Children's favourite Thomas the Tank Engine has been attacked by a Canadian academic for its "conservative political ideology" and failure to adequately represent women. The show's right-wing politics shows the colourful steam engines punished if they show initiative or oppose change, the researcher found. She also highlighted the class divide which sees the downtrodden workers in the form of Thomas and his friends at the bottom of the social ladder and the wealthy Fat Controller, Sir Topham Hatt, at the top. The criticism, by Shauna Wilton, a professor of political sciences at the University of Alberta, is likely to anger...