I have never attended (albeit due to flu, mine was by live-cam) a sadder but also more brilliant (huge) and gorgeous funeral than John Molyneux’s. The tributes from his children; Jack Molyneux, Sara and his granddaughter were warm and authentic giving testament to the man that he was – kind, loving, clever, humble. I loved too the political stories and accounts from friends Huw Williams, Alex Callinicos Memet, Eamon McCann to name but a few, all of whom spoke with love warmth, respect and of course humour of this life well-lived. How important humour is especially to socialists! John’s ‘sister-in-law’ Brid Smith the MP for South Dublin was mighty especially when she must be grieving herself. But the woman who won my heart today was John’s partner Mary Smith who was a total warrior. I cannot imagine how she is feeling but she made us laugh and cry and then reassured us all would be well. What a funny, brilliant woman. She rallied us to the struggle and told beautiful tales of John two of which particularly stuck – one from his living and one from his dying. They go like this. A trans woman went into a bar where John and a friend were having a drink after a meeting. The woman was told to leave (due to her appearance) which eventually resulted in John and his friend supporting the woman in challenging the bar manager and a subsequent lawsuit which resulted in significant damages for Sonia. Now that’s socialism – it’s not only meetings and marches it’s being a fucking decent human every day of your life and John was that. The second story was of his death and was set to reassure us – it did because I’ve been worrying about this all week. He’d been to a meeting and a drink and was walking home when he was struck by a heart attack and fell down in the street. The man that was there first later reassured Mary that he’d seen John go down and that he was unconscious before he even hit the ground. The man took hold of the Irish anti-war flag which John was carrying so that it didn’t get lost and then went to the trouble of looking Mary up and getting it back to them. He also attended the wake to say his goodbyes following what must have been a sad experience. This is human kindness and John had plenty of that too. The next important detail is that two other passers by were quickly at the scene – one that did CPR and the other who phoned an ambulance – they were both, it turned out, doctors. Like Mary said – you can’t get a G.P appointment but John had two doctors attending him! So yeah, Mary was magnificent and I hope that helps her get through the next few months. The funeral ended with the Internationale sung and power salutes. Absolutely gutted not to be there and that he’s gone but this was a powerful way to say goodbye. REST IN POWER dear friend and comrade xxx