Mourners' funeral tribute to Cook

It is sad to see, after the death of Peter Jennings during the week, yet another young life is beind laid to rest. At 59, Robin Cook had potentially decades ahead of him, but his demise was due to the scourge of modern society, heart disease.

I met Robin briefly at a New Statesman/University of London event in 2003, where he was debating with his biographer and now New Statesman editor, John Kampfner. A brief meeting is not alot to go on obviously, but he gave me a wry smile and a firm handshake when I was introduced to him – and was pleasant to talk to.

If these things do come in threes, who is next…yet another Scottish Labour MP?