Brian Haw

I was privileged to be one of Brian Haw's many friends, writes Nicholas Wood (obituary, 20 June). The judiciary, the police and MPs judged him as mad; it is my belief that one day he will be regarded as the only sane person in this country. He saw before anyone else, in 2001, what was being done in our name to children and mothers and to the human genome. He saw the blind ignorance and greed of politicians like Hoon and Blair using depleted uranium weapons to impose so-called western values on people who did not want their front doors kicked in to the sound of barking dogs. He had pictures of the disastrous effects of depleted uranium weapons on human DNA, and how irreversible that gene damage was.

Ten years on, in 2011, he is being proved right. In places like Fallujah young women are being advised not to have children because it is highly likely that their babies will be grossly deformed. He was a devout Christian, and this probably kept him going through 10 harsh winters, rain storms, mud, traffic noise, police harassment, and continuous battles in the courts. Of course he had utter contempt for Blair's Christianity. One Christmas day two police were sent to harass him in a police car. I berated them. One leaned out of the window and said, "I don't actually like doing this as I have a palsied child myself."

When Brian got very depressed, I said to him, "One day you will be regarded as the Gandhi of this country, and they will make a bronze statue of you, like Churchill, leaning forward on your crutches defiantly against an ignorant Parliament."