill believes that Northern Ireland should be part of the Republic of Ireland. He did not agree with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. This was a peace deal that aimed to end the conflict in Northern Ireland. O'Neill wrote that the deal was a "disgrace." He felt that the republican movement, which wanted a united Ireland, gave up too much. He believed they accepted that a united Ireland would not happen.

Views on Environmentalism

O'Neill has said that the environmental movement has become like a "religious cult." He believes it is "waging war on the working class." He has also been criticized for comments he made about the young environmental activist Greta Thunberg. O'Neill thinks that warnings about overpopulation (too many people on Earth) interfere with women's right to choose about having children. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said that the pandemic showed what life would be like if environmentalists got their way.

Views on Brexit

In September 2019, Brendan O'Neill spoke on a BBC show called Politics Live. He said that British people should be protesting strongly about delays to Brexit. Brexit was when the United Kingdom left the European Union. He said he was "amazed that there haven't been riots yet." When asked if he thought there would be protests, O'Neill replied, "I think there should be." Later, the BBC's complaints unit looked into 585 complaints about his comments. They decided to dismiss the complaints.