RIP Clive Ponting
- Thread starter gavreid
- Start date
Stuart Frazer
pfm Member
It is interesting to read about these dark corridors of power within the establishment. I always thought of Michael Heseltine as a maverick, who might have made a good Prime Minister. Reading this, he just wanted his own way in these things and Ponting was just a embarrassing obstacle for him and the Government to cut down and out.
hifinutt
hifinutt
Hmmm wonder when the movie will be out.. fascinating career
"What has not been disclosed until now is that Ponting also went on to expose one of Britain’s most unsavoury cold war cover-ups – the 1952 attempt to develop bioweapons, during which a trawler off the Hebrides was accidentally doused with plague bacteria. All files on the incident were destroyed, except for a single highly classified folder, which Ponting discovered three decades later, locked in his Ministry of Defence safe."
"What has not been disclosed until now is that Ponting also went on to expose one of Britain’s most unsavoury cold war cover-ups – the 1952 attempt to develop bioweapons, during which a trawler off the Hebrides was accidentally doused with plague bacteria. All files on the incident were destroyed, except for a single highly classified folder, which Ponting discovered three decades later, locked in his Ministry of Defence safe."
gavreid
Pretty Words...
Famously so
jackbarron
Chelsea, London
I remember reading Ponting's book The Right To Know about the Belgrano. The obituary is interesting and mentions another expose he was involved with - a British move to develop bioweapons in which a trawler off the Hebrides was accidentally doused with plague bacteria. All files about this event were destroyed except for one.
"When he retired in 2004 he moved to a Greek island, but failing health drove him back first to a house in France, then to Kelso in the Scottish Borders, where he signed up with a surprised but pleased Scottish National party.
"Towards the end of his life, Ponting’s post-Brexit political views tended to be bleak. He wrote privately in 2018: “I can’t believe what is happening in the world – I suppose we were children of the 60s, but at least there was hope then. And now there’s very little.”
The UK needs more people like Ponting, with the current government in power and their unending lies.
Jack
"When he retired in 2004 he moved to a Greek island, but failing health drove him back first to a house in France, then to Kelso in the Scottish Borders, where he signed up with a surprised but pleased Scottish National party.
"Towards the end of his life, Ponting’s post-Brexit political views tended to be bleak. He wrote privately in 2018: “I can’t believe what is happening in the world – I suppose we were children of the 60s, but at least there was hope then. And now there’s very little.”
The UK needs more people like Ponting, with the current government in power and their unending lies.
Jack
waxkinglyrical
pfm Member
Read his obituary at the weekend, had no idea he’d moved up to Kelso (about 25 minutes from us) and was active in the SNP.
foxwelljsly
Me too, I ate one sour too.
A splendid chap. RIP
2ManyBoxes
pfm Member
What made him different IIRC is that he didn't try to score political points from what he did, just expose wrongdoings. Democracies need people like him.
Mullardman
Moderately extreme...
I wouldn't give him that much credit. He doesn't just lack principles.. he actively opposes them.
Monitor Gold 10
pfm Member
It can be done. If I can stand up for the rights of my colleagues and I, anyone can.
I'm not afraid to stand and be counted.
It's been a long journey of course. I'm proud of my achievements at work.