Tony Benn Saturday Times Magazine 10th July

Words from the wise: Tony Benn, 84
Lessons in life from the over-sixties
Alan Jackson
My father [Liberal MP William Wedgwood Benn, later Viscount Stansgate] told me, ‘Mean what you say, say what you mean, do what you say you’ll do if ever you have the chance, and never attack people personally.’ And, quoting from the 19th-century hymn by Philip P. Bliss, he also urged me, ‘Dare to be a Daniel/ Dare to stand alone/ Dare to have a purpose firm!/ Dare to make it known.’ I’ve found those words immensely helpful throughout my life.
“I learn something new every day. But there are six billion others who are learning also, which means that by the time I go to bed I know less of all there is to be known than when I awoke. It’s the principle of progressive relative ignorance and has to be guarded against… No wonder that the older I get, the less sure I am that I’m right about anything. So think about things. Ask questions. Learn all you can.
“I believe the Establishment and the media underestimate the public’s intelligence. I also have a huge respect for youth, which represents our future. Does that make me an optimist? Well, pessimism is a prison into which you put yourself, whereas hope is the fuel of progress. Two flames burn in the human heart: anger against injustice and hope for a better world. Living now in this blaze of autumn sunshine – a phrase my father used of himself late in his life – I see it as my job to go round fanning those flames as hard as I can.”
The pearl: “Encouragement is the most important gift one individual can give to another, particularly when it’s handed from the old to the young.”
An Audience with Tony Benn takes place at Gawsworth Hall, Macclesfield, on Wednesday (www.celebrityproductions.info)