The death of former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook is slowly being digested around the web.
The two Scottish broadsheets are full in their praise; in Scotland on Sunday (reg required), Arthur MacMillan describes him as "one of the most principled politicians of his generation."
"A massive intellect, who was never more at home than when pitting his sharp Scottish wits against despatch box opponents, he was one of the modern Labour Party's leading thinkers who rose through sheer ability and a dogged work ethic to occupy one of the three key offices of state.
His humour was waspish and admired even by those who were often the target. When George Bush was re-elected US president last year, he commented: 'If you imagine the rest of us have a problem living with Bush for another four years, spare a thought for the 55 million Americans who voted against him.'"
The Sunday Herald says "Robin Cook's integrity will be missed in the stand against Blair". The paper says:
"Cook had the integrity to resign with great honour from the government over Iraq. And it was with the same integrity that he continued to challenge the government's authority. For those unsure of how to take on a government and incrementally push it, inch by inch, into revealing a wider picture, they could do no better than to look at how Cook showed the importance of one committed and informed voice.
Among the blogs, the most notable contribution so far comes from Paul Anderson. Anderson, who knew Cook from his time as a political journalist, writes:
"The death of Robin Cook earlier yesterday is a real shock [...] I am, I suppose, a Cookite politically, though the label seems strange. But I also really liked him. It's a very sad loss.
Cook was by a long chalk the most intellectually impressive figure among his generation of leading Labour politicians. My first vivid memory of him is of an END meeting in the mid-1980s at which I'd been put up to debate him on Labour defence policy. He made mincemeat of me – I don't think I've ever been quite so comprehensively out-done in argument, though others may disagree – but he did it in a thoroughly civilised way. I ran into him a couple of weeks later and he greeted me warmly. I told him I thought he'd had me for breakfast: he raised his eyebrows, looked at me quizzically and informed me that I'd made a coherent case but that I needed a bit more practice."
Elsewhere, Tim Ireland notes simply: "Parliament's integrity index just took a steep dive. The intelligence quotient isn't looking too good either."
