This is the best summary of the current geopolitical situation I have seen. Sir Alex Younger was head of MI6 between 2014 and 2020. Really worth watching.
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Really upset to hear about Sir Alex Younger. He was a fantastic person, dad, unbelievable wise head. The only person I ever sat and up listened to when he was on @bbcNewsnight etc. Former head of M16. Best friends with my god mumโฆ he lost his middle son only in 2022 in a horrendous car crash. Heโs just 62. This is a terrible tragedy. My deepest sympathies with his wife and remaining children. Cancer is extremely cruel.
I'm so sad to hear that Alex Younger died yesterday. Not only was he the ultimate spy's spy and loved by all who served under him, he was also incredibly generous to far lesser mortals like me.
Alex always picked up the phone (after retiring from MI6 I should say), even if it was only to say he was too busy to help that day. He had been ill for some time, but stubbornly refused to let that get in the way of what he thought was his duty to try to cast some light on an ever more confusing world.
One day in late November last year, during a particularly gruelling chemo round, he answered from the Marsden hospital. "Sure. I'll get in a cab and be home in 20 minutes," was his extraordinary response to my hapless plea to come on an emergency podcast on Ukraine.
Alex's integrity was as impeccable as his judgement. He was a wonderful Brit and a true patriot, and he will be very much missed.
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In these globally turbulent times one man has regularly acted as a wise, thoughtful and witty guide for listeners of @BBCr4today. The former Head of MI6 Sir Alex Younger has analysed, explained and contextualised the actions of Trump, Putin, Xi and the Ayatollahs. After he first appeared in the programme I was lucky enough to get to know Alex and call him my friend. Iโm desperately sad to hear the news Iโve long feared was coming. Alex has died after months trying to cheat the
prognosis he was given whe. They discovered the tumour he nicknamed โPutinโ.
Weโre always told not to speak of a fight with cancer because it risks implying that only those strong enough survive. I understand that. I really do but sod it. Alex fought so hard to find a treatment to give him a little longer to be with Sarah and their lovely children. And he used every last minute of the short time he did have to be with family and friends and to do what he spent a lifetime in the shadows doing - using his intelligence to understand the world, to explain it but, above all, to keep us all safe.