Ron Brown R.I.P.

Mr Smith was saddened to read of the passing of the former Edinburgh Labour MP, "Red" Ron Brown.

Mr Smith never met Mr Brown, who's career in the House of Commons ended abruptly too short following reported personal indiscretions. But Mr Brown was renowned for having overcome adversity in his own life to make it into Parliament and so often fought for his own non-populist "lost causes," something with which Mr Smith has a great deal of empathy.

Mr Brown's passing made Mr Smith stop and think: how many true Scottish political characters do we have left in Parliament, or indeed even in the Scottish Parliament, after thirteen years of Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party and of eight years of devolution? The answer is: sadly too few, indeed none that Mr Smith would wish to put in the same league as Mr Brown.

Farewell Mr Brown. R.I.P. You and your ilk will be missed, and Scotland is a worse place for it.