Helen Disney

Helen Disney Photo: Stockholm Network

Helen Elizabeth Disney (born 1 April 1973, formerly Helen Brown) is the founder of Market House International and the Stockholm Network, she has been its director since its inception in 1997. Disney is a journalist who specialises in public policy topics like privatisation/deregulation and health care. She has written articles for The Times, The Daily Express and the Financial Times. Prior to April 2002 Disney's articles were published under the name Helen Brown. Her articles in the mainstream press stopped appearing in 2003, which is when she set up Market House International. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists, Women in Journalism and the Women Writers Network.

On her archived personal website from 2002 Disney describes having "links with a wide range of think-tanks including Civitas (London), Timbro (Stockholm) and the Centre for the New Europe (Brussels)". In another section on the website she lists under the heading "organisations I work with", Civitas, Centre for the New Europe Health, Pfizer Forum, Public Finance, Public Service Magazine and the Stockholm Network. In 2006 Newsweek described Helen Disney's role:

If Europe was once a hotbed for capitalist thought, people like Helen Disney think it can be so again. When she founded the Stockholm Network in 1997 as a loose organization of pro-market and libertarian activists, she says, many members were at first surprised that like-minded people even existed in Europe. Now the network includes more than 130 groups, from Poland's Adam Smith Foundation to Belgium's Centre for the New Europe. "The pro-market movement has definitely reached critical mass," Disney says. Every February since 2003, they head to the Capitalist Ball in Brussels--not a gala for cigar-wielding plutocrats, but a networking confab for Europe's growing number of free-market think-tankers and activists.

Background

Disney attended the private Oxford High School for Girls GDST and then the University of Bristol, graduating in 1995 with a degree in French and Italian.

Pfizer Forum

On Helen Disney's personal website, archived in 2002, she lists the Pfizer Forum, under "organisations I work with", alongside an outline of the work carried out by the forum:

Pfizer Forum is a series of advertorial articles published in a range of European and US newspapers and journals, including The Economist, International Herald Tribune, European Voice, Prospect magazine and the Financial Times. Topics range from health care reform and pharmaceutical policies to patient information, advances in the treatment of diseases, intellectual property protection, globalisation, access to medicines and attitudes towards science and scientific research in Europe.

Pfizer are a pharmaceutical firm who are listed as one of the funders of the Stockholm Network in the networks accounts for 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08.

Think tank appointments

Social Market Foundation 1996-2000

By the next year Disney had landed a job with the pro market think tank the Social Market Foundation. She worked there from 1996-2000, where she edited their quarterly journal The Review. In 2004 the Stockholm Network website noted that while at the SMF she 'edited' The Sex-Change Society by Melanie Phillips, which was published by the Social Market Foundation.

It was while she was at the SMF that the Stockholm Network was created and launched.

Stockholm Network 1997 to present

Helen Disney founded the Stockholm Network in September 1997, the earliest archived version of the network's website, from September 2000, described the network as:

"a cooperative group of European free-market think tanks which aims to create the preconditions for a reform-minded and well-informed debate on the European welfare state. The main groups in the network are Timbro (Sweden), the Social Market Foundation (UK), Paradigmes (France) and the Centre for the New Europe (a pan-European think tank based in Brussels, Belgium).

The earliest references to Stockholm Network activity come in the form of a 1999 report by the Heritage Foundation. The report references three Stockholm Network conferences as footnotes, the conferences are as follows:

• Kurt Wickman, "Is Harmonization of Tax Policies Between EU Countries a Good Idea," Stockholm Network Conference, March 1999.
• David Smith, "Will Tax Harmonization Harm Job Creation," A European Harmony, Stockholm Network Conference, May 8, 1999.
• John Burton, "Going Underground," Stockholm Network Conference, December 1999.

Civitas 2001-2003

Helen Disney had a dual role between 2001 and 2003, she was the co-ordinator of the Stockholm Network which was based at Civitas, and she was also the director of European relations for Civitas. While at Civitas she 'edited' Europe's Welfare Burden , and Breaking Down the Barriers published by Civitas: The Institute for the Study of Civil Society for the Stockholm Network.

Helen Disney and the Stockholm Network left Civitas sometime between 10-October-2003 and the 12-December-2003. Disney and the Stockholm Network had been based at Civitas offices at The Mezzanine, Elizabeth House, 39 York Rd, London SE1 7NQ, they moved to a new office at 35 Britannia Row, London N1 8QH, the first online record of them operating from Britannia row is from the 02-February-2004.

Market House International 2003-2006

Helen Disney in image from the website of Market House International, circa 2003

Disney was appointed the sole director of Market House International on 5 November 2003, the same day the company was incorporated at Companies House. She listed her occupation as 'freelance journalist'. The Secretary of the company appointed on the same day was Rick Nye. Nye and Disney had been at the Social Market Foundation at the same time.

Editing the Stockholm Network on Wikipedia

When in 2009 the Adam Smith Institute, Libertarian Alliance and Nurses for Reform left the Stockholm Network, Helen Disney changed the SN Wikipedia entry to explain that the Libertarian Alliance and Nurses for Reform had their "membership withdrawn". Disney had on two prior occasions (on 7 August 2008 and 20 January 2009) attempted to remove all mention of think tanks leaving the alliance from Wikipedia On 23rd January 2009 an anonymous user also added details of three new members of the network on 23 January 2009, these were the Ohrid Institute (Macedonia), the Murray Rothbard Institute (Belgium) and Innoval (Germany) As with a number of other anonymous edits to this page the IP address of the user has only edited pages on the Stockholm Network (twice). An IP lookup for this address suggests that the pc making the edits was based near the junction of Waterloo Bridge, Lambeth Place road and York Road in central London.

In a further edit to the Stockholm Network's Wikipedia page owner Helen Disney added the following comments about funding and transparency:

The Stockholm Network has made efforts to be transparent regarding the sources of its funding, and has advocated that other think tanks should also list their funders on their websites. This would make accusations of potential conflicts of interest, or lobbying, which can be impossible to either corroborate or refute (given their often unattributed and/or unverified nature) less likely.

Prior to adding this comment about transparency Disney made repeated edits to remove material from Wikipedia about the Stockholm Network. Including resources that linked to critical articles in Spinwatch and Corporate Europe Observatory. Disney also tried to remove any mention of think tanks leaving the network.

Publications

Newspaper/Magazine Articles

2003

• Disney, H., 2003, Organs scandal exposes arrogance of the medical profession; why do doctors treat us with contempt?, The Express, 14-May-2003
• Disney, H., 2003, Choice is key as reforms promise a more responsive system; patient power is the only remedy for NHS, The Express, 18-July-2003
• Disney, H., 2003, Shorter hours and longer holidays may come at a price; will less work really mean a happier life?, The Express, 8-August-2003
• Disney, H., 2003, Patient Power is the only remedy for the NHS, Daily Express, 18 July 2003
• Disney, H., 2003, Tony Blair is now pursuing war on two fronts - defending his decision over Iraq and pushing forward reform of public services, Public Finance magazine, 4 July 2003
• Disney, H., 2003, Why do doctors treat us with contempt?: The recent organs scandal exposes the arrogance of the medical profession, Daily Express, 14 May 2003
• Disney, H., 2003, On the home front: How will the cost of war in Iraq affect the domestic public service agenda?, Public Finance, 28 March 2003

2002

• Disney, H., 2002, Society must not ignore the crimes of women's 'loved' ones; Facing the awful truth about rape, The Express, 24-July-2002
• Disney, H., 2002, We shouldn't be complacent over environmental good news; Ozone hole closes but battle goes on, The Express, 19-September-2002
• Disney, H., 2002, Sickening hypocrisy from the unions over health, The Times, 28-October-2002
• Disney, H., 2002, Government goals could actually be making services worse; aiming for targets misses the point, The Express, 29-October-2002
• Disney, H., 2002, Who'll let the watchdogs out?: Can we really use arms-length regulators as a means of driving up public service standards?, Public Finance, 22 November 2002
• Disney, H., 2002, Aiming for targets misses the point: Government goals could actually be making services worse, Daily Express, 29 October 2002
• Disney, H., 2002, Sickening hypocrisy of the trade unions on health: Why do trade union leaders insist on misrepresenting the non-state health sector when they all use it themselves?, The Times, 28 October 2002
• Disney, H., 2002, Has the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority made it to the top of the class or is the conclusion that it 'could try harder'? On the occasion of its first five year review, it seems the answer is not just in its own hands, Public Service Magazine (PSM), Aug-Sept 2002
• Disney, H., 2002, Size isn't everything: Evidence suggests that class sizes may not matter as much as the Government claims, Public Finance, 24 May 2002
• Disney, H., 2002, The ozone hole may be closing but a host of environmental problems remain : Reducing CFC use may have helped close the ozone hole but other global protocols will prove far harder to implement, Daily Express, Thursday 19 September 2002
• Disney, H., 2002, Facing the awful truth about rape: Rape is a serious offence whether it takes place in the marital bed or down a deserted alley but there are those who still believe that it is less serious when a husband or partner is involved, Daily Express, 24 July 2002

2001

• Disney, H., 2001, Money alone can't cure the ills of the NHS: A lack of vision will condemn our health service to a deathly future, Daily Express, 28 November, 2001
• Disney, H., 2001, Individual Learning Accounts were designed to help people help themselves, so what went wrong?, Public Finance, 2 November 2001
• Disney, H., 2001, Chance could be a fine thing: The Lottery raises money for good causes but could it be doing more for core public services?, Public Finance, 3 August 2001
• Disney, H., 2001, Breaking the circle of secrecy : Whistleblowers can find themselves isolated and victimised, even though their revelations often benefit the public and public services. So should more be done to encourage them?, Public Finance, 9 February 2001
• Disney, H., 2001, Exploring the power of Chi: Chi is the body's vital energy in Oriental medicine. It is also the acronym of the rebranded Commission for Health Improvement, which needs to find its own inner balance between the warring roles of NHS performance motivator and Ofsted-style inspector, Public Finance, 5 January 2001
• Disney, H., 2001, IDS the giant killer : Iain Duncan Smith marked his first anniversary as Conservative leader by describing the `five new giants that threaten the hopes and security of every person in Britain', Public Finance, Friday 20 September 2002
• Disney, H., 2001, A June gamble that will buy time for Blair: Delaying the election until the worst of foot and mouth is over, is a risky but sensible strategy, Daily Express, Monday April 2 2001
• Disney, H., 2001, Ten Reasons for Mr Hague to be fearful: Four years of Labour success have hit Tory election hopes hard, Daily Express, March 15, 2001
• Disney, H., 2001, Back to the floor: Should all prospective Parliamentary candidates or newly-elected backbench MPs be expected to undergo a period of `training' in what happens in real-life public services?, Public Finance, 16 February 2001
• Disney, H., 2001, The events of September 11 have had an inevitable knock-on effect on race relations. But policymakers need to ensure anti-racist laws don't create more problems than they solve (written with David Green), Public Finance, 7 December 2001

1999

• Disney, H., 1999, Will politicians never learn about people?: MPs should not preach on personal morality if they want to keep the public's respect, Daily Express, 6 September 1999
• Disney, H., 1999, 10 ways we can beat the criminals: Top ten practical ideas for cutting down on crime, The Express, 20 February 1999
• Disney, H., 1999, Privatising the 999 service is the real crime: Why making emergency services a private industry is a step too far, Daily Express, 2 July 1999
• Disney, H., 1999, The dangers of body fascism: By imposing adult diets on children we are creating a skimmed milk generation: children who are unhealthy, confused about food, and denied the treats they need and enjoy, Daily Express, 5 July 1999

1998

• Disney, H.,1998, Follow US in the fight against drug crime: An examination of the benefits of American-style drug courts, The Express, 23 October 1998

Stockholm Network Publications

Helen Disney has contributed to and edited publications for the Stockholm Network including the following:

• Impatient for Change, Poles Apart?, The Stockholm Network
• Helen Disney, Matthew Bishop, Vincent Cable, Clive Crook, Howard Davies, Bill Durodie, Stephen Godfrey-Issacs, Julia Hailes, David Henderson, Steve Hilton & Ben Hunt An apology for Capitalism?, The Stockholm Network, 2004

Affiliations

• 1996-2000 Social Market Foundation
• 1997 - present: Stockholm Network
• 2002 The Times
• 2002-3: The Daily Express
• 2002 Pfizer Forum
• Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, advisor
• 2001-2003: Civitas 'director of European relations'
• Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, fellow
• 2007 American Institute on Political and Economic Systems, advisor

Resources

• Facebook Helen Disney
• 288a Appointment of Helen Disney as Director, Stockholm Network New Director 05-12-03, Companies House, 05-12-2003