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Matthew Parris

We have to tell the truth about Tony Benn now. Who will hear it later?

The convention to speak only good of the dead should not be applied to politicians

22 March 2014

9:00 AM

22 March 2014

9:00 AM

I could start by remarking that we should not speak ill of the dead, quoting the pertinent Latin phrase: de mortuis nil nisi bonum (‘of the dead, only good’). But this would be to miss a key qualification because the whole quote (from Diogenes Laertius, circa ad 300) adds ‘dicendum est’: ‘is to be said’.

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