A word that can bear a multitude of interpretations
For all his oft-itemised flaws, one of George Galloway's undeniable gifts is language. Indefatigability was just a word with too many syllables until he shamelessly rolled it out for the cameras in 1994. Of course the absurdity of the occasion – obeisance to Saddam Hussein – instantly gave the word itself a new meaning. Not that this should diminish the capacity it defines – to keep on keeping on. The cussedness that drives the seeker after truth to plug away at a proof of a hypothesis, or the relentless energy of the utterly committed campaigner, has something about it that the more dilettante onlooker cannot but envy. But if it is also an outstanding quality of brutal dictators, it must be assumed to have another meaning. As he embarks on life with his fourth wife, Mr Galloway, with his self-deprecating vanity, now claims with a wink that he too is indefatigable. It is clearly a word that can bear a multitude of interpretations.