Peter Preston, who died on Saturday, embodied some of the best qualities not just of this paper, but of journalism more widely. By hard work and personal example he showed how a newspaper could change and improve without losing touch with its roots. During his editorship of the Guardian, he introduced to a rather self-important paper a light touch that was not merely superficial. He loved his trade, and was a master of all aspects of newspaper editing, but he never supposed that the media were more important than their subjects. His position as an outsider, not a metropolitan and never a member of the gilded elite, made him respectful of power without being dazzled by it. He did not sneer. This is not the place to speak of his personal qualities – his kindness and consideration for the weak – except to the extent that they informed his paper’s attitude to the world and its unhesitating sympathy for the underdog. But the link between personal and political values is what ultimately makes politics credible and no one ever doubted his integrity. Good journalism has seldom come under greater pressure than it faces today but his shrewdness, courage and commitment to the readers has left an inspiration we are proud to inherit.