Tony Benn is one of my favourite left-wingers; TBOMK he’s a man of intellect, principle, and character. I was most surprised to come across this article in the Daily Telegraph, a right-wing broadsheet. It’s an excellent article and I commend it to the readers here.
I can certainly agree it’s a good article, but I wouldn’t say excellent (IMHO, obviously). What about it in particular leads you to commend it?
I tend to disagree with his idea that Davis’s act will restore any confidence in politicians and politics. Changes in opinion don’t happen through one act by one person. That plus the people aren’t technically sovereign, but that’s more a rhetorical point.
Well, it seems I completely forgot to say what the article is about! Tony Benn is supporting David Davis’s campaign for re-election. The article is about the importance of principle and civil liberties.
Why do I commend it? It reminds us that there are some things which transcend party politics, and that there are some politicians who do have principles.
I suppose then that’s probably why i’m not as huge a fan - party politics can be bad, but that which transcends it all too often seems to be far more unquestionable.
But more than that, I guess the reason I’m not all that bothered is that you’ve just summarised it in that one sentence. That’s true of a lot of things, but generally in those cases it’s the rhetoric you miss out which is important, but this seems pretty drily written to me. But i’ll admit I think Benn is a curmudgeon, so I may easily be biased.