Saturday 15 March 2014


Unkle Bob has gone.  Those who a few weeks earlier condemned him as a political dinosaur from the 70s that should be locked in the Tower and questioned whether he should be sunning himself on a beach in Brazil (or wearing those shorts) with a strike looming are now shedding crocodile tears while declaring what a great loss he is, how he stuck to his principles and how respected he was.  Now they reveal that he wasn’t the rabid Marxist bully boy he was portrayed as but a polite if determined negotiator with strong principles, it seems all you have to do is die and everyone loves you.

For myself I admired what he achieved at RMT but not the methods he employed to achieve it, whoever his successor is will find him a hard act to follow and no doubt they will suffer the same character assassination attempts that he was subjected to.  Bob was four months younger than me, a reminder that we all have a date with the undertaker and none of us know when it is.

6 comments:

  1. Have you read read this?

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2579743/MAX-HASTINGS-A-tragic-death-yes-But-sanity-sanctifying-Bob-Crow.html

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  2. And Mike Brown got in on the act by suggesting in the ES that Bob and him both wanted the same thing for the Underground - I think not!...

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  3. Anyone else notice that Peter Hendy's 'spontaneous' remarks in the Standard on hearing of Bob's death were word-for-word identical to Mike Brown's reaction on the LU intranet. Clearly some bag-carrier messed up on getting out the preferred message...

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  4. I've never agreed with Bob Crow's politics and had the opinion that he was rather too keen on getting his name in headlines but unlike the people who rejoiced in Margaret Thatcher's death, I'd never wish anyone I disagreed with dead. It was a young age to die and condolences to his family.

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  5. Bob Crow was anti EU.

    So was Anthony Benn.

    The BBC didn't report that.

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