Louise Burfitt-Dons, (''née'' Byres; born 22 October 1953) is a British novelist, humanitarian, and former

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

candidate. Burfitt-Dons is best known for her anti-bullying work as the founder of the charity Act Against Bullying and co-founder of Kindness Day UK.

Early years and family

Louise Olivian Byres was born to Olive and Ian Byres in a small desert hospital at Magwa, in the Burgan district just south of Kuwait City. Her father worked for

Kuwait Oil Company The Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), an oil company headquartered in Al Ahmadi - Kuwait, is a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, a government-owned holding company. Kuwait was the world's 10th largest petroleum and other liquids producer ...

and her mother ran a kindergarten. She had an elder brother, Laurence. She attended the Anglo-American School in Kuwait, and later

The Hertfordshire and Essex High School The Hertfordshire and Essex High School and since 2004 named as ''The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science College'', commonly referred as Herts and Essex is a secondary level comprehensive single-sex school and a mixed-sex sixth form ...

and the Ashford School for Girls in Kent. Burfitt-Dons' father died of cancer when she was 26. During his illness she obtained a

liquor licence A liquor license (or liquor licence in most forms of Commonwealth English) is a governmentally issued permit to sell, manufacture, store, or otherwise use alcoholic beverages. Canada In Canada, liquor licences are issued by the legal authority ...

and took over the running of The White Horse in

East Bergholt East Bergholt is a village in the Babergh District of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border. The nearest town and railway station is Manningtree, Essex. East Bergholt is north of Colchester and south of Ipswich. Schools include Ea ...

so she could care for him. Burfitt-Dons has two daughters,

Brooke Burfitt Brooke Burfitt (born 23 December 1988) is an English actress and radio presenter. Early years and family Brooke Burfitt is the daughter of Louise Burfitt-Dons who set up the children’s anti-bullying charity Act Against Bullying and Donald, ...

and Arabella (b. 1992), by her pilot husband Donald Burfitt-Dons, a New Zealander whom she met and married in London in 1982 while he was on an overseas basing with

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

. The couple lived in Australia between 1982 and 1993 where Louise worked as an actress and wrote plays for the Sydney stage. She co-starred in a dinner theatre show with Andrew Harwood in 1988. She lives in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and F ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Social commentary

Louise has appeared on

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the he ...

, ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

'', '' Channel Four News'',

ITV News London ''ITV News London'' is a British television news service broadcast on both ITV London and the ITV Hub. It is produced by ITN. History London News Network The programme launched on Monday 4 January 1993 as ''London Tonight'', after Carlton T ...

, ITN, ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from the BBC Television Centre, London before ...

'' and Talk Radio Europe,

BBC Surrey BBC Radio Surrey is the BBC's local radio station serving Surrey, north-east Hampshire and north West Sussex (including Gatwick Airport). It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at the University of Surrey in Guil ...

and

BBC Sussex BBC Radio Sussex is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of East and West Sussex. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Queens Road in Brighton. Programming Local programming airs from the BB ...

BBC Oxford BBC Oxford is the name given to the sub-opt out region serving Oxford and the surrounding areas. Its services include: *BBC Oxford News, the local news service called BBC Oxford on screen * BBC Radio Oxford, the local radio station occasionally bra ...

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

, '' PM'',

Talkradio TalkRadio (previously styled as talkRADIO) is a talk radio station broadcasting nationally in the United Kingdom, which was relaunched on 21 March 2016. Based in London and owned by Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp., it is the sist ...

The World Tonight ''The World Tonight'' is a British current affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4, every weekday evening, which started out as an extension of the 10 pm news. It is produced by BBC News and features news, analysis and comment on domes ...

''. She has written on social affairs and political issues for a range of blogs including

Conservative Home ConservativeHome is a British right-wing blog which supports, but is independent of, the Conservative Party. It was first established by Tim Montgomerie in 2005 with the aim of arguing for a broad conservative spectrum, which is serious about bot ...

and

Conservative Way Forward Conservative Way Forward (CWF) is a British pressure and campaigning group, which is Thatcherite in its outlook and agenda. Margaret Thatcher was its founding President. Conservative Way Forward was founded in 1991 to "defend and build upon t ...

. She is a regular news reviewer on the Ian Collins show ''Roundtable'' on

Boosting Britain

In 2012, after visiting a range of different businesses, she set up an online initiative named 'Boosting Britain' to encourage and promote new ideas and companies which were helping Britain. It covered

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

defence industry The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and s ...

, education, as well as

motivational Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...

factors. She has suggested more honorary titles for engineers would help to bolster their image and help with the skills shortage As of 2017, the website was unregistered and not connecting.

Campaigning

Since setting up Act Against Bullying, Burfitt-Dons has been outspoken on the ill-effects of

tribalism Tribalism is the state of being organized by, or advocating for, tribes or tribal lifestyles. Human evolution has primarily occurred in small hunter-gatherer groups, as opposed to in larger and more recently settled agricultural societies or civ ...

in society as a speaker and writer. She has advocated that tribalism is on the increase and has been taking effect in all forms of modern society leading to social unrest. Feeling the need to express what the public was confiding in her she designed a range of campaigns to promote human dignity and individuality in modern society. She designed the "Cool to Be Kind" Campaign in 2000; two years later she founded the National Decency Campaign in 2002. and, in 2006, the "Grade Not Degrade" campaign. ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'' quoted her as suggesting ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...

'' was legitimising the growing trend of bullying behaviour in classrooms around the country. She spoke at the Conservative Women's Organisation Forum at the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

cyber bullying Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital s ...

claiming that today "children have to be as savvy as celebrities but without the pr support". In response to the growing trend of internet abuse she designed the CyberKind Campaign, which was launched on

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in ...

(11 November) 2009. Burfitt-Dons founded the UK Kindness Movement and co-founder of Kindness Day UK. She appeared on

on the first Kindness Day UK on 13 November 2010 alongside

Kathy Lette Kathryn Marie Lette (born 11 November 1958) is an Australian-British author whose works have been best-sellers. Early life Lette was born on 11 November 1958 in Sydney's southern suburbs. She appeared in ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' of 20 Au ...

who claimed that English people were condescending and unfriendly. In 2007 she began campaigning on global warming and has said that "climate change may be the ultimate issue that unites us all".

Awards

In 2006 she was nominated as an Angel Hero for

The My Hero Project The My Hero Project is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization established in 1995 by philanthropist Karen Pritzker, Jeanne Meyers and Rita Stern Milch that promotes the sharing of positive role models from around the world for the online digital story ...

. In May 2009 she was invited to become a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

in recognition of her work with children as well as to acknowledge her efforts as a campaigner and speaker on humanitarian and environmental issues.

Global warming

Burfitt-Dons co-founded the Global Warming Alliance which was set up in January 2006 to find solutions to the crisis. On 2 December 2008, she launched the Global Warming Hotspot channel on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. She spearheaded the international Hot Women Campaign, which encouraged women to become more active in

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

issues and reduce carbon emissions and significantly raised awareness of the differences between male and female thinking on the issues. ''The Scotsman'' quoted Burfitt-Dons' claims that "the relentless rise in CO2 emissions is incrementally raising planetary temperatures, increasing water vapour in the atmosphere with a commensurate rise in rainfall, and ever stronger wind patterns randomly occurring across the globe."

Feminism

Burfitt-Dons got involved with women's issues because of her charity work as a motivational speaker and mentor. In October 2009 she was part of the freshers feminist debate at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

with ''

Cosmopolitan Magazine ''Cosmopolitan'' is an American monthly fashion and entertainment magazine for women, first published based in New York City in March 1886 as a family magazine; it was later transformed into a literary magazine and, since 1965, has become a wome ...

'' editor Louise Court and Edwina Currie. Burfitt-Dons set up the

' Women's Speakers' Network whose mission is to "raise women's profile in society by greater involvement in public speaking". She chaired the launch event at the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

on 9 November 2010 in a public debate entitled "The Great Female Debate: Do Women Speak Too much or too little?" She believes that some feminist groups have hijacked and radicalised the equality movement and has catalysed a debate around feminism calling on more gender realism via her blog The Common Sense Feminist. Her work on feminism includes the book ''Moderating Feminism:The Past the Now and What Comes Next'' (2016).

Politics

In September 2014, she was selected to fight the 2015 General Election for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Nottingham North Nottingham North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Alex Norris of the Labour and Co-operative party. Boundaries 1955–1974: The County Borough of Nottingham wards of Byron, Mapperley, ...

. She clashed with the incumbent MP Graham Allen over his criticism of small businesses in Nottingham North. She has challenged

Nottingham City Council Nottingham City Council is the local authority for the unitary authority of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It consists of 55 councillors, representing a total of 20 wards, elected every four years. The council is led by David Mellen, of ...

over its Workplace Parking Levy policy as "short-term thinking" at its worst, and suggested that it was a political decision rather than an economic one. Nottingham was the first City Council to introduce a Workplace Parking Levy in the UK.

Novelist and screenwriter

Her book ''Our Man in Kuwait'' which features Ian Fleming is based on her early life experiences in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...

in 1960 leading up to Operation Vantage. Burfitt-Dons has written TV movies for Lifetime, including '' Maternal Secrets'', ''Kidnapped to the Island'', ''The Ex Next Door'', and '' Christmas at the Castle''.

Publications, novels, and plays

*''Our Man in Kuwait'' *''The Secret War'' (July 2021) *''The Killing of the Cherrywood MP'' (February 2020) *''The Missing Activist'' (August 2018) *''Moderating Feminism'' (August 2016) *''Act Against Bullying'' (August 2002) *''Painkillers'' (June 2001) *''Valentine Card'' (June 2001) *''The Counsellor'' (October 2000) *''A Christmas Riddle'' (June 2000) *''How to Catch a Man'' (September 1991)

References

External links

Louise Burfitt-DonsThe Common Sense Feminist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burfitt-Dons, Louise 1953 births Living people Green thinkers British environmentalists British women environmentalists British humanitarians English feminist writers Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Sustainability advocates English motivational speakers People educated at The Hertfordshire and Essex High School People educated at Ashford School Anti-bullying activists British feminists English feminists Writers from London English screenwriters English female screenwriters People from Chiswick Social critics Academics and writers on bullying British women activists English activists English women activists British activists Female critics of feminism British women bloggers Crime Writers' Association English women novelists English thriller writers English spy fiction writers English crime fiction writers Women thriller writers 21st-century English writers 21st-century English women writers English bloggers 21st-century British screenwriters