Home » Political change: Hitchens encounters Margaret Thatcher as dominatrix

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Political change: Hitchens encounters Margaret Thatcher as dominatrix — 22 Comments

  1. Did you know that Christopher Hitchens’ brother Peter is a devout Christian and far-right conservative? He writes for the Daily Mail I believe.

  2. notice how he doesnt tell you what point was wrong, and or right… ie.. he gets to slander her without us being able to tell if he was right… or he believes he is right…

  3. What a great story. I can’t help being a fan of Hitchens. He writes and talks magnificently, even if he is a little simple-minded in his militant atheism.
    What’s really amazing is that he can speak in perfectly constructed paragraphs after having put away enough alcohol to kill any normal person.

  4. “Did you know that Christopher Hitchens’ brother Peter is a devout Christian and far-right conservative? He writes for the Daily Mail I believe.”

    Please define “far-right conservative”. I admit I don’t know much about his brother but I have serious doubts about whether he is far-right, unless you mean far-right in a sense that is so bastardized that it no longer has any real meaning. Just as an example, do you really think the Daily Mail is going to have a writer in the house that is truly far-right?

    This casual slander of conservatives (whether intentional or no) is really ridiculous. As numerous people have pointed out, the same standard is very rarely applied on the left. You basically never hear the most whacked-out, left-wing crackpot described as far left. Half the time, you don’t even hear them described as left at all. (Watch how critics of Supreme Court nominees are described, for example.) Many times they are simply described as liberals or not categorized at all. I think this very low hurdle that appears to exist for calling someone far right is something that needs to change.

  5. Update: I don’t necessarily think in this context it was meant as a criticism, but I think the point still stands. It’s a term way too loosely thrown around, even by those on the right.

  6. I can understand ending a futile argument or one that will end in bloodshed by declaring a draw, but can you explain why Hitchens would concede the point instead of simply agreeing to disagree when he knew he was right? Doesn’t sound like him and seems dishonest to me.

  7. Sounds like Maggie knew how to treat overgrown British schoolboys. Genius!

  8. kcom – eh??? you make no sense. I meant far right as in to the right of the British conservative party.

    what would you have had me call him? it’s rude to scold people for not following your own personal standards.

  9. LOL — “No, no,” she trilled. “Much lower!” — Love Hitchens!

  10. Oh, Margaret Thatcher. We could use someone like her now. Correction, we desperately need someone like her now.

  11. I can see Maggie dishing it out. And Hitchens is man enough to concede, even grudgingly and backhandedly, that he liked taking it.

    Oldflyer, you’ve got that right. For a couple of years, until Reagan took office, the Iron Lady was the only “man” in NATO and had more stones than its other presidents and prime ministers combined. Britain, and the West, need someone like her today. Instead, the Brits get Larry, Moe, and Curly, and we’re stuck with the Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

  12. Anna, I would say you should read this article about him and point out where it shows him to be “far-right”.

    Peter Hitchens Bio

    Pay special attention to this paragraph:

    Hitchens has in his writing continually repudiated the BNP. After BNP party leader Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time in October 2009, Hitchens stated that the BNP are an embarrassment to “proper, patriotic conservatives like me who are not racially bigoted or prejudiced and do not care about the colour of people’s skin”.

    The article describes him as “traditionalist conservative”. That seems a much more apt description than far-right. Once you label someone like him far-right what room do you have left for the people truly out there on the fringes for real. How far right are they?

  13. Well it’s not terribly surprising that he got Thatcher wrong, although more than most, he did see her potential, one wonders about his current judgement on political figures

  14. Thanks for the story. What wit! L’audace! And I do think Hitchens meant the male former leadership rather than the former male leadership although the dominatrix idea raises uncertainties.

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  16. Another thing about Hitch and Tatch. He, as per his nature, went against fashion and defended her over the Falklands, despite leftist fashion.

  17. Pingback:Fausta’s Blog » Blog Archive » Hitchens gets a spanking

  18. I was having a chat with Lady T in the 90s. I worked for an organisation she was patron of and she knows me on a first name basis. Some miserable little oik popped up and interrupted me to say something about the single European act.

    She remonstrated him for being rude, and then told him how he was wrong. He had no colour in his face by the end of it and scurried away like a scared rat.

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