PETER HITCHENS: Let’s turn back time – to when we didn’t mess up our clocks 

The story is told (it may even be true) of the old woman who lived alone with her cat in a small wooden shack on the border between Russia and Belarus.  One day, soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union made these two places into separate countries, an official banged on her door. ‘Sorry … Read more

PETER HITCHENS: Can’t we put the Johnson Junta in a nice rest home?

Months ago, I predicted that we would all come to hate the narrow, bossed-about new life the Government wants to force us to live. I was wrong.  Most people have far too readily accepted limits to their lives which the world’s tyrannies would once have hesitated to impose on their citizens. Well, have you had … Read more

PETER HITCHENS: Protest against our new State of Fear is banned

We have ceased to be a parliamentary democracy. There was no military putsch. Nobody passed an Enabling Act allowing rule by decree.  But the House of Lords and the House of Commons are now the Dead Parrot Parliament. They are dead because they do nothing to hold the Government to account.  The most shocking instance … Read more

PETER HITCHENS: We rant about the BBC Proms… yet make ourselves slaves

Why are arguments about the love of country always held between BBC-type Britain-hating pinkoes, embarrassed by their own nation, and shouty jingoes, who never think about what patriotism really means? Here we all are in a state of rage about whether the words of Rule, Britannia should be sung at the Last Night Of The … Read more

PETER HITCHENS: Were holiday-wrecking quarantines worth it? Even the Government haven’t a clue! 

As the Government wrecks another few thousand holidays with sudden quarantine, you might assume that it takes this sort of thing seriously, and keeps close track of it. After all, you don’t force people to abandon holidays they have saved up for all year, and stampede them into dashing for the nearest port or airport, or … Read more

PETER HITCHENS: I’m growing a new beard… because I haven’t felt so rebellious since the 1960s

This is my third beard. I grew my first in the late 1970s to see what would happen, and was astonished at the effect.  Among many other results, people feel quite free to make personal remarks about you in a way they otherwise wouldn’t. Many of my more old-fashioned colleagues were more or less horrified, … Read more

PETER HITCHENS: The Government’National Panic Service is being used to keep us in perpetual alarm

The most common symptom of Covid-19 is that you feel just fine. A huge number of those now being absurdly listed as ‘infected’ with this bogeyman disease are perfectly healthy. If the trained hunters of the Government’s National Panic Service had not tracked them down, most of them would never have known they were supposed … Read more

PETER HITCHENS: Evil terrorists? No, they’re just solitary drug-crazed losers 

Drug clue: Khairi Saadallah with what appears to be a joint If I ever feel the need to have several nice cold buckets of slime tipped over my head, I point out that most of the supposed terrorist attacks in this country are, in fact, the work of solitary drug-crazed losers. The drug involved is most … Read more

PETER HITCHENS: I’ve seen hamsters more intimidating than this mob who shouted at me

A person wearing a face-muzzle, a baseball cap and socks adorned with the words ‘Hotter than Hell’ appeared at my side.  He or she (I had better be careful not to assign a gender) spoke sharply to me, like someone with power: ‘Why have you chosen to stand here?’ For a moment, I was taken … Read more