Friday, 12 February 2010
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Barack Obama - a Man of Principle
Another wonderful speech from Barack Obama - the State of The Union address. Just watched a recording, and it was spellbinding.
This man stands head and shoulders above all other American politicians - and we have no-one at all in Britain who can hold a candle to him. A long and completely riveting speech. I just did not want him to stop.
But it’s not just that he is a brilliant orator - though he certainly is that. He’s a man of principle. And he has the right values for America and the world. His sincerity shines through everything he says and does. He often doesn’t even seem like a politician - he richly deserves the accolade of statesman.
A practical speech in which he spelt out a number of policies - on dealing with banks and credit, creating jobs and starting to pay back the deficit from 2011. (Interestingly exactly the same deficit reduction strategy as the Labour Government’s in Britain.)
But also a declaration that he is going to continue to press ahead with health care reform. That was good to hear. Despite all the political damage it has caused him, it is vital for America. Let’s hope the conservative Democrats give him a lot more support than they have in the last year. He can expect no help from the Republicans.
He also repeated his pledge to allow members of the armed forces to be openly gay - a statement of principle which I applaud, but it earned him not one clap from the generals listening to his speech. They looked about as pleased as the Supreme Court judges when Obama rightly slammed their decision to end limits on corporate spending on political adverts.
Although Fox News and right wing radio ‘jocks’ have misrepresented and lied about Obama’s policies from day 1, the fact is he has had a very good first year. In America he’s stabilised the economy; abroad he’s repaired America's reputation.
Barack Obama is shaping up to be a great President.
Thursday, 31 December 2009
WE HELD A VIGIL OUTSIDE THE CHINESE EMBASSY FOR AKMAL SHAIKH BUT THE CHINESE PUT THIS MENTALLY ILL BRITON TO DEATH
The fate of Akmal Shaikh, who was put to death in China early on Tuesday morning, got very little media attention until the Chinese Supreme Court rejected his final appeal. That was on 21st December, and his execution was scheduled for the 29th.
I had been aware of Akmal’s case before then; I’d seen the occasional newspaper report, and I’d watched Stephen Fry’s video appeal a few weeks ago. But I hoped, and expected, that the Chinese authorities would reprieve Akmal. It was clear Akmal was innocent, that he’d been duped and that he was mentally ill. Surely even the Chinese wouldn’t execute him ?
But for me everything changed on the 21st. This man was going to die in 8 days time. I was shocked.
I knew that Reprieve (http://www.reprieve.org.uk/akmalshaikh), an excellent campaigning organisation, was working tirelessly for Akmal. I knew that the British Government had been making representations on his behalf - Gordon Brown had apparently spoken to Premier Wen about Akmal during the Climate Change Conference earlier this month.
Logically I knew I could make no difference. But I also knew that if I just sat and watched events unfold, I would never forgive myself. I had to get involved.
It was nearly Christmas. There had been significant media reports after the rejection of Akmal’s appeal on the 21st. But then it all seemed to go quiet. No ‘Question Time’ on the BBC. No ‘Newsnight’. No ‘Andrew Marr Show’. Incessant Christmas music and frothy lightweight chatter. Many people on holiday. With everyone’s focus on turkey, Christmas jollity and presents, definitely not a good time to be condemned to death.
I e-mailed and wrote a letter to Gordon Brown; e-mailed my MP; e-mailed the Chinese Embassy. I tried to get a Twitter trend going - #stopexecutionofAkmalShaikh - but I’ve only got a few Twitter followers, and that didn’t take off.
And I joined a Facebook group called “STOP THE EXECUTION OF AKMAL SHAIKH”. When I joined, the group only had about 400 members. This soared to 1500 by the morning of the 29th December, and quadrupled to reach 6000 that evening.
On Facebook I joined others in discussing what could be done. Soon I found I had been put down as an Administrator. I hadn’t been asked, but I didn’t mind. In fact I was glad.
The idea was floated of holding a vigil outside the Chinese Embassy. To be honest, at first I wasn’t sure whether that would do much good. My feeling was that it might be more effective if we could persuade the Prime Minister to step up the pressure on China.
On Christmas Day I e-mailed Reprieve, and received a reply from Clive Stafford Smith, its Director. Clive thought a respectful candlelit vigil would be worthwhile.
I liaised with Maya Farr, who had been one of the original members of the Facebook group. Between us we arranged the vigil, which was to start at 11am on the scheduled execution day, 29th December. I suggested that we should also hand into the Chinese Embassy a letter, signed by all those attending the vigil. I wrote that letter and also the Press Release which we sent out the day before to all those on the media list supplied by Reprieve.
We weren’t sure at first whether we could get enough people to make the vigil viable. But we eventually had about 75 people who said they would definitely attend, and many others who said they might come. Unlike a demonstration a vigil can be effective with a relatively small number of people.
I also got the job of telling the police what we were going to do. They were very appreciative of this, and could not have been more helpful. I made it clear that it was going to be a quiet dignified peaceful vigil.
I was the first to arrive at the vigil, and introduced myself to the police officer outside the Embassy. I agreed that we would assemble on the other side of the road in Portland Place. Maya was the next to arrive, and before long there were also several TV crews. In the space of the next few hours Maya and I - and later on Akmal’s brother and other members of his family - did countless interviews. I myself did TV interviews for BBC News (twice), Sky News, Aljazeera, and even a Chinese TV channel. I was also interviewed twice by the Press Association (video unit and print journalist) and by LBC Radio and ABC news from Australia. I’m sure Akmal’s family members did far more interviews. In addition to those already mentioned, Channel 4, London Tonight, ITN, GMTV, as well as various French and Polish news outlets, did interviews with Akmal’s family, Maya and others.
The result of all this was that we had already achieved considerable publicity for Akmal’s plight even before most of his supporters had turned up. At last his plight was getting the publicity it needed. As far as I can gather, it was the lead story on Sky News and the BBC throughout the day. This had an affect,too, on membership of the Facebook group which soared from 1500 in the morning to 2500 early in the afternoon and 6000 by the end of the day.
The TV crews stayed there all day and were constantly updating the story. All this publicity was achieved with a small number of supporters. In the morning we probably had no more than 50. This grew in the early afternoon when more of Akmal’s relatives arrived. Although we had originally decided just to hold candles, some of the younger family members came with some homemade placards with brief pleas such as “Save Akmal’ and “Akmal has bipolar”.
At its peak we maybe had 100 people. People of all ages, races and creeds standing there with their candles on a bitterly cold December day. As it grew dark around 4pm the atmosphere was very poignant with everyone holding white candles which illuminated the homemade placards.
It was a privilege meeting members of Akmal’s family including his uncle, cousins, nieces and nephews of all ages as well as his brother, Akbar, a gentle, softly spoken man.
After all at the vigil had signed the letter to the Chinese Ambassador, Akbar and six other family members; Laura from Reprieve; Maya and I crossed the road to the Embassy. The police has said that we could have a delegation of ten, but advised us that it was unlikely that the Embassy would even accept the letter. While the rest stood on the pavement, I pressed the intercom buzzer. I said that I had a letter for the Ambassador. I was asked who I was, and I explained that I was from the Facebook group ‘Stop The Execution of Akmal Shaikh’. Then to everyone’s surprise, not least mine, I was told to come in and the door opened. (The Embassy had been shut all day because it was a public holiday.) I entered the Embassy, and on the left - behind a metal grille - was the receptionist. I passed him the letter under the grille. He was friendly enough, and said that he would give the letter to the Ambassador right away. I thanked him, came out and told the others and the waiting TV crews what had happened.
Shortly afterwards I talked to one of the members of a group which has been demonstrating outside the Chinese Embassy for eight years, protesting against the persecution of Falung Gong practitioners in China. He was very surprised that the Embassy had accepted our letter. They had never accepted a letter from his group. He told me that he thought this meant the Chinese planned to grant Akmal a reprieve.
The vigil had been scheduled to end at 6pm, but most of us were there until about 8pm. I felt we had achieved all we could by then. The idea had been to get maximum publicity so that as many people as possible would e-mail or phone the Chinese Embassy and also the Prime Minister, asking him to intervene personally. My own feeling was that Gordon Brown should pick up the phone and make a direct plea to the Chinese Prime Minister or President. In the event the matter seems to have been dealt with by the Foreign Office Minister, Ivan Lewis. He had a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador, made some very strong statements on behalf of Akmal, and revealed that the Government had made 27 representations in total to the Chinese authorities.
When I left at 8pm, there were only three or four people still at the vigil. Unless there was an earlier reprieve, they were talking about coming back before 2.30am when the execution was due to take place. In the event shortly after I left they were apparently joined by a few others so a dozen or so people continued the vigil outside the Chinese Embassy. Good for them. They were there until 4.15am when the awful news came through that Akmal had been put to death.
When I got home, I grabbed some food, then divided my time between TV news channels and our Facebook group. It was very emotional. Few of the Facebook supporters felt they could go to bed until they knew what had happened. At around 2.15am, Clive from Reprieve posted an encouraging message, saying we shouldn’t give up hope as it was possible there could still be a last minute reprieve. He instanced one of the cases he’d been involved in when a reprieve was granted literally within the last minute.
But it wasn’t to be. Eventually at about 4.15am the news channels confirmed that Akmal had been killed by lethal injection. There was an outpouring of grief and anger on the Facebook group. Frankly, I couldn’t take any more of it. I needed to be with my own thoughts for a while, and then at about 5am I got to bed for a disturbed few hours of sleep.
I have always been opposed to the death penalty. I remember, as a teenager, the campaign to get it abolished in Britain. I have never forgotten Sidney Silverman. He was the Labour MP whose abolitionist bill was eventually passed in 1965.
But even those who support the death penalty would be hard pressed to make a case for the execution of Akmal Shaikh. After selling his minicab business in London in 2004, he went to Poland. There his mental state seems to have got much worse. Apparently suffering from bi-polar disorder, which can make its victims delusional, he announced he was going to set up an airline, but had neither the funds nor expertise to do so. Eventually he ran out of money, and was homeless in Poland. He was befriended by some people who said they would help him achieve his dream of becoming a pop star in China. They agreed to meet at the airport. There the ‘friends’ said there was only one seat left on the plane. They told Akmal to take it, and said they would join him later. He agreed to take a suitcase for them. Unknown to him, it contained about 4 kilograms of heroin.
After a half hour trial, represented by a Chinese lawyer who didn’t speak very good English, Akmal was sentenced to death. At his appeal he insisted on making a long rambling speech to the court. The judges openly laughed at him. When asked if he was mentally ill, he said “no”. By then Reprieve had got involved but the court refused to allow either a local doctor or a forensic psychologist to examine him to assess his mental state.They then rejected his appeal. And so did the Chinese Supreme Court on 21 December.
In the letter to the Chinese Ambassador we wrote:
“We are writing to appeal for mercy to be shown to Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen, who is due to be executed in China tomorrow (December 29).
We know that the Chinese people care deeply about family and we would like to join Akmal's children and the rest of his family in begging for mercy for their father.
We respect the Chinese people, your great culture and your family values. We have been impressed by your huge achievements in recent years, and greatly enjoyed the wonderful Olympic Games you held last year.
At the very least we would urge a stay of execution so that the case can be reviewed by the local court, which originally imposed the sentence, as well as by the Supreme Court.
We take the issue of drugs smuggling very seriously, but we believe there is considerable evidence that Akmal is mentally ill, and genuinely did not know that the suitcase he was duped into carrying contained drugs.
We would ask that a full mental health examination should be carried out to assess Akmal’s condition.
Meanwhile we request that you pass on our plea for clemency to President Hu Jintao and the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.”
But this letter - like all the other appeals - had no affect whatsoever on the Chinese authorities.
I suppose that shouldn’t be surprising. This is a regime which earlier this month sentenced Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for co-authoring a Charter calling for political reform. I call that exercising his right to freedom of expression; the Chinese authorities called it “subversion”.
This is a regime which put more than 1700 of its citizens to death in 2008, 72% of the executions carried out in the world. And that is just the known executions. The actual total may be far higher.
The trend in the world continues to be against the death penalty. In 2008 only 22 of the world’s 195 countries inflicted it. Five countries - China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the USA - were responsible for 93% of all the world’s executions. Of these five countries, only two - Pakistan and the USA - are democracies, but Pakistan’s is very fragile and only America is a long-standing democracy. It would make the position of the United States much stronger in calling for human rights to be respected in countries such as China if the US abolished the death penalty.
Let us hope that 2010 sees further progress towards the abolition of this abhorrent penalty.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Remembrance Day - what do you remember ?
Today is Remembrance Sunday. As I watched the service at the Cenotaph, I was unmoved by the annual ritual of the Queen, Prime Minister, other royals and politicians laying their wreaths. But when the war veterans marched past, I felt a lump in my throat. There are no British survivors of the First World War, the war that many hoped would be "the war to end all wars', but sadly was not. Harry Patch, the last British veteran of the 1914-18 war, died earlier this year at the age of 111. But there were still many survivors of the 1939-45 war, all of them very old, some in wheelchairs. And, of course, there were veterans of more recent wars. We all have our own personal feelings on Remembrance Day. I think of my father who, as a young man, spent six years of his life serving in the British army during the Second World War. And although I was only six when he died, I think of my grandfather who served in the First World War. And I think of more recent conflicts, too, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Remembrance Day I believe it is right to remember those who have died, been wounded and have served in wars. But we should never glorify war. Some people are pacifists who believe that war is wrong is all circumstances. My own view is that war can only be justified as a last resort. The cause must be just, all attempts at a peaceful solution must have failed, there must be a genuine belief that war will produce a better outcome than not fighting, and the war must be winnable. Sir Winston Churchill, our inspirational Prime Minister during the Second World War, still believed that diplomacy (or in the slang of the time 'jawing') was preferable to war. He said "Jaw jaw is preferable to war war". And that great American founding father, Benjamin Franklin said "There never was a good war or a bad peace". Let Remembrance Day be a time to learn from history and to resolve not to repeat the mistakes of the past. I hope it is not true that we will never learn.
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Mind-Boggling Ignorance
A few months ago a BBC News presenter blurted out in a heated altercation with a politician that she was paid £96,000 a year. She was not a ‘star’ presenter, just one of many news presenters appearing on the news channel. The stars get paid more, some a lot more.
But for nearly £100,000 a year, paid by all of us through our license fee, what can we expect ?
Well for a start the ability to read the news clearly. Sadly, some of them can’t even do that: they mumble and rush their way through their autocued script.
And secondly a reasonable understanding of the English language would help them to conduct sensible interviews. Half an hour ago I was astounded when a BBC News presenter clearly did not understand the meaning of the word ‘majority’.
She was interviewing Lindsay German, the leader of a demonstration that is being held in London today, calling for British troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan.
News presenter: “What do you want to achieve ?”
Lindsay German: “Well what we want to achieve is to change Government policy, and bring the troops home. This is a majority opinion of the British people now......”
News presenter: “Well you were saying a majority. In a recent poll 56 percent were opposed (to the war), 37 per cent in favour..........It’s not quite a majority. It’s just over half.”
Lindsay German: “Well that’s a majority. A majority is just over half surely. Over 50 per cent is a majority”.
Mind-boggling ignorance.
Friday, 9 October 2009
Solicitors from Hell, an Irish Priest, Orwellian Phone Companies and Rusty Scaffolding
The solicitors from Hell made our moving day much more stressful than it need have been. The removal men had left and we were just completing our last minute checks when the phone rang. It was our Ramsgate estate agent. The solicitors had forgotten to get us to sign the Transfer deed without which the deal could not be completed. So we had to rush down to our agent’s office, sign the document in front of a witness, and it was faxed back to the Incompetents.
We got to our new house in Catford at 2pm. The removal men had already been there half an hour. I called our solicitors. Voice mail as usual. But when I phoned the Catford estate agent, he told me he had made contact with the Unprofessionals, and they said that, money having been received for our Ramsgate house, they had now despatched the dosh to buy our new home. But later it turned out they had lied. The money was not sent till much later. No matter how hard I tried to persuade him otherwise, the agent said he could not release the keys until the seller’s solicitor had received the money. So we just had to grind our teeth, and wait. Eventually at 4.30pm the keys were in our hands.
The removal men decided to try to make up some of the lost time, and set to work at a cracking pace (literally). They did not heed the proverb “More haste, less speed”. And as they tore about the house, they knocked a lump of plaster off the ceiling above the stairs, shaved a sliver off an antique desk, scraped the beautiful wooden floors and damaged two handles on a bureau.
Shortly after they drove off, the parish priest knocked on the door. He’d come to bless the house. He was Irish, friendly and very funny – hope he didn’t mind my asking if he did stand-up comedy in his spare time ! But the blessing was in earnest, and involved prayers, holy water and a visit to every room in the house. Father John had to rush off to another appointment so he missed out on a glass of champagne. But our new next-door neighbour, who had attended the house blessing, helped us to quaff the bottle. And what a bottle it was ! Louis Chaurey, Marks and Spencer’s finest (luckily at a discounted price !) Delicious. And just what we needed.
We were knee deep in boxes, but we are gradually getting things sorted out. And although we left a lot of furniture behind in Ramsgate, we still have too much – anyone want a solid wood kitchen table with 4 chairs or a nice coffee table from India ?! Our new house, you see, is much smaller than the Ramsgate one. But it is very attractive, and we already love both it and the very quiet tree-lined street it’s in. More like the country than London.
The house has got loads of original features including a splendid front door with stained glass, marble fireplaces and exposed pine floors. But less care has been lavished on the garden. At its centre is a rusty old children’s scaffolding. Our solicitor said he would ensure this was removed before exchange of contracts. I suppose he must have slipped up. So unusual.
On Thursday came an Orwellian experience with Sky , the media giant, who supply us with tv, phone and broadband services. The satellite dish for the tv was duly installed. But when the phone, which was supposed to have been installed on Wednesday, was still not operative on Thursday, I was forced to make a reluctant plunge into that modern torture chamber known as the call centre. Hours were spent being buffeted from one multi-choice menu to the next. Occasionally a human-sounding voice could be heard, and would divert me to another wrong department. On one occasion I even ended up in the wrong country – the Republic of Ireland ! Eventually I found this helpful bloke called Amir. But even he could not penetrate the minefield left by the Moving Home Department. Our order could not be processed because of a failure of communication between computers. Mere mortals could not sort out this gigantic cock-up. We would have to submit another order, which could take two weeks to process (and who knows how many pounds worth of mobile phone calls). “To be honest,” said this Sky employee, “You’d be better placing your order with BT. It’ll be much quicker”. But just as I was cancelling Sky, the bell rang and there was the engineer to fix the phone. Just like a French farce. “Cancel the cancellation”, I told Amir.
As for our Broadband, the engineer said as there had already been broadband service on the line, it should be possible to get it up and running immediately. Bravely I rang Sky again, and they said that an engineer would phone me back in the next hour or two to sort it out. Needless to say that didn’t happen, so I went to Currys and bought a mobile broadband USB stick. Slower than Sky broadband, but a lot better than dial-up.
Ah, the joys of moving house !
We got to our new house in Catford at 2pm. The removal men had already been there half an hour. I called our solicitors. Voice mail as usual. But when I phoned the Catford estate agent, he told me he had made contact with the Unprofessionals, and they said that, money having been received for our Ramsgate house, they had now despatched the dosh to buy our new home. But later it turned out they had lied. The money was not sent till much later. No matter how hard I tried to persuade him otherwise, the agent said he could not release the keys until the seller’s solicitor had received the money. So we just had to grind our teeth, and wait. Eventually at 4.30pm the keys were in our hands.
The removal men decided to try to make up some of the lost time, and set to work at a cracking pace (literally). They did not heed the proverb “More haste, less speed”. And as they tore about the house, they knocked a lump of plaster off the ceiling above the stairs, shaved a sliver off an antique desk, scraped the beautiful wooden floors and damaged two handles on a bureau.
Shortly after they drove off, the parish priest knocked on the door. He’d come to bless the house. He was Irish, friendly and very funny – hope he didn’t mind my asking if he did stand-up comedy in his spare time ! But the blessing was in earnest, and involved prayers, holy water and a visit to every room in the house. Father John had to rush off to another appointment so he missed out on a glass of champagne. But our new next-door neighbour, who had attended the house blessing, helped us to quaff the bottle. And what a bottle it was ! Louis Chaurey, Marks and Spencer’s finest (luckily at a discounted price !) Delicious. And just what we needed.
We were knee deep in boxes, but we are gradually getting things sorted out. And although we left a lot of furniture behind in Ramsgate, we still have too much – anyone want a solid wood kitchen table with 4 chairs or a nice coffee table from India ?! Our new house, you see, is much smaller than the Ramsgate one. But it is very attractive, and we already love both it and the very quiet tree-lined street it’s in. More like the country than London.
The house has got loads of original features including a splendid front door with stained glass, marble fireplaces and exposed pine floors. But less care has been lavished on the garden. At its centre is a rusty old children’s scaffolding. Our solicitor said he would ensure this was removed before exchange of contracts. I suppose he must have slipped up. So unusual.
On Thursday came an Orwellian experience with Sky , the media giant, who supply us with tv, phone and broadband services. The satellite dish for the tv was duly installed. But when the phone, which was supposed to have been installed on Wednesday, was still not operative on Thursday, I was forced to make a reluctant plunge into that modern torture chamber known as the call centre. Hours were spent being buffeted from one multi-choice menu to the next. Occasionally a human-sounding voice could be heard, and would divert me to another wrong department. On one occasion I even ended up in the wrong country – the Republic of Ireland ! Eventually I found this helpful bloke called Amir. But even he could not penetrate the minefield left by the Moving Home Department. Our order could not be processed because of a failure of communication between computers. Mere mortals could not sort out this gigantic cock-up. We would have to submit another order, which could take two weeks to process (and who knows how many pounds worth of mobile phone calls). “To be honest,” said this Sky employee, “You’d be better placing your order with BT. It’ll be much quicker”. But just as I was cancelling Sky, the bell rang and there was the engineer to fix the phone. Just like a French farce. “Cancel the cancellation”, I told Amir.
As for our Broadband, the engineer said as there had already been broadband service on the line, it should be possible to get it up and running immediately. Bravely I rang Sky again, and they said that an engineer would phone me back in the next hour or two to sort it out. Needless to say that didn’t happen, so I went to Currys and bought a mobile broadband USB stick. Slower than Sky broadband, but a lot better than dial-up.
Ah, the joys of moving house !
Written on Friday 4th September 2009
Farewell to Ted Kennedy
Been watching Ted Kennedy's funeral service in Boston and, earlier today, a recording of parts of yesterday's memorial service at the JFK Library. Struck by the genuine love felt for him by so many people. Deeply caring person, always looking out for others; first to pick up the phone to console a bereaved friend or colleague; even personally phoned the families of all 177 Massachusetts citizens killed on 9/11; acting like a father to his nephews and nieces after Jack and Bobby assassinated; and his wonderful sense of humour.
Very moving service. Barack and Michelle Obama were there as were Bill and Hillary Clinton, George and Laura Bush, Jimmy Carter and his wife; also Orrin Hatch and John McCain; and many, many others - the famous, the not-so-famous - family, friends and colleagues.
Obama gave a heartfelt tribute. The short contributions of the young Kennedys, each selecting something important to Ted, were telling. And the speeches of his sons, Edward junior and Patrick, were full of grief, but also love and pride. Edward junior lost a leg when only 12 and told how his father helped him deal with that. And Patrick, a US Congressman, told a similar tale - he is asthmatic and suffered from mental health problems.
And the health problems of his sons are just a part of the suffering this family has had to endure. All of Ted's three brothers died violent deaths - Joseph killed in the Second World War, Jack and Bobby assassinated. In the years after his brothers were killed, there must have been times when Ted feared an assassin's bullet would kill him, too - and it would have been understandable if he'd retired from public life. But he didn't: he kept going, and in time became recognised as the greatest legislator of his generation.
Ted Kennedy, a rich man, who spent all his life fighting for the poor and underprivileged. A man of personal flaws (but we all have those) whose behaviour at Chappaquiddick forty years ago will always be held against him by some.
I remember as a young teenager the day JFK was killed; I remember as a university student being excited by Bobby Kennedy's Presidential campaign in 1968, and I was devastated when he was murdered. I hoped Ted Kennedy would one day become President, but his 1980 campaign failed not just because of Chappaquiddick but also because it seemed he just did not want it enough - we've all probably seen the clip of that faltering response when the interviewer asked why he wanted to be President.
Since then, I've admired Kennedy's work in the Senate. Usually I've agreed with his politics. Many in America think they're insulting someone by calling them a 'liberal'. He was proud of being liberal. And rightly so.
But in the last few days I feel I've learnt a lot more about Ted Kennedy. These are not the usual formulaic tributes paid to the dead. These are heartfelt, genuine outpourings of love from family, friends and political colleagues.
A remarkable man. His spirit will live on.
Very moving service. Barack and Michelle Obama were there as were Bill and Hillary Clinton, George and Laura Bush, Jimmy Carter and his wife; also Orrin Hatch and John McCain; and many, many others - the famous, the not-so-famous - family, friends and colleagues.
Obama gave a heartfelt tribute. The short contributions of the young Kennedys, each selecting something important to Ted, were telling. And the speeches of his sons, Edward junior and Patrick, were full of grief, but also love and pride. Edward junior lost a leg when only 12 and told how his father helped him deal with that. And Patrick, a US Congressman, told a similar tale - he is asthmatic and suffered from mental health problems.
And the health problems of his sons are just a part of the suffering this family has had to endure. All of Ted's three brothers died violent deaths - Joseph killed in the Second World War, Jack and Bobby assassinated. In the years after his brothers were killed, there must have been times when Ted feared an assassin's bullet would kill him, too - and it would have been understandable if he'd retired from public life. But he didn't: he kept going, and in time became recognised as the greatest legislator of his generation.
Ted Kennedy, a rich man, who spent all his life fighting for the poor and underprivileged. A man of personal flaws (but we all have those) whose behaviour at Chappaquiddick forty years ago will always be held against him by some.
I remember as a young teenager the day JFK was killed; I remember as a university student being excited by Bobby Kennedy's Presidential campaign in 1968, and I was devastated when he was murdered. I hoped Ted Kennedy would one day become President, but his 1980 campaign failed not just because of Chappaquiddick but also because it seemed he just did not want it enough - we've all probably seen the clip of that faltering response when the interviewer asked why he wanted to be President.
Since then, I've admired Kennedy's work in the Senate. Usually I've agreed with his politics. Many in America think they're insulting someone by calling them a 'liberal'. He was proud of being liberal. And rightly so.
But in the last few days I feel I've learnt a lot more about Ted Kennedy. These are not the usual formulaic tributes paid to the dead. These are heartfelt, genuine outpourings of love from family, friends and political colleagues.
A remarkable man. His spirit will live on.
This post was written on Saturday 29th August 2009
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