bobd22

I see from the news Tony Benn has passed away, I may not have always agreed with his views especially CND views me being ex forces, however he was a man of principle and I admired him for that, more than can be said for New Labour. One of the Old Guard Labour Party RIP.

snikpoh

Very sad news, he was a good family friend.

Domino

I didn't agree with his belief's and principles, but admire his stand on many things, despite the ridicule and demotions he received over the years.

Looking at the pansies and patsies we have nowadays none of them can even be worth polishing his shoes letalone replace him in any way.

The end of another era, there really cannot be many left from those times now, just us who were there and experienced them.

jackytoo

They will probably be saying the same of Blair/Cameron etc when they are 88. At some stage in their lives they all turn into national treasures and anyone saying anything bad about them are vilified

lutonlad

Totally agree - except it doesn't seem to apply to Maggie.
The Left are rarely respectful or magnanimous on these sort of things. I'm surprised that Churchill 's grave hasn't been desecrated in the name Socialism.

EMR

I doubt that any politician in the last 30 years will ever be regarded as a national treasure. Certainly not any of the current generation.
The irony is that Maggie and Benn were in agreement as far as the UK and the EU were concerned.
Churchill formed a national government and bought the labour party into it and this action was probably the reason why Labour won the 1945 election so the socialists are probably gratefull to him.

teuchterpete

Well love them or hate them people like Benn and Scargill stuck by their principles, and the fact that they never became PM meant that they never ruined as many lives as Thatcher et.al.

lutonlad

Interesting you say 'Thatcher et.al.'
Not Brown et.al.or Blair et.al.... who ruined lives.

Of course only left wingers stick by their principles don't they.
Pathetic propaganda.

Domino

can't see what Thatcher et.al has to do with anything.
Maggie was, like Churchill, a one off. None of her contemporaries picked up the standard and marched on to win the battle.

Useful at the time but discarded when not needed by the young upstarts who have already fizzled out and moved on to more lucrative past-times.

Very few people are prepared to give up a heredity peerage - he was 2nd Viscount Stansgate, to fight in the House of Commons.
He was technically aware and used technology to its full both in and outside The House.

rugbymatt

Benn was an amazing politician. He stood fast to his beliefs and politics regardless of his many detractors and he was a clever firebrand. His loss leaves us with one less politician with integrity and yet more boring and drab liars. A sad day indeed. A great indeed....

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ_iMKSsz9E

Dick Dasterdly

I best recall him as a backer of militant tendencies, especially within the unions, many of which were at least partly responsible for the decline in British industry at that time.

So before I posted anything I had a look at an obituary from a popular left wing tabloid supposedly listing his "achievements" in order to balance my P.O.V.

Unfortunately I still didn't come across a single thing that could seriously be regarded as a positive achievement for the country as a whole or any significant section of it's population.

rugbymatt

Good for you.

Dick Dasterdly

Good for you, for thinking good for me.

Oh dear, my apologies to all, it looks like I've picked up your pointless post habit.

rachelk

It's hard to imagine a future where Blair will be recognised for his honesty and integrity.

rugbymatt

Good for you.