Peter Hitchens's Blog, page 10

President Zelensky's doubts about intelligence claims of an approaching Russian Invasion a year ago

Clever know-alls have taken to sneering at me for my outrageous behaviour in asking for details of the intelligence reports of an approaching Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago, By doing so I did not of course state (as these people would like to imply) that I thought there would not be an invasion. I would not have dared to make such a suggestion, since I had no basis of knowledge.

 

Anyway, I was far from alone in these doubts (hardly surprisingly, given that UK and US 'intelligence' had...

Were the Sixties Sexist? Yes

From about 40 minutes into this you can hear me and Polly Toynbee discussing how sexist the left and the funky rock starts were in the 1960s.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001j44q

UnHerd are holding a debate on Ukraine on February 23rd in London(I'll be taking part)...Details....

....of where and when and how to book (yes, you have to) are here :

https://unherd.com/david-patrikarakos-vs-thomas-fazi/?mc_cid=77ee746785&mc_eid=9d19992b01&mc_cid=77ee746785&mc_eid=9d19992b01

Are we quietly creating a British Stasi?

A British Stasi is quietly growing in our midst. Powerful arms of government have begun to see it as their right and duty to snoop on conservative thought and speech,  claiming it is in some way linked to ���right-wing extremism���. How long before the snooping turns into actual harassment? 

 

We have seen, in the past few weeks, Big Brother Watch���s fascinating probe into British government surveillance of dissenters over the state Covid policy. Almost everyone is by now aware that the organ...

Today's Debate in The Mail on Sunday on Ukraine, between me and Edward Lucas

Here is today���s debate on the Ukraine war in The Mail on Sunday between me and Edward Lucas:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11740329/The-longer-avoid-peace-talks-Ukraine-closer-come-Armageddon-writes-PETER-HITCHENS.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11740331/If-fail-duty-help-Ukraine-not-Britains-honour-line-EDWARD-LUCAS.html

How Dare our Political Establishment Pretend that they Plan to be Tough on Crime? They Have no Such Intent.

This is Peter Hitchens's Mail on Sunday Column:

 

How dare the Labour Party try to gain political advantage by complaining about the horrible explosion of crime in this country? Last week they produced official figures showing that three murders or sex attacks are carried out every week by criminals on probation. And of course this is quite true, and absolutely intolerable. So is the spread of ���anti-social behaviour��� which ruins the lives of millions in our poorer areas; and the general in...

The New Great Game, an article dating from 2004, but still with some relevance.

Another case of the contradictions in Western foreign policy - supposedly pro-democratic and pro-freedom, in practice not always so - is Azerbaijan, which I visited back in 2004 when I was one of the few people in the British media who knew that it (or Georgia)  was a real place, or who was aware that an oil pipeline was being built from Baku to Turkey through Georgia. I had been to Georgia several times, in the Soviet era when they were part of the USSR. 

Here's an extract from the article I w...

What is a War Crime?

Below is an extract from my Mail on Sunday column of 26th June 2011.

https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2011/06/as-dave-does-the-talking-war-dead-are-sneaked-out-of-the-back-gate-.html

I believe the actions described were done under  the auspices of the NATO alliance. I felt it necessary to reproduce it nearly 12 years later, as it is relevant to certain discussions about NATO and war crimes which keep arising on social media.

 

 

Slaughtered...by our side

You might not like to read t...

PETER HITCHENS: How shadowy censors tried to remove my 'unhelpful' Covid views from YouTube

This is Peter Hitchens��� Mail on Sunday column

I have been annoying people for decades. It is my job as a journalist to do so. And when I look back on my career, I only regret that I did not annoy more of them. News is what powerful people want to keep out of the media. Interesting commentary strays outside the mainstream and challenges conventional wisdom.

That is why it so often wears better, over time, than the standard official opinion.

We���ll have to wait and see how the Ukraine war g...

PETER HITCHENS: Even I balk at Happy Valley's depiction of grim modern Britain (and I'm an Olympic-standard pessimist)

This is Peter Hitchens��� Mail on Sunday column

May I exaggerate, just a bit? Has everyone in the lavishly praised BBC TV police drama Happy Valley been a) a habitual drunk or drug abuser, b) raped, c) suffered from the suicide of a close family member, d) kidnapped, e) blackmailed, f) been taking ���antidepressants��� for years, or g) committed or suffered from violent spousal abuse?

I am myself an Olympic-standard pessimist but even I balk at this picture of modern Britain. Things are bad bu...