"A spirit fierce"
There will be a little less truth in the world after today. A man who has fiercely campaigned against liars and the lies they tell has died and the world will be poorer for it.
Paul Foot was a scion of the elite, but took up the socialist cudgels (as is often the wont of those types -- England's favourite cuddly uncle Trot, Tony Benn, was a viscount). His credentials are unquestionable, though. He never wavered. In a world where pollies flip and flop day on day, where saying what people want to hear is considered a virtue rather than the worst of vices in a public figure, he kept on telling the truth, sticking always to his guns. And what makes his work most special is that it did have results: for the ordinary readers of the Mirror, for many falsely convicted who eventually found justice even when all bar Foot had abandoned them, for some of the crooks who he helped rob of their place to hide.
This obituary is capped by describing Foot as a "spirit fierce", like Shelley's west wind (as I do, Foot idolised Shelley, a true icon of English writing). I don't think there's any better label for a man in this world and I cannot better it.
posted by Dr Zen @ 4:17 pm
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