He was one of the few politicians out with the Presidency I could always remember and name, he did a lot of good, some bad, but he always came across as so knowledgeable and eloquent, RIP.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger dies aged 100
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I thought he had died many years ago, surprised to see. His name must have been one of the most used back in those years as well.
He did a visit to China last year at 99 and the US government weren’t very happy at the warm reception he got 
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He was even immortalised by Monty Python​:rofl:
I will have to find out where the funeral is and go dance on his grave!
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Must be infectious, Shane MacGowan has just died too, age 65. I know which one I’ll miss more…
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As has Dean Sullivan from Brookside.
Dean Sullivan: Brookside actor dies aged 68
After seeing the pictures of Shane in the last month it was kind of expected 
I get the feeling Fairytale of New York will be No 1 at Christmas this year.
At times like this I was always told if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all 
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The longevity of his influence is astonishing to me. I studied him way back in the early 1980s (for a US Politics and Foreign Policy degree at University). I recall that he was already making headlines (mostly on nuclear strategy) in the fifties and early sixties, some years before joining the Nixon Administration in 1969 that made him famous/notorious.
To operate at that high level for so many decades is a considerable political and personal achievement, irrespective of the rights and wrongs of his policies. He shrewdly once said that in government, many key, difficult decisions are 51/49, and some you’ll get wrong. I’ve long been fascinated by him, for good and bad.
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And now Alastair Darling leaves early - what is it with this time of year 
Former Chancellor Alistair Darling dies aged 70
I hope everyone only has nice things to say about you all once your gone 
If my understanding from this mornings commentary on R4 is correct, he would have been shaped by his experiences of Nazi treatment of Jews in WW2. This goes quite some way to explaining how he could justify to himself doing awful things in order to prevent what he saw as the wrong regime gaining power. Understanding why will never make it acceptable, but if you don’t know then you’ll never understand why people do seemingly contradictory and inexplicable things.
Consider it a little bit more of the Nazi legacy at work.
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I don’t. I want the unvarnished truth. She was a miserable cow at times and when it was her time of the month she occasionally did the bare minimum work possible and instead sat at home eating Maltesers by the bucketload. Until age 35 her timekeeping was not just dire, but was incredibly disrespectful to others. There, I gave them a head start but I’m sure they can come up with much more pointed and cutting things to say
Don’t downplay the bad - he’s responsible for at least 150,000 deaths in Cambodia. He personally “approved each of the 3,875 Cambodia bombing raids.”
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I’m sure I’ll pop my clogs at this time of year. It’s a depressing time. It’s getting colder, only freezing and dark January and February to “look forward” to 
Winter solstice, turn of the year, days getting longer, everything to look forward to. 
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I think Netanyahu is heading for a similar epithet.
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Winter = renovating indoors, the rest of the year is cutting grass in saying that I was cutting grass today 
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