Howard Marks obituary: 'Britain's most charming drug smuggler'
I really dislike the glorification of criminals in the British press.<p>Here you have an apparently charming man who knowingly caused a great deal of violence and human misery with his trade.<p>His masterstroke[1] was having the audacity to blame the laws of the time for the violence in his trade - and getting people to agree that, yes, he has no responsibility for his actions, it&#x27;s the laws that should be blamed!<p>And that&#x27;s without even touching on his business associates; how you can call yourself <i>Mr Nice</i> while teaming up with the IRA and still look at yourself in the mirror every morning is beyond me.<p>[1] In later life. Staying out of prison by claiming to be an MI6&#x2F;SIS informant was pretty clever, given that MI6 wouldn&#x27;t even officially confirm their own existence until well into the 90s, let alone publicly comment on specific individuals and cases.