Richard Gott the political activist, Guardian journalist and author has died aged 87.
There will of course be obituaries and given Gott was several generations before myself on the left I’m posting here an ephemeral note.
Gott’s career at the Guardian saw him the role of Features Editor. He resigned in 1994 after failing to report receiving Russian hospitality to the then Editor Peter Preston. As the Guardian appreciation notes Gott was on the side of revolutionaries not regimes.
Even so the Guardian piece recalls very different times to those the paper exists in 2025. Gott invited the socialist historian and peace campaigner E P Thompson to write for the paper. A line in Tony Benn’s Diary 13th June 1983 notes that he did the same for Tony Benn after he lost his Bristol seat at the Election earlier that month. Benn was paid £175 a column.
Different times but Gott’s role in them deserves to be remembered
Tariq Ali’s appreciation
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/farewell-to-richard-gott-1938-2025
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