Peter Hitchens writes:
I rather enjoyed singer P. J. Harvey’s edition of BBC
Radio 4’s Today programme. It wasn’t that much more Left-wing than it
normally is, and I agreed with its strong support for liberty, its
dislike of war and its condemnation of torture.
It was far more honest and blatant than usual about its bias – which of course makes that bias much easier to resist.
The BBC’s real partiality is effective because most
people don’t notice it – the careful selection of subjects and guests to
exclude some views and help others, the prominence given to favoured
causes, tone of voice in interviews, who gets selected for soft
treatment, and who for the third degree, and who gets the last word.
How about P. J. Hitchens as guest editor next Christmas? I
could show them how genuinely fair broadcasting can be done, even by a
biased person, though I’m not sure they want to know.
P.J. Hitchens is anti-war, a strong opponent of the Surveillance State, and a proponent of public ownership of the railways and of the utilities.
He is also in favour of council housing, and opposed to the "renewal" of Trident. He is dazzlingly critical of Thatcherism, and he is passionately pro-coal.
Could this kind of double bluff work, and get him the gig? That might be our only chance.
P.J. Hitchens is anti-war, a strong opponent of the Surveillance State, and a proponent of public ownership of the railways and of the utilities.
He is also in favour of council housing, and opposed to the "renewal" of Trident. He is dazzlingly critical of Thatcherism, and he is passionately pro-coal.
Could this kind of double bluff work, and get him the gig? That might be our only chance.
Bluff? You should try reading the Abolition of Britain-which explains the nature of the post-Soviet Left very well.
ReplyDeleteAll the positions that you list are Right-wing conservative positions (he doesn't oppose nuclear weapons, incidentally).
Many Right-wing governments supported public ownership of utilities-even Adolf Hitler's National Socialists.
The welfare state was pioneered by businessmen like the Rowntrees and Lord Leverhulme, and Otto Von Bismarck of Imperial Germany.
Charles II nationalised the British post office, Neville Chamberlain nationalised electricity generation and supply, Eisenhower nationalised American Interstate Highways.
Even the most laissez-faire countries tended to nationalise railways, as a matter of course.
There is nothing Left-wing about any of these things.
The Left's interests are now elsewhere.
The fascinating '2010 Equality Act' is a much better indicator of the modern Left's real sexually and culturally revolutionary ideological goals.
Oh, you have been hit very hard by this, haven't you?
ReplyDeleteNice to see that you have been reading my books, though.
Read 'The Rise of the Equalities Industry' by the great sociologist Peter Saunders for an in-depth examination of how the Left has used everything from the 1981 Brixton riots to the Stephen Lawrence murder to radically change British society and the National Curriculum with revolutionary legislation.
ReplyDeleteOr, indeed, read "What's Socialist About State Ownership?" by the very same Peter Hitchens.
ReplyDeleteHe wrote this a year ago-and you still haven't understood any of it.
Available below.
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2012/10/whats-socialist-about-state-ownership-beats-me.html
Oh, you have been hit very hard by this, haven't you? You expected him to hate P.J. Harvey and to have a field day.
ReplyDeleteI do hope that Hitchens gets the gig, in order to bring on the people to argue against the war agenda from a conservative point of view, against the Surveillance State from a conservative point of view, in favour of public ownership of the railways and of the utilities, in favour of railways in general, in favour of council housing, against the "renewal" of Trident, against the Thatcher legacy from a conservative point of view, and in favour of coal.
You are probably going to mention grammar schools. I expect that so would he. But that debate is held all the time. Whereas these are all either much rarer, or entirely off the agenda. Bring him on.
If he can find anyone else to argue from the Right for public ownership, railways, and coal, then good luck to him. But I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteThere are, however, plenty of left-wing proponents of these things who can make the specifically patriotic and socially conservative cases for them, especially the patriotic one.
As he acknowledges, the BBC probably won't let him do it. But I wish that it would.
Well, if you can find any commentator from the Left (say the New Statesman, Guardian, or Independent) to argue against abortion, against gay marriage or indeed against multiculturalism, then I hope he also invites them.
ReplyDeleteWhereas there are plenty of commentators from the Right who could and do argue against all these things.
Because they are the true goals of the modern Left.
I could provide him with an extensive list of names. Although he would already have at least some of them, and no doubt several more that I might not.
ReplyDeleteI cannot think of one noted Leftist (nor any leftist paper from the Mirror to the Independent to the New Statesman) commentator that is pro-life, anti-multiculturalism, for faith schools, against radical feminism or against gay marriage.
ReplyDeleteBecause these things, and not public ownership, are the true goals of the modern Left.
Peter knows that-you're not quite there yet.
That is because you have never read anything, dear boy. It must be. There can be no other reason.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Mr Lindsay.
ReplyDeleteOwen Jones, pretty much lionised by the British Left, is given free rein over at the Indie.
Now imagine he were to wake up after an epiphany one morning, and write an article for the Independent claiming that abortion was an annual massacre to suit the selfish (which it is) and should be made illegal.
Can you imagine the torrent of absolute bile he would receive from the Left?
He would be cast into the outer darkness by his present allies faster than his feet could touch the ground.
Because the modern Left cares much, much more about things like that, than it does about who runs trains.
Based on that last line, you have obviously never read anything by Owen Jones. Well, not anything on trains, anyway.
ReplyDeleteNigel Farage also has free rein in his column in The Independent.
That explains a lot, actually. He has always been an Establishment figure, and he is clearly tiring, at his age, of being within that a licensed jester. But that is what being Mr UKIP is.