Pelican kudos for a successful and interesting thread.

Foxy

Thank you for your gracious invite - although I wonder how soon it would be "20 paces at dawn" between Col and CJ - Col being a self proclaimed alpha-male an' all. My money is on CJ - yeah I know I've been controversial but I just can't get my head around the thought of CR and CJ at the same table. On reflection your calm and reasonable disposition would smooth the roughest tempest.

On to my alternative list:

Leonard Cohen
Neil Young
Nick Cave
Kurt Cobain
John Lennon
Tom Waits
Patti Smith
PJ Harvey
Aretha Franklin
Nina Simone
Cat Power
Kate Bush

I'd better stop before I go blind.

God
Allah
Buddha
Krishna
Tony Mokbel
Bridget
Holly
Kendra

A very insightful topic, pelican.

My list has no particular order of preference and all the people did or do exist. Couldn’t get the guest list under 12 including me. As this dinner would happen only once, we could call it the last supper.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Bertrand Russell

Gloria Steinem

Karl Marx

Hypatia

Peter Singer

Taslima Nasrin

Charles Darwin

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Thomas Paine

And Foxy to moderate any disputes (Which there would be many)

David

Hmm, interesting choices. Reading through them I was imagining each dinner and what they each person would bring to the table (sorry, couldn't resist).

To me, the ideal dinner conversation would be enlightening, amusing and challenging. A bit of friendly biffo's always good too.

To that end, I'd nominate the following:

1. John Cleese
2. Billy Connolly.

These two would provide humorous albeit intelligent reactions, and keep the conversation flowing. Hell, I think they could probably feed off each other's reactions quite well.

3. Barack Obama.
4. Ayman Al Zawahiri.
5. Jesus Christ.

For the necessary political and philosophical discourse. I didn't choose Bin Laden for the simple fact that I've always viewed him as more of a financier and figurehead for the movement, while Zawahiri was the wellspring for the extremist ideology. Obama's at the helm now, so of course, I'd like to pick his brains.

6. Sheryl Crow.
7. Nick Cave.

I dig their music, and they've always struck me as intelligent, creative individuals. I think they'd provide new ways of looking at the topics at hand (Plus, I've always had a thing for Sheryl Crow. No guesses as to who I'd seat myself next to).

8. Ronald Reagan.

To keep the debate flowing - I thought about having Bush, or Howard, or another conservative representative, but I reckon Reagan's been more influential.

If I had more space, I'd add Donald Rumsfeld, Madonna, Marilyn Manson and Stephen King.

Damnit! Marx would NEED to be there too. Perhaps I could bump Mr Cleese if I absolutely had to.

fractelle "but I just can't get my head around the thought of CR and CJ at the same table"

It would not be difficult, we would not need to be in contact with one another, we would not even see each other....

I would be sat at he table and

CJ would be licking himself underneath it....