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Remember, imperialism is always presented as humanitarian: the white man's burden, the cross going round the world, the poor benighted natives, the sun never sets. . . So you have to be very careful about humanitarianism.

Tony Benn

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Tony Benn
Age: 88 †
Born: 1925
Born: April 3
Died: 2014
Died: March 14
Autobiographer
Diarist
Former Member Of The European Parliament
Politician
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn
Remember
Presented
Going
Sets
Round
Always
Cross
Benighted
Never
Burden
Humanitarianism
World
Careful
Natives
Poor
Imperialism
White
Humanitarian

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If I were the American President I would rather be popular than have the power the destroy the world because however many puppets they have all over the Middle East - Saudi Arabia, Egypt and so on - they haven't got support from the people.
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It's lovely to be old. I've got age, experience and zero personal ambition. No body could corrupt me by anything: possibly a job in the government, a peerage, a quango, I don't want any of it.
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It is tempting to deny, but if you deny you confirm what you won't deny.
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I'm interested in language. We used to call it the War Office. Then it became the Ministry of Defence. We used to talk about the hydrogen bomb, now we talk about a deterrent. And the language is very cleverly constructed to give the impression that it's not what it is.
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I don't want to commit myself in advocating a definite republican constitution which will get bogged down with the question of who would elect the President and when.
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The Marxist analysis has got nothing to do with what happened in Stalin's Russia: it's like blaming Jesus Christ for the Inquisition in Spain.
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The Establishment decided Thatcher's ideas were safer with a strong Blair government than with a weak Major government. We are given all these personalities to choose between to disguise the fact that the policies are the same.
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If you're going to make sense of politics you have to have a historical perspective and also recognise that you have to work with people you don't agree with.
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Broadcasting is really too important to be left to the broadcasters.
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The crisis that we inherit when we come to power will be the occasion for fundamental change and not the excuse for postponing it
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No medieval monarch in the whole of British history ever had such power as every modern British Prime Minister has in his or her hands. Nor does any American President have power approaching this
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The New York Times said, There are two superpowers in the world: the United States and the world peace movement.
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It would be as unthinkable to try to construct the Labour Party without Marx as it would to be to establish university faculties of astronomy,anthropology or psychology without permitting the study of Copernicus, Darwin or Freud, and still expect such faculties to be taken seriously
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Although socialism is widely held by the establishment to be outdated, the things that are most popular in British society today are little pockets of socialism, where areas of life have been excluded from the crude operation of market forces and are protected for the benefit of the community
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An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern.
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My alternative to American superpower is the UN and I might add when China becomes the worlds greatest superpower you will need it too.
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It's the same each time with progress. First they ignore you, then they say you're mad, then dangerous, then there's a pause and then you can't find anyone who disagrees with you.
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Some of the jam we thought was for tomorrow, we've already eaten
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The Civil Service is a bit like a rusty weathercock. It moves with opinion then it stays where it is until another wind moves it in a different direction
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When you think of the number of men in the world who hate each other, why, when two men love each other, does the church split?
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