I was surprised that he still recalled the Independent Christmas auctions when I offered to cook for people; bids reached thousands of pounds. Then I thought of the malevolent people out there who want to silence me and was afraid. Was this a genuine invitation? Did he wish me harm?
This restorative lunch reminded me that journalism can be a force for good and that readers really do appreciate honest reporting.
He was with the Mail then, fun and gossipy, a bit flippant, I used to think. Then he joined The Independent and became a shrewd, fearless and conscientious foreign correspondent. An Afghan woman who met him when he was in her benighted country once told me: “We Afghans trust nobody, but we trusted Kim, because he was true.” A tabloid hack sitting next to me at the memorial whispered: “Loved the guy, ‘cos you could trust him.” Without trust, that most delicate and precious of human links, journalism becomes predatory.
Readers like Augustin are frustrated that many of our papers, radio and TV channels treat Nigel Farage as if he is a messiah, come down to save us all. He is rarely asked tough questions about policies or funding or Brexit’s disastrous impact. Watch the TUC recording on X of vox pops in his constituency, Clacton. Voters are told of his voting record on employment rights. They are astounded. The BBC, it seems, would hardly dare do this.
Ignore the snooty condescension, Angela Rayner is Labour's best minister
Read MoreMy meeting with Augustin reminded me how helpful it would be to get journalists to meet their consumers on a regular basis. At The Independent, my then boss Simon Kelner, now a fellow columnist, used to organise these informal get-togethers across the country. Readers loved it. They got to know us a little. That made them receptive to our words and thoughts.
On Sunday I remembered those invaluable encounters. And Kim telling me over a drink, how, in the darkest of war zones, his best work came from befriending inhabitants and winning them over. Social media can’t make those human contacts. We, in the real world of journalism, can. And must.
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