Kirk Leech

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Kirk Leech at the Battle of Ideas 2007

Kirk Leech works in 'government affairs' or lobbying for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. He was previously a teacher, freelance journalist, broadaster and researcher. He was associated with the libertarian and anti-environmental LM network. He is a long time and leading member of the RCP, standing as an RCP candidate in the 1987 general election, was National Organiser of the Irish Freedom Movement (circa 1990), was involved with Workers Against Racism and wrote for Living Marxism/LM sometimes under the name Kirk Williams. He has been a 'regular contributor to Spiked-online', the assistant director of WORLDwrite and has spoken at the Battle of Ideas and written for the Institute of Ideas, Culture Wars, and Novo.

Kirk Leech at the one and only Modern Movement demo in 2010

Education

Leech attended the Laurence Jackson School in Guisborough, North Yorkshire and later the City of London Polytechnic circa 1981. David Osler a contemporary of Leech at the City of London Polytechnic notes that 'contemporaries remember a charismatic and charming young man'.

Activities

Leech stood in the 1987 General Election in the Newcastle Central Constituency for the RCP. In 1990 he was 'national organiser' for the Irish Freedom Movement. He was also for a number of years the RCP's man in Scotland, writing articles in LM on Scottish issues between March 1992 and March 1993. The last article under the byline Kirk Williams appeared in Living Marxism in April 1993. It was more than six years before Leech reappeared in what had by then become LM. In October 1999 he presented material gathered in India on the Normada Dam including an interview with the pro-GM lobbyist Chengal Reddy.

In 2003 Leech, then employed as a teacher in London, was quoted criticising changes in geographical teaching:

Kirk Leech, a geography teacher at Centre Academy, in London, agrees. "Geography as I learnt it at university is far from what we are encouraged to teach today. It used to mean atlases, floods and rocks. Today pupils are taught about species loss, global warming and citizenship. Geography has become an ethics lesson and a means to moralise about the world."

In 2004 Leech was reportedly 'head of humanities' at Centre Academy.

In 2005 Leech started working as a 'project officer' for Research Defence Society an organisation set up to defend vivisection. Later he referred to himself as a 'project manager' and he worked with RDS until 2011 during which time the organisation underwent a name change, rebranding itself as Understanding Animal Research.

In 2008 Leech spoke at the Battle of Ideas Festival on 'Irish History: don't mention the war' on Saturday 1 November, 10.30am until 12.00pm, Lecture Theatre 2, Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London. Leech was listed as 'former leading member of the British based Irish Freedom Movement.' Other speakers included Kevin Bean Lecturer in Irish Politics, Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool;

In 2010 Leech attended the Modern Movement demonstration in London which was a counter demonstration to the Plane Stupid protest agains the third runway at Heathrow.

In 2011 Leech took up a post as a lobbyist at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

Affiliations

• 1987 RCP election candidate
• Circa 1990 Irish Freedom Movement national organiser
• 2005-2008 Research Defence Society 'Project manager'
• Circa 2007 Rising East
• 2008-2011 Understanding Animal Research
• 2011- present Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry

Publications

2005-2009

• 'Uncovered: the elite’s view of white America' Many writers fear that the masses are too dumb to ‘get’ the New Yorker’s satirical front page picture. Trouble is, Obama agrees with them. Spiked, Wednesday 16 July 2008
• 'Jesse Helms and the crisis of the GOP' The death of the racist former Republican Senator on the Fourth of July shed some light on the deeper crisis afflicting the Grand Old Party.Spiked, Thursday 10 July 2008
• 'Obama: wind of change or feeble breeze?' Kirk Leech reports from Miami and Washington DC on how the Democrats are parasitical on Republican disarray.Spiked, Wednesday 2 July 2008
• 'The way to save tigers is to farm tigers' Conservationists seem happier to restrict the lives of poor people in India than find a solution that benefits both animals and humans. Spiked, Thursday 19 June 2008
• 'Burma: a deluge of moral posturing' Western governments seem more concerned with lecturing the Rangoon regime than offering assistance to those hit by Cyclone Nargis.Spiked, Monday 12 May 2008
• Kirk Leech 'Reply Letters and emails: Pressure on Burma to allow in aid' The Guardian (London) - Final Edition May 8, 2008 Thursday, GUARDIAN LEADER PAGES; Pg. 31
• 'Mine your own business' A new film on the 'dark side of environmentalism' exposes some of the myths used to block the building of mines and hold back development.Spiked, Monday 6 November 2006
• ‘If the gold mine doesn’t happen, our village will die’ Kirk Leech reports from Rosia Montana in Romania, where green NGOs are trying to halt the building of a mine that locals desperately want.Spiked, Monday 2 October 2006
• Kirk Leech, "Toxic China",Spiked Online, March, 2006.

2000-2004

• Kirk Leech "Building in the light", Guardian (UK), April 28, 2004.
• Kirk Leech The Ravage of India, April 2004
• Kirk Leech 'Can Mainstream Cope With All Our Children?' The Times Educational Supplement January 9, 2004, No.4565; Pg.49
• Kirk leech 'Palestinian pawns',Spiked Online, October 18, 2001.
• Kirk Leech 'Palestine after 11 September',Spiked Online, October 5, 2001.
• Kirk Leech 'Natural conflicts of interest', Architects Journal, September 20, 2001 Thursday
• 'Extinct arguments' Will another species be extinct by the time you finish reading this article - or are extinction rates blown up out of proportion? Spiked, Thursday 30 August 2001
• TB: what to do? Without a local healthcare system, tuberculosis will continue to ravage rural India. Kirk Leech reports on his time in Gujarat. Spiked, Tuesday 7 August 2001
• Jacqui Craig 'Conservation versus development',Spiked Online, August 2, 2001
• 'On training in India' Cows, eggs and 'no spitting zones'.Spiked, Thursday 29 March 2001
• Kirk Leech, "Wenn der Westen "hilft" und nichts als Leiden bringt" Novo vol. 55, 2001
• 'Dam campaigns' The Narmada dam in India has met with opposition from campaign groups. But as Kirk Leech reports from Gujarat, many of the locals welcome it. Spiked, Thursday 8 March 2001
• Kirk Leech, ""This sanctuary is a prison", Tribals living in the Shoolpaneshwar sanctuary in Gujarat, India, find they are treated worse than animals. Spiked Online, February 7, 2001.

1989-1999

• Interviews by Kirk Leech 'Our lives changed and it has changed for the better' Reproduced from LM issue 124, October 1999 Original URL: http://www.informinc.co.uk/LM/LM124/LM124_Waterfield.html
• Kirk Leech 'Let Prince Charles travel by bullock cart when he comes to India', Interview with Chengal Reddy listed as 'president of the Andhra Pradesh Farmers' Association'. Reproduced from LM issue 124, October 1999 Original URL: http://www.informinc.co.uk/LM/LM124/LM124_Waterfield.html
• Ian Scott and Kirk Williams, 'From Hoover to Leyland-DAF: responses to redundancy', Living Marxism, No. 54 - April 1993, p. 18.
• Kirk Williams, 'The Fettesgate affair', Living Marxism, No. 53 - March 1993, p. 36.
• Kirk Williams, 'The Mafia' Living Marxism, No. 47 - September 1992.
• Kirk Williams, 'Scotland's opposition', Living Marxism, No. 44 - June 1992, p. 30.
• Kirk Williams, 'The importance of being Scottish', Living Marxism, No. 42 - April 1992.
• Kirk Williams, 'Scotland: what is not happening', Living Marxism, No. 41 - March 1992, p. 16.
• Kirk Williams, 'This is heavy metal', Living Marxism, No. 16 - February 1990, p. 44.
• Kirk Williams, 'Death row in Brixton jail', Living Marxism, No. 16 - February 1990, p. 38.
• Kirk Williams, 'NF - No future', Living Marxism, No. 7 - May 1989, p. 37.

Resources

• Battle of Ideas Kirk Leech
• Spiked Kirk Leech