Christopher Hitchens: a fearless master-stylist and a pain in the neck | Simon Jenkins

Amid the noisome banality of wall-to-wall news, Hitchens proved passionate conviction and oratory could still draw a crowd

Christopher Hitchens was a pain in the neck. When I last debated with him it was in New York. He stumbled late on stage to draw attention to himself, cigarette and drink in hand, uttering oaths like a prohibition hack. The identikit Trot of our early friendship had became a rabid Bushite defending the Iraq war. He demanded to know how I could love Saddam Hussein so much...