Death, Decline or Atrophy? The Necessity of Politics

While thinking about the contemporary state of politics, it is very difficult to shake off a recurring image from the brilliant television series A Very Peculiar Practice. In that show, a wonderful aging character was writing a book about the parlous state of higher education in Great Britain. 'Death of the University' muttered Jock into a portable tape recorder, between swigs of Scotch, as he wandered around campus despairing at the shattered values and distorted priorities of the new university. Jock spoke for all of us who care about education. I hope to be speaking to all of us who care about politics. And Graham Maddox was, and is, but one colleague and friend with an abiding passion for the values of education and the necessity of a vibrant political life. Yet his passion shone through like few others.