We knew Alistair since we came to the UK in the mid-1970s. His gentle self-effacing outer demeanour belied a passionate commitment to social justice and campaigning for a better life for us all. He instinctively worked in a principled and non-sectarian way to secure the greatest level of unity for the causes he believed in. The progressive movement has lost a great champion and friend. While politics was his passion, he had a very broad range of interests right across the board. He could bring this knowledge to bear in the most surprising of ways on subjects that one did not suspect were within his sphere of interest. Our condolences to Ruth as well as all of Alistair's family and friends.