The Early Days of a Better Nation

Tuesday, July 27, 2004


Paul Foot

Paul Foot's funeral is today. His death was a shock to me, as to many. His investigative journalism was as tenacious as his commitment to socialism, which he always argued for as an explosive expansion of democracy and liberty. Among his many writings were a succession of short books putting this argument with clarity, passion, and wit, of which the following opening paragraph is typical:
'Ever since the beginning of time,' says a disembodied voice over a picture of a spinning globe at the start of Cecil B. de Mille's film Samson and Delilah, 'man has striven to achieve a democratic state on earth.' That is probably putting it a little high (especially as the voice goes on to assert: 'such a man was Samson') but there is some truth in it.
Paul Foot, The Case for Socialism, 1990.

And such a man was Paul Foot.

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