Whilst Tom’s death was neither sudden nor unexpected it’s nevertheless difficult for us to imagine that his forensic analysis and weaving of words has come to an end – but his legacy remains and will continue to provide that insight and inspiration to stand up to injustice.

Tom gave of himself in a way that few can. The list of the progressive causes Tom supported would make a comprehensive backdrop to the progressive political campaigns of the last 50 years. Indeed on November 28 he would have read at the Glasgow event Writers for Miners, an event commemorating the Miners’ Strike of 1984-1985 that raises funds to help establish a proper archive for the creative output of the strike.

Since the publication of Six Glasgow Poems (1965) the “po-faced literati” has attempted to bracket Tom as “a Glasgow Poet” or “Scottish”.

They could never concede that class was at the heart of Tom’s work and he and it were never bound by nationalist identities.

Whether reading at a benefit to support the campaign against the closure of the local baths or bringing together Scottish writers to oppose the Gulf war, Tom’s reading would inevitably bring the house down.