Katie Hopkins - the bracingly offensive self-publicist who says the things we barely dare to think

I follow Katie Hopkins on Twitter, because she’s abrasively right-wing and very funny.  For those of you currently sheltering from the headache-inducing glare of popular culture, she is the horse-faced husband-stealer who came to fame on The Apprentice (she withdrew from the contest just before the final). She is now a Sun columnist and a frequent guest on day-time TV talk shows, where her speciality is having rows with other guests. (Most notably, last year on This Morning she rowed with Peaches Geldof about parenting – subsequent events seem to have decided the winner of that one.)

Here, for your amusement - and to give you a flavour of the woman who is the nearest equivalent we possess to an American-style right-wing shock-jock - are some of Katie Hopkins’s most offensive statements:

I tend to think that children who have intelligent names tend to have fairly intelligent parents and they make much better playdates for my children

Highlights from the [Wimbledon] Women's Final. 2 mins worth of programming. Remind me why women are paid the same prize money as men.

Welcome to the UK. Here is a short list of things you can say. The list of things you can't stay will be delivered by lorry to your home.

When you go out tomorrow and the tax man takes x% of your earnings, imagine handing those in person to Quatada's wife and 5 kids.

If I merge my 2 most popular names: c**t and sl*t, I get slunt. SLUNT. I wonder if that will make me cry. *squeezes eyes* Nope, nothing.

‘Mum, the form says I need another next of kin'. 'Oh for Christ sakes Tiffany, just put I dunno'.

Off to buy Loud Hailer. When Ch4 broadcast Islamic call to prayer, I am going to counter with 'Onward Christian Soldiers' in protest.

'Jayden, this is not your maths homework, this is your Mega Bingo card'. 'It's numbers innit?’

Show me an Ashlee. I will show you a large mum in leggings & a Primark bag twice the size of her latest baby.

Would I employ you if you were obese? No I would not. You would give the wrong impression to the clients of my business. I need people to look energetic, professional and efficient. If you are obese you look lazy.

I hate mobility scooters. I find their owners intolerable.

Suicidal prisoners should just kill themselves.

Mammary militia breast feeding en masse in Costa. Puts one off their latte.

"'Hi, this is my daughter Charmaine'. I hear: 'Hi, I am thick and ignorant'."

During a Twitter spat with the former footballer Stan Collymore, who was once reported for beating up his girl-friend, Ulrika Johnson, Ms Hopkins tweeted: “alternatively Stan - you could kick me in the head until I couldn't talk. I am a woman after all.”

I don’t by any means agree with Katie Hopkins all the time (for instance, I find red hair attractive, I’m a supporter of stay-at-home mothers who don’t live off the state, and a world in which everyone did vocational degree courses would be a dull, Gradgrindian sort of place). But I agree with about 80% of what she says. Her main function is to voice opinions which many people share but wouldn’t dare express because our liberal elite has ruthlessly anathematised such views. The pleasure to be derived from a regular dose of this expert self-publicist’s musings lies in imagining the reaction of liberals who’ve taken the self-censoring PC pledge and haven’t allowed themselves to express an unacceptable (or, indeed, orginal) opinion in decades. You can imagine the split instant when they start to form the thought, “Actually, I really don’t want my little Ollie hanging around with children called Madison or Kaylee” - and their panicky suppression of what is a perfectly rational reaction.

Often, the attempt to suppress the Bad Thought proves too much. As a result, the KTHopkins Twitter stream is littered with comments along the lines of, “Oh God I really hate you but I can’t help agreeing with what you say” or “You’re a despicable person but you do make me laugh” etc. In a way, Katie Hopkins is a modern sin-eater, making a no doubt handsome living from saying the things which decent middle-of the road liberals and small “c” conservatives – cowed by decades of politico-media propaganda, led by the BBC – are too scared to say.

The problem, of course, is that Katie Hopkins isn’t a “nice” person. Like many right-wingers (in particular, libertarians) she’s a bit short of the milk of human kindness. That’s largely a matter of temperament, but it could also partly stem from the fact that she had to forsake a career in the military (she completed her training at Sandhurst) due to epilepsy, a condition which requires regular visits to hospital to have her shoulder relocated after fits. Whatever the reason, she is evidently somewhat of a cow, something of a ratbag and a bit of a bitch. But she’s also funny and fearless, and there’s more to life than sheer “niceness”. Long may she continue sticking two fingers up to our self-censoring liberal consciences.