Paul Foot dies

by Chris Bertram on July 19, 2004

British socialist journalist Paul Foot, contrarian and campaigner against many miscarriages of the criminal justice system, “is dead”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1264355,00.html.

{ 7 comments }

1

harry 07.19.04 at 5:12 pm

I never met him, but saw him speak many times, and was always utterly charmed, completely against my will. I never heard him take credit for his own achievements, and was struck by how, on an often mean-spirited left, he frequently cited the success and achievements of (non-SW-belonging) others — eg the lavish, but merited, praise he used to heap on Chris Mullin. A sad shock, this.

2

q 07.19.04 at 6:39 pm

I liked his writing. I hope he can influence the quality of writing on this blog from cloud he is currently sitting on.

I imagine they all have ethereal-broadband in Heaven. I expect CT is one of their most popular blogs.

3

lenin 07.19.04 at 7:46 pm

It won’t be one of his lesser achievements that he helped to popularise Shelley as a socialist before his time.

But I agree with Harry. Paul’s most attractive attributes were his humility, his generosity, and his oratory passion which is sorely amiss among today’s “Westminster village” political class.

4

dsquared 07.19.04 at 10:57 pm

Entirely worth remembering that when the awful Blunkett moans about “Hampstead liberals” who “care more about criminals than victims”, this is the kind of person he’s talking about.

5

nick 07.20.04 at 2:45 am

Y’know, I still expect to see a phone number for him in the next Private Eye, just with an area code for the aetherial plane.

He was that kind of bloke, and will be missed.

6

nick 07.20.04 at 6:06 am

And when remembering Paul Foot, it’s worth noting that he was one of the few to pursue the Lockerbie story, and the governmental and press volte-face when the Libyan trials began. Something to remember, especially whenever Bush trots out his lines about Libya.

7

MFB 07.20.04 at 1:26 pm

Woe.

Or, as we say in South Africa:

Ag, shame.

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