Brian Micklethwait RIP

I was sorry to hear that Brian Micklethwait, once a close friend and colleague of the late Chris Tame, a former director of Forest, died on Friday.

Chris is best known for having founded the Libertarian Alliance and running the Alternative Bookshop in Covent Garden which became a hub for libertarians in the Eighties.

As Brian Monteith tweeted this morning, Brian (Micklethwait) helped Chris in both endeavours, although the bookshop closed in 1986.

In particular he was responsible for the production – using the new desktop publishing software – of hundreds of printed pamphlets and essays.

Later he grasped the importance of the internet as a communication platform whereas Chris was apparently more sceptical and preferred the older and more expensive method.

I only met Brian a few times (and not for many, many years) and he always struck me as a lovely man, albeit a little unworldly (others may disagree).

Chris seemed far more intense and driven but perhaps that yin and yang was the secret to their initial friendship, although it may also be the reason they later drifted apart.

Sadly Brian died of lung cancer which was only diagnosed last December. Like Chris, who died of bone cancer in 2006, he was a non-smoker.

Last month the IEA held a special event to celebrate 'the life of Brian Micklethwait' which must have been a bit surreal because Brian knew he only had a short time to live yet there he was surrounded by friends and admirers telling him how great he was!

Not a bad way to go.

Meanwhile, if you want to know a bit more about the man, you can read the blog he wrote from June 2005 to May 2019 and his 'new blog' which started in May 2020.

His final post (I am in hospital) was posted on August 29, 2021.