Grey Friday

I woke up this morning to the news that one of my favourite online blogger people had died.
I knew he had cancer but it was still a surprise.

I never met him and I know full well that all the pain and grief belongs to his family and close friends but he will be missed by many hundreds of other people - such as me - who never met him but spoke to him online and read his blog and appreciated his genuine interest in and concern for fellow man.

His name was Norman Geras and was professor emeritus in politics at the University of Manchester. He was mentioned in the Guardian here yesterday: Norman Geras dies of prostate cancer aged 70

I met Norman on Twitter and was flattered that he chose me to be one of his featured bloggers a couple of years ago. We exchanged a couple of emails and I was touched by how encouraging and unpretentious he was and when he sent me a friend request on facebook I was thrilled. I sense he grabbed the power and the potential of the Internet long before many and was way ahead of other people - not just of his generation but those much younger than himself.