He wrote to no agenda or party line. He did not believe it was the job of journalists to run the country or to advise politicians, but to nip at the heels of sacred cows and expose the inadequacy of the emperor's new clothes. He never pontificated about family values but he lived them, deeply. And however cruelly he wrote on occasions, he was unfailingly kind in real life. He believed that it was our duty to be happy as long as possible because tomorrow we die.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "He wrote to no agenda or party line. He did not believe it was the job of journalists to run the country or to advise politicians, but to nip at the heels of sacred cows and expose the inadequacy of the emperor's new clothes. He never pontificated about family values but he lived them, deeply. And however cruelly he wrote on occasions, he was unfailingly kind in real life. He believed that it was our duty to be happy as long as possible because tomorrow we die." in the context of "Lynn Barber "Waugh stories", The Observer (21 January 2001)
• The original print article appeared in The Observer, rather than The Guardian; on this occasion, the online source does not distinguish between the two publications." to mean that wisdom is timeless.