The commentators                    03-06-15

...on Charles Kennedy

Charles Kennedy was great company, sober or drinking. He had a fine political mind and a real commitment to public service. He was not bitter about his ousting as leader and nor, though he disagreed often with what his party did in coalition with the Tories, did he ever wander down the rent-a-quote oppositionitis route. He was a man of real talent and real principle.
- Alastair Campbell, The Independent
Gaby Hinsliff
It’s easy to forget, now that the world and his dog insists they always knew Iraq didn’t have WMD, what courage it took to come out against the war in 2003 when public opinion was oddly less clear-cut. Kennedy did it in the teeth of opposition from some very senior colleagues who felt he should, at the very least, sit on the fence; who sniped behind his back about whether joining stop-the-war marches was statesmanlike. He did it knowing that if the invasion turned out to be the easy success many predicted, his reputation might not recover - Gaby Hinsliff, The Guardian
Kennedy could always see a scene, even when he was at its centre, from the outside. He would be chuckling now as old foes on auto-tribute feign shock at his passing. It’s raining treacle in a kind of Twitter-downpour, and all feel obliged to add their dollop. Fellow-parliamentarian Liz Kendall tweets that she “met him on Question Time”.
Well, I met him in the Commons more than 30 years ago, and now he’s dead will stick to saying what I said when he was alive: that he was a clever, good-natured man who never quite created a hard-edged political creed — perhaps because, in the words of one of Dr Johnson’s friends, “cheerfulness was always breaking in”.
- Matthew Parris, The Times
Charles Kennedy never achieved high office. But he did command a significant and important place for many years on the British political stage. He will be remembered with fondness and affection across the political spectrum. However, there will always be the sad, lingering question of “what might have been?”
- Mark Littlewood, Daily Telegraph
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This wasn't a story about journalists and celebs whose misfortunes no one really cares about, it was about a landmark ruling on privacy, about the comeuppance of an organisation that had repeatedly denied that it had anything to do with phone-hacking until it was dragged, kicking and screaming, into court.
Too embarrassed to look in the mirror?

Comment archive, 2015

Westminster
April 10 General election
April 9 General election
April 8 General election
April 7 General election
Ed Miliband
March 27 Prince Charles's letters
March 26 UK politics
March 25 Cameron's exit strategy
March 24 Lee Kwan Yew
March 23 UK politics
Jim Murphy, Scottish Labour party conference
March 13 UK politics
March 12 Jeremy Clarkson
March 11 UK politics
March 10 UK politics
March 9 UK politics
Rifkind and Straw
February 27 UK politics
February 26 Minor party leaders
February 25 Natalie Bennett
February 24 Rifkind and Straw
February 23 World affairs
Merkel and Putin
February 13 UK politics
February 12 UK politics
February 11 UK politics
February 10 UK politics
February 9 Politics
Alexis Tsipras
January 30 Rape law
January 29 UK politics
January 28 UK politics
January 27 Greece
January 26 UK politics
Hebdo demo
January 16 World politics
January 15 Election debates
January 14 Charlie Hebdo
January 13 Charlie Hebdo
January 12 Charlie Hebdo
dissolution parliament
April 2 General election
April 1 General election
March 31 General election
March 30 Depression 
George Osborne
March 20 UK politics
March 19 The Budget
March 18 UK politics
March 17 Race in Britain
March 16 UK politics
Boris Nemtsov
March 6 Scotland and the election
March 5 Isis
March 4 UK politics
March 3 Radicalisation
March 2 Russia
Copenhagen
February 20 UK politics
February 19 Chelsea and racism
February 18  UK politics
February 17 UK politics
February 16 Copenhagen 
education
February 6 UK politics
February 5 Isis atrocity
February 4 UK politics
February 3 UK politics
February 2 UK politics
Pope Francis
January 23 UK politics
January 22 Chilcot inquiry
January 21 Page Three
January 20 Anti-semitism 
January 19 Religion and freedom
Charb
January 9 Charlie Hebdo
January 8 Charlie Hebdo
January 7 UK politics
January 6 UK politics
January 5 UK politics
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Sepp Blatter
June 2
British politics
June 1
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May 29
Fifa
May 28
The Queen's Speech
May 27
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May 26
UK politics
labour leadership contenders
May 22
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April 24
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Drowned refugees
April 20 
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April 17
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