Remembering George

I spent this afternoon attending the funeral of an old friend George Mowat. 

George was a Young Liberal with me and had passed away last week at the age of only 49.  He was from a strong Liberal and legal family - his father the late Sheriff Mowat had stood as a candidate in Caithness in the election before George Mackie won the seat and his brother-in-law Peter Barrett is my equivalent on Perth Council.

George had studied law at Aberdeen and it was after graduation that we first met.  After working in the legal sector, which I never though he really liked,  George moved into other things. He had worked  to get Graham Watson elected to the European Parliament and then worked in the former Yugoslavia overseeing the  elections on behalf of the UN.

That conflict  was absolutely awful with people doing all sorts of horrible things to each other that  defy description and logic. According to the minister who led today's service Georges company car was a tank, indeed one friend tells of how he had to call in tanks on a least one occasion in order to ensure that people were able to cast their vote - something we here in the UK take too much for granted.

George was also a big fan of Dunfermline Athletic. More recently he had spent the last few years caring for his mother. He will be greatly missed by family and friends.