Peter Hitchens's Blog, page 70

Mother of Parliaments or Smotherer of Parliaments? Contact your MP *now*. There *must* be a vote on this Bill

You should be seriously alarmed. Parliament is about to award the state signifcant new powers without even bothering to have a vote., It seems it has alreday been fixed by the 'usual channels'. No MP, in my view, is free to surrender his or her powers in this way. there must be both a debate and a vote. 

 

Below is part of a story which appears in ���The Times��� of London today, Wednesday 18th March 2020, on page two. As it is behind a paywall, I cannot quote it in full

...

I fear the growing strength of the Thought Police in a Society that no Longer Really Wants to be Free

Thoughts on rainbow flags, and on re-reading 'Brave New World and' Nineteen Eighty-Four' .

 

'It was a bright cold day in Oxford ...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8112819/PETER-HITCHENS-fear-dissents-PC-visited-Thought-Police.html

PETER HITCHENS: Yes, coronavirus poses a risk - but our response to it is not intelligent or useful. Britain is infected... by a bad case of madness

This is Peter Hitchens��� Mail on Sunday column

Yes, you are right. We have gone quite mad. I know that many people are thinking this, but dare not say so. 

I will be accused of all kinds of terrible things for taking this view ��� but that is another aspect of how crazy things are.

Yes, coronavirus poses a risk. No, our response to it is not intelligent or useful. In fact, I think it is increasingly damaging and will soon become more so.

The key word here is proportion. There is...

PETER HITCHENS: Legalise cannabis? Let's ask the five victims of a crazed London knifeman first

This is Peter Hitchens Mail on Sunday column

If Jason Kakaire had screamed Allahu akbar! as he went about his bloody work, you would have heard of him, and he would have been debated in the House of Commons.

But because Kakaires five cruel and devastating knife attacks in London could not possibly be given any political or religious motive, there is barely a ripple of interest in his case. This is a mistake.

There are two reasons for the error. The first is that our bloated but...

A debate on the alleged greatness of Britain

My contribution to the recent Intelligence Squared debate on the alleged greatness of Britain can now be viewed here

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAXnpZlcGp0

The whole debate, with Will Self, Kate Hoey and Sayeeda Warsi, begins here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blm0CdUHNIQ

A discussion on Cuba - is it a paradise or a hellhole? BBC Radio Ulster

The item begins at 47 minutes on this link

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000fykj

Why is Prime Minister's Question Time, once entertaining and illuminating, now a boring disappointment?

Watch here: 

 

https://twitter.com/mailplus/status/1234455917170585600

 

Today, I���m publishing the document that could save us from war

This is Peter Hitchens's Mail On Sunday column

Long ago, a wise teacher told me to remember these words: Truth is the Daughter of Time, not of Authority. I had no idea how important they were. Now, after many years of experiencing official dishonesty, they are my motto.

One day, a lot of other people, in the media and politics, will accept that in the past few months they have failed in their duty to the truth, by staying silent or worse joining in a braying attempt to suppress crucial...

Time to Hear Both Sides. A and B respond to the OPCW's attacks on them - the Full Rebuttal.

Justice Denied - How Authority Tried to Ignore and then Bury Honest Dissent by Responsible Scientists

At last, the full story of what happened at the UN's Poison Gas Watchdog 

NB: The text below displays without problems on Firefox and Safari browsers, but those using Google Chrome have reported problems. I will try to get this fixed, but for the moment recommend that readers who have difficulties use Firefox or Safari. 

The two OPCW Inspectors, whose dissent at the OPCW's...

Reposted from August 2017 - a review of Hilda Prescott's superb 'The Man on A Donkey' . Much better than Hilary Mantel.

Sometimes I think books come looking for you, rather than the other way round. A few weeks ago I saw, in one of the grander literary reviews (I cant recall which), a reference to the The Man on a Donkey by H.F.M Prescott. It said, more or less, that it was the greatest historical novel of recent times. I had never even heard of it. 

A few days later I was on one of my episodic explorations of Blackwells wonderful bookshop in Oxford, which still preserves some of the last enchantments of...