Tony Benn is at rest; he was an example to those of us who remain
[Image: Gabriele Kreichgauer]
According to his family, the 88-year-old Labour Party legend died peacefully early this morning (March 14) at his west London home, surrounded by his family. He had been ill for more than a month.
I do not propose to eulogise over him. I have already written about the effect Mr Benn had on my own development in a previous article and see no reason to rehash that.
I will say this: The loss of this inspirational man – who was truly a “signpost” for us all and never a “weathercock” (to adapt a comparison he used to make) – means that left-wing politics has lost one of its strongest voices.
He showed us a way forward – with clarity, humour and optimism.
Nobody can replace him.
The greatest tribute to Tony Benn will be if many of us rise to bear his standard – follow the example that he set.
Modern politics has painted his way as “the path less taken”.
Let us take it now.
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he was a fine man mike and knew him well from the seventies and there’ll never be anyone like him in the future
RIP Tony
Tony Benn was a highly principled man, one you always knew where he stood and never wavered. His wisdom, passion for a better fairer society were a great driving force in his life. He will be greatly missed.
I pray some folk will come out of the shadows in his wake, keeping up the good fight for fairness & justice for all, in this land of political pygmies
RIP Tony
Unlikely to be his son, unfortunately, though.
2 true socialists lost in the space of days, the world is diminished by their loss.
Reblogged this on Britain Isn't Eating and commented:
Excellent words from Mike Sivier, on the sad passing of Tony Benn today. Condolences to his family and friends, rest assured we’ll miss his kindness,wit & wisdom for a long time to come. R.I.P. Mr Benn.
“There was never a dull moment listening to him, even when you disagreed with every word he said.” – David cameron, 14 March 2014.
Considering that Tony stood entirely for fairness in society and the requirement for the powerful and those in power to be completely accountable to the public, Cameron’s words say a great deal about his own views on that score, methinks.
Darren, I think David Cameron said “There was never a dull moment listening to him even if you dısagreed wiıth him”.
I suggest that thıs is possibly a little different from “even if you disagreed with every word he said”
.
Benn was an excellent orator and parliamentarian but I also suggest that, as with all politicians, agreeing unılaterally wıth them is not necessarily a pre-requisite to recognisig their ability. .
“Even when you disagreed with everyTHING he said,” according to the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26573929.
I don’t think there’s enough difference between that and what Darren said to justify your point.
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
Tony Benn will be sorely missed. He was a great orator, and a man of great principle and integrity. He backed the Black workers in their campaign to overturn the colour bar in the bus company. The headquarters of the Unite The Union, formerly the Transport and General Workers Union building on Victoria Street in Bristol is named ‘Tony Benn’ house after him. He was a much loved and respected constituency MP. Only time will tell whether there will be people with the intelligence, ability and integrity to step into his views, or whether we are doomed to a generation of political dwarves and time-servers, whose only skill is to repeat the soundbites their PR advisors have written for them.
Reblogged this on Citizens, not serfs.
I was quoting the crawler headlıne news on the BBC Home page…thus my reason for poıntıng out the varıatıon between that and what Darren saıd which ıs undenıably consıderable.
So it’s the BBC’s fault, then.
Damn those leftie broadcasters!
Yep – almost as bad as those damn leftıe journalısts one reads about!!
I don’t know what you mean, dear boy.
if you disagreed with tony benns views all that meant in reality is that you did not agree with fairness and by not agreeing with a fair society you should not even be in politics in the first place
the world is full of the likes of David Cameron all talk and nothing else as his views are all about power and money and that’s about it
strange thing is they both went to Oxford.
but Tony benn was from the establishment and had to have his peerage removed to be able to stand as a mp
David Cameron would never have done that for anyone and will be a complete unknown in 50 years times unlike tony benn who will live on in the minds of everyone wonting a just and fair society
as for oxford by and large it’s just for those with serious money my daughter turned them down as they were not cracked up like we think they are and i for one having known the place very well would agree with her
to sum up oxford i would say that it’s for people who do not wont to work in society but just do a lot of talking and just wing and party through life with the very minimum of effort
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