I think all the people who have been so quick to pass judgement should do a bit more research on both asbestos and T&G and on the man himself before jumping on the outrage bandwaggon and condemning him in such a kneejerk cruel way its easy to post links.
My family and thousands of others have been severely affected by the T&N plant in the valley and the asbestos dust it produced...i lived (and my parents still live) about a mile away from the plant.
I have memories of the dust covered plants and trees on 'the wreck wasteground' we used to play in as kids, i remember being shocked at the outrage many years later when all of the sheds got removed as they had asbestos roofs. I have seen too many members of the local community and friends/my family die of Mesothelioma and other respiratory deseases it is the most horrific death, i wouldn't wish it on anybody.
My dad has liquid on the lungs he is in and out of hospital being drained regularly and is suffering from a variety of other ilnesses like DVT, high blood preassure, Diabetes.
This was (and still is) something much bigger than one man. Asbestos was named by the ancient greeks. For years there had been thousands of asbestos related deaths all over the North West, England and the World....It's still being covered up now in many third world countries and asbestos deaths are still high. In 2006, 2.3 million tons of asbestos was mined worldwide. i dont see you ranting and campaigning about that.
Cyril was no angel, yes he did make mistakes in his career and in his personal life just like everyone else on the planet. He did what he thought was right and was the first to admit what went on was wrong but I dont believe Cyril's main motivation was money at all. Around that time he was already wealthy from his company Smiths springs that employed over 50 people.
Back in his day things were different than nowadays, he wrongly lobbied for that company and defended what went on at that place to protect the livelyhood of the ENTIRE community around that area....over time it turns out that was a bad move and he paid a high price being voted out of every single political office he held, including 27 school governorships. It's easy to look back and criticise.
He was a great defender of the working classes, of education, of Social housing,of human life he said what he thought rightly or wrongly and stood by it.
as for the nonce allegations why bother fighting a smear campaign he knew wasn't true? Why waste the energy? ONE place published that crap, Just like Cyril i wouldn't waste my time trying to disprove the smears, they can stay exactly that. Smears. It's on record the great work he did for eduation in the North West.
I'm not going to keep arguing this point i just wanted to add a different perspective. People who haven't got all the facts and do a little reading on google are entitled to hate him if they want its a free world. I know there are many people out there who know he was a great man who did many more good things than bad.
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16660
