Peter Hitchens's Blog, page 352

Old Londonderry's Walls

I have said for years that the British government should apologise for Bloody Sunday. This is for firmly Unionist reasons. Londonderry ( as I still call it) is in my view a British city ( and certainly felt like one to me when I at last managed to go there a few years back). I've nothing against those who wish to call it 'Derry'(or 'Doire'), provided they don't mind me calling it Londonderry. But I think the BBC, being a British institution, should stick with 'Londonderry' - as should...

Depressed about the Special Relationship? Try this

Back from my travels, I'll try briefly to address the many responses to some of my postings. First, the question of anti-depressants and the Cumbria murders.

This seems to have touched some sort of nerve, though in fact my original posting was rather cautiously worded. Why is this? I suspect it is because so many people are now taking anti-depressants, and so - having in many cases overcome their own doubts about swallowing such chemicals - are themselves automatically recruited as...

Special relationship? America's still itching to bash us in the snoot

This is Peter Hitchens' Mail on
Sunday column

The USA is my favourite foreign country – but I never forget that it is foreign, and has often been our enemy and our rival. So I am rather pleased that President Barack Obama has openly shown hostility to this country over the BP oil spill, unlike several of his forerunners, who smiled at us while doing us down.

It may help us all grow up and stop fawning on Washington. Far too many people – many of them academics, many politicians – continue...

Perhaps Derrick Bird's deadly rampage isn't so inexplicable after all

Yet another gun massacre is followed by yet another typhoon of psychobabble,
sentiment and bogus declarations that 'this must never happen again', when everyone knows that it will.

It's difficult to argue for tighter gun laws, since they're already so tight, though I'm sure the authorities will think of something suitably irrelevant and futile, as they did after Hungerford and Dunblane.

They are determined to make sure nobody in this country is armed, apart from criminals and terrorists, the ...

Travelling

I shall be travelling for the next week or so, and will not be posting anything apart from my MoS column. If possible, I may respond to comments, but this may not be possible till I return.

For Hitchens Obsessives Only

This posting is for Hitchens obsessives only, especially those who long for us to fall out in public. It is a transcript of an interview with my brother conducted by 'The Guardian' at the Hay festival and put on the web as a podcast. (There's a similar interview with me, but I don't think it contains any material which will surprise regular readers here.)

I have a special reason for drawing attention to it, as it completes a circle which had until now remained annoyingly unfinished. Earlier...

The 1999 Hitchens vs Hitchens debate

Here it is, a video recording of the 1999 Hitchens vs Hitchens debate.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/id/133849

The Joys of Selective Outrage

Modern Leftism takes a high moral tone about many subjects, which these days often leads it into supporting allegedly noble wars, in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan (though funnily enough it used to mean opposing wars under almost all circumstances).

The interesting thing is that its outrage is so selective and inconsistent. This has long been so, and arises from the fact that the Left still hasn't worked out how to replace the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, and so makes its...

What might have been

A few responses to contributors on the Dunkirk matter. 'Stan' argues: 'Germany would still have invaded Norway, Denmark and France and the low countries whether we promised to defend Poland or not. The invasion of France would have required our entry into the war, but even if we tried to keep out of it we could not have committed any more of the RN, RAF or army to protect our Far East interests in case we left ourselves defenceless against invasion by Germany - so Singapore et al would have...

Battles long ago

After my recent clash on 'Premier Christian Radio' with the secularist Adam Rutherford, some of Mr Rutherford's supporters thought I had been rather horrid to him. And perhaps I was. This is the problem. If a Christian loses any kind of public debate, he's universally derided as a hopeless weakling, bore and flop. If he wins one, he's a horrid, nasty bully, boo hoo. You decide which is preferable. Anyway, one of Mr Rutherford's supporters, in intended vengeance, provided a link to my Grand...