hope he does not rest in peace as he would be appalled by the religious connotations of that . He was a brilliant historian and his books– The Age of Revolution (1962), The Age of Industry (1975), The Age of Empire (1987) and The Age of Extremes (1994) are in my mind absolute classics of modern history ( have to admit i have only read the first three). A great and accessible historian. Will be missed. www.guardian.co.uk/books/eric-hobsbawm

hope he does not rest in peace as he would be appalled by the religious connotations of that . He was a brilliant historian and his books– The Age of Revolution (1962), The Age of Industry (1975), The Age of Empire (1987) and The Age of Extremes (1994) are in my mind absolute classics of modern history ( have to admit i have only read the first three). A great and accessible historian. Will be missed. www.guardian.co.uk/books/eric-hobsbawm

Wholeheartedly seconded.

On Tony Blair - ''Labour prime ministers who glory in trying to be warlords - subordinate warlords particularly - certainly stick in my gullet.''



Not many of his type left now.



RIP (not)

I remember seeing Hobsbawn on Newsnight not so long ago, despite being well into his 90s he was still with it mentally, intelligent and articulate. A terrific academic.

The [iAge of[/i series still stand as superb history.

[urlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/9682626.stm[/url



...................And the first person to spell his name correctly on this thread wins a liquorice allsort

Or perhaps, a more realistic appraisal of this intellectual snob could be found in the points raised in AN Wilson's piece in [url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2211961/Eric-Hobsbawm-He-hated-Britain-excused-Stalins-genocide-But-traitor-too.htmlTHE MAIL[/url?

It would have been interesting to see Wilson and Hobsbawm debate.



Wilson got his @rse handed to him by Hitchens on christianity and I'd have expected a similar result from Hobsbawm on the topic of social history.

Despite any religious connotations some people might perceive it as having, we need RIP, because 'sorry you're dead' lacks the required solemnity and respect.











Winning any debate is easy. Pick your ground, know your audience and make sure you're attacking rather than defending. How on Earth people build a career or reputation out of that is beyond me. Well, it's not but I'm being polite.





I quite liked Hobsbawn from the little bits I've read about him and the even littler bits by him.

A N Wilson is the snob and nowhere near as bright as he thinks he is.

No-one is as bright as A N Wilson thinks he is.

Failure to acknowledge what was actually happening in the "Communist" states was a massive moral failure on behalf of far too many 'intellectuals' in the West - seemingly Hobsbawn included.

That would be an excellent point if he hadn't written at least one book about exactly that.