The weekend brought the sad news of the death of Kenneth Minogue. Intellectually and physically active to the last, he died on Friday at the age of 82, while returning from a conference on the Galapagos Islands.
Spectator readers will remember his essays and reviews for the magazine stretching over many decades. Some may have been fortunate enough to have been taught by him at the London School of Economics.
Ken was, needless to say, one of the most brilliant conservative political thinkers of his generation. He was also the most wonderful man. He had that rare mixture of great intelligence and twinkly, irrepressible good-humour. Spotting him across a room – even more so when his wife Beverly was alive and with him – was the best possible signal that you were not only going to learn something but have a wonderful time as well.
There is so much more to say. In the meantime, Roger Kimball’s remembrance of Ken is here and John O’Sullivan is here.
I have been going through some of his pieces on our newly digitised Spectator archive. Here is just one gem of Ken’s from July 1993: ‘The Law is a Chatterbox’. So characteristic, lucid and wise. RIP.
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