obituary

Sheldon Brown

“If Sheldon Brown had been only an excellent bicycle mechanic, the esteem in which he was held, while great, could not have extended much beyond his native Massachusetts.” Instead, Sheldon Brown used the Internet to become the most widely read bicycle mechanic in the world. He died on February 3, 2008.
www.timesonline.co.uk

Fireworks in Washington, despair around the World

“The president and his speechwriters have yet to confront the tension between their rhetoric about freedom, which is universally popular, and their practice of projecting US firepower, which is resented in equal measure.” Former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook on the day George Bush began his second term in office.
www.guardian.co.uk

Robin Cook is Dead

Robin Cook, one of few political figures to command my lasting respect, has suddenly died on August 6, 2005. If you are only ever going to read one political statement made to the House of Commons, read Robin Cooks’s resignation speech from 18 March, 2003.