Rob Newman
He's always been leftwing - his first ever bit of public speaking was for Third World First (now called People And Planet) and his "nickname at school, apart from prat and wanker, was Red Robbo". But his reputation was never made on a political platform, and his trenchancy comes as a bit of a surprise. He said that Americans had taken out a patent on basmati rice ("that's like India taking out a patent on fat Bon Jovi fans with mullets"); that we need to understand the connection between corporations and local problems, otherwise we'll just start blaming immigrants; that the primacy of the global market was reversing all the progress in democracy and human rights made over the past century.