Peter Hitchens
Birth Name:
Peter Jonathan Hitchens
Peter Hitchens was born on October 28, 1951 in Sliema, Malta as Peter Jonathan Hitchens. He has been married to Eve Ross since 1983. They have three children.
In the 1960s we chose the wrong future and we are still living with that.
In the 1960s we chose the wrong future and we are still living with that.
I've got no sense of humor at all. Laughter is not about people being happy, laughter is about groups feeling a sense of togetherness, laugh...Show more »
I've got no sense of humor at all. Laughter is not about people being happy, laughter is about groups feeling a sense of togetherness, laughter is often about saying something very nasty in a way that you can get away with. Show less «
I now discover that I am almost the only journalist who didn't know that Jimmy Savile was a child molester. If they all knew, why didn't the...Show more »
I now discover that I am almost the only journalist who didn't know that Jimmy Savile was a child molester. If they all knew, why didn't they tell you? And what, exactly, is the point of the police investigating the misdeeds of a corpse? What will they do if they find a case to answer? Refer it to the CPS? Put his cadaver on trial and send it to prison? Well, let them explain all that. What's much, much more important is that you now know that there is a lot going on that nobody tells you. They don't tell you because they're scared that very rich men can use the libel courts to ruin those who tell the truth about them. Remember Robert Maxwell? He's dead, too. But do you think he has no living equivalents? They don't tell you because there are powerful commercial or political interests involved. Or because journalists themselves have bad consciences. Or because a lie is much more comforting and convenient than the truth. Show less «
If I never again had to read or write a word about homosexuals, I would be very happy. I really don't want to know what other people do in t...Show more »
If I never again had to read or write a word about homosexuals, I would be very happy. I really don't want to know what other people do in their bedrooms. But these days they really, really want us all to know. And, more important, they insist that we approve. Show less «
[on "Please Release Me" by Engelbert Humperdinck] Some of you may remember this rather dreary song, the real revolutionary anthem of the Six...Show more »
[on "Please Release Me" by Engelbert Humperdinck] Some of you may remember this rather dreary song, the real revolutionary anthem of the Sixties. Far more influential than Bob Dylan, so popular that it stopped The Beatles reaching number one in the charts, inescapable in any public place for the whole of 1967, scorched onto my cerebral cortex. What was Engelbert Humperdinck so keen to be released from? Why did so many people feel the same way? By 1967, the British people were getting sick of the world of sticking it out for fear of what the neighbours might say. They'd had rationing and restraint and self discipline up to here and they couldn't really see why they had to put up with it anymore. It was the slow death of a whole moral system. Show less «
No man fights freedom as such but he often seeks to limit the freedom of others, to do things and to say things. As we demolish the old stig...Show more »
No man fights freedom as such but he often seeks to limit the freedom of others, to do things and to say things. As we demolish the old stigmas enforced by family and neighbours, we created new ones, encouraged by government and policed by the media. No doubt we have been needlessly cruel in the past, punishing our fellow creatures with disapproval and ostracism. But we must now be careful not to be unjust in the present or oppressive in the future. Show less «
Old fashioned moral conservatives hardly know what has hit them. Many of them still act as if arguments about sex, drugs and rock and roll c...Show more »
Old fashioned moral conservatives hardly know what has hit them. Many of them still act as if arguments about sex, drugs and rock and roll can be conducted on the basis of old fashioned right and wrong. It's like watching the Charge of the Light Brigade as they gallop to their doom amid the cries of "bigot!", torn to shreds by near universal disapproval. Anyone who tries to express certain conservative views, the most obvious in the modern world is disapproval of same-sex marriage but there are others, often meets not with reasoned argument but with a verbal assault which suggests that his opinion is a personal failing or a pathology. You might call it liberal bigotry. Show less «
I can carve a better Prime Minister out of a Banana than David Cameron was.
I can carve a better Prime Minister out of a Banana than David Cameron was.
To create a Selective Education System in this Country you'd need 3000 new Grammar Schools. Theresa May might create a dozen...
To create a Selective Education System in this Country you'd need 3000 new Grammar Schools. Theresa May might create a dozen...
In the era I'm nostalgic for, the 1950s, everything was made in this Country. Now none of it is.
In the era I'm nostalgic for, the 1950s, everything was made in this Country. Now none of it is.
University expansion under what was happening to this Country under John Major and the Blair Terror concealed Youth Unemployment and got the...Show more »
University expansion under what was happening to this Country under John Major and the Blair Terror concealed Youth Unemployment and got them to pay their own unemployment benefit by borrowing it! Extend the school leaving age to 22! Show less «
I accept that Protectionism would result in reduced quality of life. I think it's the price to pay to have everyone working, as opposed to d...Show more »
I accept that Protectionism would result in reduced quality of life. I think it's the price to pay to have everyone working, as opposed to delivering pizzas and selling each other cappuccinos. Show less «
I still think we should Leave, we're just doing it wrong. We're jumping over the wall and getting our trousers caught on the Barbed Wire.
I still think we should Leave, we're just doing it wrong. We're jumping over the wall and getting our trousers caught on the Barbed Wire.
All Politically Significant Statistics are fiddled.
All Politically Significant Statistics are fiddled.
The Church of England has abandoned individual conscience in favour of Social Conscience.
The Church of England has abandoned individual conscience in favour of Social Conscience.
I have no problem with a Multi Racial Society! But it should have one Culture.
I have no problem with a Multi Racial Society! But it should have one Culture.
All these people on benefits, they're not sick, they've just been forced out of work!
All these people on benefits, they're not sick, they've just been forced out of work!
That sort of thing is rightfully dismissed as "Virtue Signalling". Anyone can say they're against bad things, but that doesn't give you an i...Show more »
That sort of thing is rightfully dismissed as "Virtue Signalling". Anyone can say they're against bad things, but that doesn't give you an idea of what kind of person they are. Show less «
I wouldn't stick around here. I've never seen a more doomed society, and I've lived in a doomed society... everything is running out.
I wouldn't stick around here. I've never seen a more doomed society, and I've lived in a doomed society... everything is running out.
The Conservative Party is an Organization to give jobs to the sons of Gentlemen.
The Conservative Party is an Organization to give jobs to the sons of Gentlemen.
Most of these things happen because people don't know what they're talking about. In my experience, most people don't know what they're talk...Show more »
Most of these things happen because people don't know what they're talking about. In my experience, most people don't know what they're talking about because they don't bother to check. Show less «
They are two corpses with rigor mortis. The Labour Party is only held together by its hatred of the Conservatives, the Conservatives are onl...Show more »
They are two corpses with rigor mortis. The Labour Party is only held together by its hatred of the Conservatives, the Conservatives are only held together by other people's money. Show less «
This Government has done nothing for the Education of the poor.
This Government has done nothing for the Education of the poor.
You are engaging in Phony Outrage, which is what your Party always does.
You are engaging in Phony Outrage, which is what your Party always does.
I could carve a better Culture Secretary than you out of a Banana.
I could carve a better Culture Secretary than you out of a Banana.
Silencing opponents is a very wicked thing to want to do.
Silencing opponents is a very wicked thing to want to do.
It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without offending another Englishman.
It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without offending another Englishman.
[Obesity Epidemic] Psychology is not exactly a hard science!
[Obesity Epidemic] Psychology is not exactly a hard science!
Political Correctness may make people better behaved, but it becomes malign when it makes certain things unsayable and therefore certain tho...Show more »
Political Correctness may make people better behaved, but it becomes malign when it makes certain things unsayable and therefore certain thoughts unthinkable. Show less «
The next proper History of this Country will be written in Chinese.
The next proper History of this Country will be written in Chinese.
[Theology debate, exasperated] No wonder nobody goes to Churches if THIS is what they think goes on in Churches!
[Theology debate, exasperated] No wonder nobody goes to Churches if THIS is what they think goes on in Churches!
I've never seen a Country more bent upon its own ruin, socially, morally and politically, and I've seen a lot of Countries.
I've never seen a Country more bent upon its own ruin, socially, morally and politically, and I've seen a lot of Countries.
The trouble with this [Country] is that it doesn't realize how lucky it's been.
The trouble with this [Country] is that it doesn't realize how lucky it's been.
I will not use the word Brexit, it sounds like a Laxative Breakfast Cereal.
I will not use the word Brexit, it sounds like a Laxative Breakfast Cereal.
Utopia is only approached across a Sea of Blood and you never get there. I've lived in Utopia....
Utopia is only approached across a Sea of Blood and you never get there. I've lived in Utopia....
Concern for your neighbour! A lot of the Left's claims for moral supremacy are because they've borrowed so much from Christianity. Turn them...Show more »
Concern for your neighbour! A lot of the Left's claims for moral supremacy are because they've borrowed so much from Christianity. Turn them from individual laws of self governance into Political Principles. They're trying to replace the individual conscience with the Social Conscience. They don't have a Political Origin, they have a Religious Origin. All Serious Systems of Thought are Jewish Heresies. Show less «
[Psychiatric Medication] An alarm bell should be sounded, this could be another Thalidomide.
[Psychiatric Medication] An alarm bell should be sounded, this could be another Thalidomide.
[Blairite Policy] "There must not be Academic Selection in this Country" Why not? Because it contradicts the dogma of egalitarianism. Most p...Show more »
[Blairite Policy] "There must not be Academic Selection in this Country" Why not? Because it contradicts the dogma of egalitarianism. Most people in this Country have bought the idea that egalitarianism is good. Show less «
I'm an Extremist because I hold the views that were Mainstream 50 years ago.
I'm an Extremist because I hold the views that were Mainstream 50 years ago.
I think Education is the key to happiness.
I think Education is the key to happiness.
A large part of Educational Policies in this Country are to hide unemployment.
A large part of Educational Policies in this Country are to hide unemployment.
UKIP to me has always been a sort of Dad's Army Party without any serious existence.
UKIP to me has always been a sort of Dad's Army Party without any serious existence.
I'm in favour of the Criminal Law banning certain acts, but banning people from thinking, saying or believing things seems to me to be repul...Show more »
I'm in favour of the Criminal Law banning certain acts, but banning people from thinking, saying or believing things seems to me to be repulsive. Show less «
I have a pretty low opinion of Politically Imposed Equality.
I have a pretty low opinion of Politically Imposed Equality.
The Truth is not popular, but it is the case.
The Truth is not popular, but it is the case.
I would like to leave but I can't, I'm too old.
I would like to leave but I can't, I'm too old.
My brother loved a row.
My brother loved a row.
David Cameron and George Osbourne are coming out with things I used to say when I was a Trot. The difference is that I knew they were Trotsk...Show more »
David Cameron and George Osbourne are coming out with things I used to say when I was a Trot. The difference is that I knew they were Trotskyist things to say. They have no idea. Show less «
[Chris] I don't know if bullying means the same thing these days. He was bigger than I was but I like to think I hit quite hard.
[Chris] I don't know if bullying means the same thing these days. He was bigger than I was but I like to think I hit quite hard.
My advice to the young people is emigrate before it's too late.
My advice to the young people is emigrate before it's too late.
[Cameron] I can't feel any passion against him. It's like feeling passion against a blancmange. Perfectly nice chap...
[Cameron] I can't feel any passion against him. It's like feeling passion against a blancmange. Perfectly nice chap...
It's not Britain I hate, I love every field and hedgerow, it's the people who run it.
It's not Britain I hate, I love every field and hedgerow, it's the people who run it.
In between the crisis and the catastrophe we'll have a glass of champagne.
In between the crisis and the catastrophe we'll have a glass of champagne.
[Talk Show Host: I've read your column many times, I think you need a hug.] Not from you I don't! There is a Biblical Quotation: "There is a...Show more »
[Talk Show Host: I've read your column many times, I think you need a hug.] Not from you I don't! There is a Biblical Quotation: "There is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing!" Show less «
["England" or "Britain"?] It's token stuff. It's like Morris Dancing.
["England" or "Britain"?] It's token stuff. It's like Morris Dancing.
Oh, I'm completely humourless. I awaken with a penitent Psalm upon my lips and before I go to sleep I wrap some barbed wire around my thigh....Show more »
Oh, I'm completely humourless. I awaken with a penitent Psalm upon my lips and before I go to sleep I wrap some barbed wire around my thigh. All Christians do that, don't they? Show less «
[What is a Teletubby?] It is a round, furry, squeaky thing.
[What is a Teletubby?] It is a round, furry, squeaky thing.
[comparing Diana's and Churchill's funerals] The open display of emotion. Some would say let it all hang out, but with the British what gets...Show more »
[comparing Diana's and Churchill's funerals] The open display of emotion. Some would say let it all hang out, but with the British what gets let hung out isn't very nice, we're a violent and bloodthirsty lot especially when we get outside our own borders and start misbehaving and we need to restrain ourselves. Show less «
We have a terribly debased culture, but there it is. There's no point pretending that it isn't so.
We have a terribly debased culture, but there it is. There's no point pretending that it isn't so.
I now find America when I come here more British than Britain.
I now find America when I come here more British than Britain.
A more educated electorate is what you really need. The real crisis in our country is the collapse in education since the disruption of the ...Show more »
A more educated electorate is what you really need. The real crisis in our country is the collapse in education since the disruption of the Grammar Schools in the 1960s. Since when people have been taught what to think but not how to think. And if you can't think how can you possibly judge whether someone should be elected to government or not? Show less «
I've always tried to defend the idea of Britain. England hasn't existed as a Country since the Union of the Crowns in 1603.
I've always tried to defend the idea of Britain. England hasn't existed as a Country since the Union of the Crowns in 1603.
What we do here matters somewhere else. It's like doing a tapestry, it only makes sense when you turn it over.
What we do here matters somewhere else. It's like doing a tapestry, it only makes sense when you turn it over.
[Cameron] He decided to do a Big Reverse Ferret.
[Cameron] He decided to do a Big Reverse Ferret.
I don't exist in America.
I don't exist in America.
Kierkegaard said the best revolutions leave all the buildings and symbols standing.
Kierkegaard said the best revolutions leave all the buildings and symbols standing.
Twitter is just an Electronic Mob and you don't have to take anything said on there seriously.
Twitter is just an Electronic Mob and you don't have to take anything said on there seriously.
I realised I was being raised for a World that no longer existed.
I realised I was being raised for a World that no longer existed.
The most dangerous man is someone who thinks he's good.
The most dangerous man is someone who thinks he's good.
It's the most clichéd thing: people are revolutionary when they're young and conservative and religious when they're older. I just did the ...Show more »
It's the most clichéd thing: people are revolutionary when they're young and conservative and religious when they're older. I just did the Normal Thing. What you should be asking is why Western Societies are stuffed out with people in their 50s who wear jeans and go to Rolling Stones concerts, it's very odd. Show less «
Some of the most unpleasant people on the planet can appear to be kind and nice.
Some of the most unpleasant people on the planet can appear to be kind and nice.
God is Old Fashioned because Life is Old Fashioned.
God is Old Fashioned because Life is Old Fashioned.
Don't ever start treating people with contempt, it's the path to totalitarianism and murder. All people are valuable.
Don't ever start treating people with contempt, it's the path to totalitarianism and murder. All people are valuable.
The people responsible for getting us out of the EU vanished the moment the vote was over.
The people responsible for getting us out of the EU vanished the moment the vote was over.
The Labour Party are like Groucho Marx: "Here are my principles and if you don't like them I have others".
The Labour Party are like Groucho Marx: "Here are my principles and if you don't like them I have others".
If politics is show business for ugly people then politics is sport for unfit people. Politics is boring enough without sport in it.
If politics is show business for ugly people then politics is sport for unfit people. Politics is boring enough without sport in it.
[Question Time] This County has been having a "Good Dose of Socialism" for a very long time. Under several governments, some of them calling...Show more »
[Question Time] This County has been having a "Good Dose of Socialism" for a very long time. Under several governments, some of them calling themselves Labour, some New Labour some Conservative. We have an economy which almost anyone a hundred years ago would consider close to Communist in terms of state intervention. So I don't think and we are as a result of these many years of state intervention heavily in debt and in grave economic trouble and we have a welfare system we can't afford. There are many thing attractive about a Socialist program to begin with. But the problem is they cost a very heavy price and we continue to pay it. I don't think Mr Corbyn has an answer to any of those problems, not to say I think the Tories do, but I don't think Mr Corbyn going into Downing Street would transform the Country. The people of France thought Mr Orlonde was going to make a difference and were disappointed when he didn't... We don't have a Conservative Party or a suitable leader for one.. we do not have serious adversarial politics. Show less «
The Conservative Party calls itself a Disposition without Dogma, which is all very well when your opponents are not dogmatic...
The Conservative Party calls itself a Disposition without Dogma, which is all very well when your opponents are not dogmatic...
[Rage Against God] It's easy to read because it was hard to write.
[Rage Against God] It's easy to read because it was hard to write.
The fact that the current system is failing does not seem to me to recommend the Soviet System.
The fact that the current system is failing does not seem to me to recommend the Soviet System.
My advantage with Tony Blair was that I knew how cosmically dim he was before he came to power.
My advantage with Tony Blair was that I knew how cosmically dim he was before he came to power.
The Labour Party is a Party of bourgeois bohemian Metropolitan trendies which loves having servants, cheap restaurants, cheap waiters and al...Show more »
The Labour Party is a Party of bourgeois bohemian Metropolitan trendies which loves having servants, cheap restaurants, cheap waiters and all the things they benefit from in the fat lives they lead in the Capital but it also relies on the votes of people who don't benefit from immigration and its discovered that if its going to survive and get back into power its going to have to grovel to them, it doesn't make any difference, the damage is done... This was a deliberate policy to transform the country, and you meant it to be so, you've done it now, there's no point in saying oh we're sorry now we did that, you're not sorry at all, what you're sorry about is that it cost you popularity. Show less «
You seem to have mistaken the Welfare State for The Kingdom of Heaven...
You seem to have mistaken the Welfare State for The Kingdom of Heaven...
We are considerably less British and that's the idea. Because when New Labour launched this Mass Immigration Policy which they did as a deli...Show more »
We are considerably less British and that's the idea. Because when New Labour launched this Mass Immigration Policy which they did as a deliberate act of policy, this is the account of a New Labour Apparatchik Andrew Nether who actually said that the Policy included a driving political purpose, that mass immigration was the way that the government would make the UK truly multicultural and the main purpose was to rub the right's nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date, that has been achieved, there was a driving political purpose to change this country irreversibly and out of all recognition, it's been achieved and that lot did it and now they're going to the next election to pose as the friends of those who are worried by it. Show less «
Almost all serious work on the problems of Problem Families, and any major advanced country will tell you, these problems are concentrated w...Show more »
Almost all serious work on the problems of Problem Families, and any major advanced country will tell you, these problems are concentrated where there are no fathers, and if you continue to pursue policies that create more fatherless families you will get more of it. Show less «
The merriness has been squeezed out of us somewhat over the years.
The merriness has been squeezed out of us somewhat over the years.
The solution [to the Constitutional Crisis] is not to have held a Referendum!
The solution [to the Constitutional Crisis] is not to have held a Referendum!
ISIS is a consequence of our destabilisation of Syria.
ISIS is a consequence of our destabilisation of Syria.
I wish people would stop being so Multicultural and start Integrating.
I wish people would stop being so Multicultural and start Integrating.
We have the Death Penalty, only its carried out by individual policeman with guns. I would prefer due process, as opposed to a policeman ope...Show more »
We have the Death Penalty, only its carried out by individual policeman with guns. I would prefer due process, as opposed to a policeman opening fire in a state of panic. Show less «
Those were mischaracterised as riots by those who had political purposes and took the view, that many radicals do, that you should never let...Show more »
Those were mischaracterised as riots by those who had political purposes and took the view, that many radicals do, that you should never let a good crisis go to waste. Show less «
People will pretend that their opinion is a fact and therefore that no one can disagree with it.
People will pretend that their opinion is a fact and therefore that no one can disagree with it.
Everybody suffers from Multiculturalism, because Multiculturalism is no culture, it means that there is nothing to be loyal to, nothing to b...Show more »
Everybody suffers from Multiculturalism, because Multiculturalism is no culture, it means that there is nothing to be loyal to, nothing to belong to. Any culture that wants to survive has to have an agreed culture and a common language. Show less «
One thing I liked about Russia was they only gave you a smile when they really meant it.
One thing I liked about Russia was they only gave you a smile when they really meant it.
If I stood for power or if he did on our positions which are popular, the Party Machine would erase us, they command so much money.
If I stood for power or if he did on our positions which are popular, the Party Machine would erase us, they command so much money.
Those who have Conservative Christian opinions will face persecution in this country, though it hasn't come yet. The Problem is that we have...Show more »
Those who have Conservative Christian opinions will face persecution in this country, though it hasn't come yet. The Problem is that we have become so willing in this country in conventional wisdom, to accept the Liberal Majority and the ideology of equality and diversity which is now compulsory in the public services and you have to abide by to work in the public services. That the freedom to speak and think otherwise is increasingly forbidden. Show less «
[Islamophobia] I find this attempt to turn an opinion into a pathology deeply abhorrent.
[Islamophobia] I find this attempt to turn an opinion into a pathology deeply abhorrent.
If you conclude that the Universe is a Cosmic Car Crash you don't have to be concerned with the consequence of your actions, they can only b...Show more »
If you conclude that the Universe is a Cosmic Car Crash you don't have to be concerned with the consequence of your actions, they can only be judged on an ad hoc basis. Show less «
It calls itself The Conservative Party. If it called itself the Socialist Workers Party I wouldn't have anything against it... The Conservat...Show more »
It calls itself The Conservative Party. If it called itself the Socialist Workers Party I wouldn't have anything against it... The Conservative Party is a Left-Wing Party. It's egalitarian, it's got much more in common with the SWP. Show less «
I had hoped the Conservative Party would break up, I simply underestimated the enormous power of lies and money.
I had hoped the Conservative Party would break up, I simply underestimated the enormous power of lies and money.
[Transsexualism, Fact or Fantasy?] The main people who've actually been opposing it and have been in rather a strong position to do so have ...Show more »
[Transsexualism, Fact or Fantasy?] The main people who've actually been opposing it and have been in rather a strong position to do so have been the more old fashioned feminists. Such as Germaine Greer, and a very interesting person called Judy Bindle, who've got into quite a lot of trouble, been threatened with exclusion from University Campuses for saying this, and they've been firm on saying that a woman is a woman and you can't create a woman by surgery, for instance. Which has caused quite a lot of bitterness between these two different factions of the Left. Conservatives tend to be a bit wary of it, partly, certainly as this affects me, I've no doubt that there are some very unhappy and troubled people who feel they are in the wrong body, I've talked to people who say this and I don't doubt their discomfort. Therefore whenever I get involved in this I feel very restrained by a desire not to hurt anyone personally. The things Germaine Greer said may be hurtful to some people but because she's of the Left she's freer to say them. And in any case it's her style. Show less «
As it happens I pay my tax promptly at the proper rate. But much of your taxes and mine are wasted or squandered on harmful purposes. School...Show more »
As it happens I pay my tax promptly at the proper rate. But much of your taxes and mine are wasted or squandered on harmful purposes. Schools that spread propaganda and ignorance. Police who won't fight crime. Stupid foreign wars. Expensive armies of politically correct jobsworths. So I have nothing against legal tax avoidance, providing it is done by people who think as I do. What I object to is modish liberals endlessly going on about how they are in favour of a high spending state while quietly taking advantage of legal tax dodges. This is more common than you might think. In my view they should be made to pay a special tax of 80 pence on the pound, a tax on being insufferably left wing. Show less «
[Elizabeth II] Probably by remaining on the throne all this time she's provided a kind of anesthetic or analgesic to reduce the pain of our ...Show more »
[Elizabeth II] Probably by remaining on the throne all this time she's provided a kind of anesthetic or analgesic to reduce the pain of our Decline. Show less «
The Spirit seems to have gone out of the English Speaking peoples over the last century.
The Spirit seems to have gone out of the English Speaking peoples over the last century.
The State should be beneath our feet not over our heads.
The State should be beneath our feet not over our heads.
[Hapsburgs] You can't have a dethroned Monarchy still living in the Country they used to rule.
[Hapsburgs] You can't have a dethroned Monarchy still living in the Country they used to rule.
[Theresa May] She is a disastrous Prime Minister but she remains in office because at the moment no-one wants the job... The reality of meet...Show more »
[Theresa May] She is a disastrous Prime Minister but she remains in office because at the moment no-one wants the job... The reality of meeting her is so distressing because there is so little there. Show less «
[Politicians] They'll kowtow to the idea of the rule of the people and then strive manfully to avoid it.
[Politicians] They'll kowtow to the idea of the rule of the people and then strive manfully to avoid it.
What we have done is we have chosen the wrong future.
What we have done is we have chosen the wrong future.
If you drive God out of the World, you create a howling wilderness.
If you drive God out of the World, you create a howling wilderness.
[Quoting George Santayana] Instinctively the Englishman is no missionary, no conqueror. He prefers the country to the town, and home to fore...Show more »
[Quoting George Santayana] Instinctively the Englishman is no missionary, no conqueror. He prefers the country to the town, and home to foreign parts. He is rather glad and relieved if only natives will remain natives and strangers strangers. Yet outwardly he is the most hospitable and accepts almost anybody for the time being; he travels and conquers without a settled design, because he has the instinct of exploration. His adventures are all external; they change him so little that he is not afraid of them. He carries his English weather in his heart wherever he goes, and it becomes a cool spot in the desert, and a steady and sane oracle amongst all the deliriums of mankind. Never since the heroic days of Greece has the world had such a sweet, just, boyish master. It will be a black day for the human race when scientific blackguards, conspirators, churls and fanatics manage to supplant him. Show less «
Most people think of Russia as a place with Snow and Bears where they use a funny Alphabet. And that's where their knowledge stops.
Most people think of Russia as a place with Snow and Bears where they use a funny Alphabet. And that's where their knowledge stops.
You can get an A-level now in a Shakespeare Play without having read that Play.
You can get an A-level now in a Shakespeare Play without having read that Play.
I make a point of knowing nothing about Football.
I make a point of knowing nothing about Football.
[Theresa May at Davos] What's she doing there? It was described to me as like going to a boring restaurant to listen to an elderly gentleman...Show more »
[Theresa May at Davos] What's she doing there? It was described to me as like going to a boring restaurant to listen to an elderly gentleman talk about Bitcoin in a Peter Ustinov voice. A total Boondoggle! [She's representing the UK!] To a bunch of people on boondoggles of their own! Show less «
Theresa May can't go on a State Visit to the USA because she's not Head of State, only the Queen can do that.
Theresa May can't go on a State Visit to the USA because she's not Head of State, only the Queen can do that.
For the modern single woman the State has become the husband, the State is her provider.
For the modern single woman the State has become the husband, the State is her provider.
For the past 50 years the Government has been attacking the Family and trying to substitute for it with the state. The care of the old, whic...Show more »
For the past 50 years the Government has been attacking the Family and trying to substitute for it with the state. The care of the old, which used to be done by the family is now almost invariably loaded onto the Health Service at the end of people's lives and that is one of the main reasons we have problems every winter. There should be some recognition in Government: the destruction of the family, the dragooning of women into paid work rather than being at home, has been a mistake and we can't substitute for it by the Health Service or the Welfare Service. [Some radical ideas there!] I try to have them, somebody's got to... Show less «
You could spend the entire GDP on the NHS and it would still be unsatisfactory.
You could spend the entire GDP on the NHS and it would still be unsatisfactory.
In 40 years of being in the EU much of Britain's independent muscle has atrophied. We really aren't in a strong position to march out into t...Show more »
In 40 years of being in the EU much of Britain's independent muscle has atrophied. We really aren't in a strong position to march out into total independence and sovereignty at the moment, and if we tried I think we might stumble. Show less «
TV infantilises many who watch it and many who appear on it, it just does that, it is a danger to freedom of thought and has a tremendous co...Show more »
TV infantilises many who watch it and many who appear on it, it just does that, it is a danger to freedom of thought and has a tremendous conforming effect. It means you can destroy a substantial person with mockery and replace real politics with a kind of politicized show-business. Show less «
We need to do something about preventative health, the Hospital near where I live, you approach it through 2 concentric rings. First is a ri...Show more »
We need to do something about preventative health, the Hospital near where I live, you approach it through 2 concentric rings. First is a ring of people smoking, many of whom are Hospital Staff, and many of whom are patients, and then there is a huge ring of Car Parks. These are two contributions to ill Health, the lack of exercise of people who use cars more than they should in a country that has ludicrously bad public transport or provision for walking and cycling. And the continued insistence of people on pursuing lifestyle choices that make them ill. Show less «
[Richard Branson: I don't know why you have Peter Hitchens on this program!] Because I'm prepared to say things other people are not, Mr Bra...Show more »
[Richard Branson: I don't know why you have Peter Hitchens on this program!] Because I'm prepared to say things other people are not, Mr Branson! Show less «
[Broken Compass] The first time I encountered New Labour in 1995, I had been absent from British Politics for almost five years. There were ...Show more »
[Broken Compass] The first time I encountered New Labour in 1995, I had been absent from British Politics for almost five years. There were several things I could not quite understand. One of them was Political Correctness. Another was Labour's vehement loathing of good state education. Another was that the supposed Right wing in British Politics did not seem to have any fight left in it, and was not conservative. But the most puzzling and disturbing of all was the way that I repeatedly encountered changes in my own country which seemed to remind me of somewhere - some surliness in inefficiency, some invincible bureaucratic stupidity, some hatred or distortion of the past, but also a pervasive , leaden hostility to private life in the form of married parents raising their own children as they wished. And then it came to me that I was being reminded of the Soviet system under which I had lived in Moscow. Far from being defeated in the Cold War, social and cultural radicalism and the worship of power had escaped through the holes in the Berlin Wall, and begun to establish themselves in a morally and politically disarmed Britain. Show less «
It is interesting to wonder if there is an alternative Britain, where all the soap operas meet up.
It is interesting to wonder if there is an alternative Britain, where all the soap operas meet up.
[What would you like back?] Mainly Civility, and the strength of the married family. And some kind of rigour in Education, available to all.
[What would you like back?] Mainly Civility, and the strength of the married family. And some kind of rigour in Education, available to all.
[Question Time] Where did this sexualisation come from? Why is it that we have this Babylon that even affects small children? Could it conce...Show more »
[Question Time] Where did this sexualisation come from? Why is it that we have this Babylon that even affects small children? Could it conceivably be because we decided back in the 1960s to change our moral climate, this seems a job for the Archbishop [points] not for me, it seems to me, we decided to stop being a Protestant Christian Country which believes that the dominant sexual relationship was lifelong marriage and that we were fairly Puritan about sex. And to become instead a post Lady Chatterly society in which sex was like tennis, it was just something you did, it was pleasure, there were no rules about it and everybody should talk about it all the time, it should be on television the whole time, it should be on the radio the whole time, it should form the lyrics of all the songs that people listen to. Which it is. Out of the radio it comes, out of the television it comes, out of the Internet it comes, they go to school and they get sex education, which is actually all about taking away their innocence, and all these forces combine [gasps] . What else is the purpose of sex education, we're told again and again it's supposed to stop underage pregnancy it's supposed to stop sexually transmitted diseases. And what happens? The more sex education we have, the more sexually transmitted diseases. The more abortion, the more underage pregnancy [audience groans] . It's demonstrably so! So, you're in favour of the sexualisation of children, then? [Laugh from the audience] Show less «
All bureaucracies mess things up, make mistakes, impose stupid delays on people and this is absolutely bound to happen.
All bureaucracies mess things up, make mistakes, impose stupid delays on people and this is absolutely bound to happen.
Liberal Bigotry!
Liberal Bigotry!
I think that the time is coming when people who have Conservative Christian opinions will actually face persecution, of one kind or another,...Show more »
I think that the time is coming when people who have Conservative Christian opinions will actually face persecution, of one kind or another, it hasn't come yet, but the problem is that we have become so willing in this Country, and conventional wisdom has become so willing, to accept the Liberal Majority and the ideology of equality and diversity which is now compulsory in the Public Services in this Country, which you have to abide by, to work in the Public Services, that the Freedom to think and speak otherwise is increasingly limited. Show less «
She lost the Election because she was Hilary Clinton...
She lost the Election because she was Hilary Clinton...
The Conservative Party is an organization to give jobs to the sons of gentlemen. It would guillotine the Queen in Trafalgar Square with Marc...Show more »
The Conservative Party is an organization to give jobs to the sons of gentlemen. It would guillotine the Queen in Trafalgar Square with Marching Bands playing if it thought that that would get it into power. Show less «
If you go for Multiculturalism, and we have seen this here, you get two Solitudes with their backs turned to each other.
If you go for Multiculturalism, and we have seen this here, you get two Solitudes with their backs turned to each other.
I was in a Trotskyist Sect? So I would say were a quarter of Blair's Cabinet. The difference is I'm open about it.
I was in a Trotskyist Sect? So I would say were a quarter of Blair's Cabinet. The difference is I'm open about it.
Happiness seems to me to be a very evanescent thing.
Happiness seems to me to be a very evanescent thing.
It feels like there's been some kind of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Guardian will have to be renamed The Warmongers Gazette...
It feels like there's been some kind of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Guardian will have to be renamed The Warmongers Gazette...
I think we were right about Vietnam, but only by accident. What we were really doing was showing off.
I think we were right about Vietnam, but only by accident. What we were really doing was showing off.
What has survived from 1968 it seems to me is a gigantic wave of selfishness that still sweeps around the World destroying all manner of val...Show more »
What has survived from 1968 it seems to me is a gigantic wave of selfishness that still sweeps around the World destroying all manner of valuable things. Show less «
[Paraphrase] You can't have the concepts of Perfectible Man, and God, at the same time.
[Paraphrase] You can't have the concepts of Perfectible Man, and God, at the same time.
The Health Service is bigger than the Red Army.
The Health Service is bigger than the Red Army.
I have looked up the definition of "Discrimination" in the Dictionary and I would encourage you to do the same...
I have looked up the definition of "Discrimination" in the Dictionary and I would encourage you to do the same...
Kissinger was asked why Campus Politics were so vicious and he said "Because the Stakes are so small!"
Kissinger was asked why Campus Politics were so vicious and he said "Because the Stakes are so small!"
There is a 14% target on female fire-fighters. People without the upper body strength to carry me out of a burning building. Is that not ins...Show more »
There is a 14% target on female fire-fighters. People without the upper body strength to carry me out of a burning building. Is that not insane? Show less «
The first casualty of War is Truth and the reason is when the Drum beats for War most people want to follow the Drum, they want to believe l...Show more »
The first casualty of War is Truth and the reason is when the Drum beats for War most people want to follow the Drum, they want to believe lies and rubbish. My only advice is Despair. Show less «
