December 2011
32 posts
Heaven Knows I'm Christmassy Now
If John Lewis had had any sense when it came to their Christmas campaign accompanied by a Smiths’ song, then they would have gone the whole festive hog and done it like this.
The most insufferable Christmas song ever →
salon.com
“Well, tonight thank God it’s them instead of you…” - frankly, even at the age of 13, when this song was first released, my young teenage self thought that was a dreadfully insensitive line for a festive fundraising song.
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“Much ink has been spilled, of course, about the legendary friendships Christopher forged with other writers throughout his life. For a time in the 1980s, he, Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and I lived together in London. Hitchens rented us a six-story flat so we could swap partners more easily. Many was the time we passed the bottle until dawn, bemoaning Thatcher’s England, Reagan’s America, and also some stuff about the Middle East. Sometimes Hitchens would bring over a dissident writer who was fleeing oppression in his native country, and we’d all make fun of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana, then remove our pants to compare our manhoods. We were so middle-aged and foolish then, so committed to the struggle.”
—I knew Christopher Hitchens better than you
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Peter Hitchens: In Memoriam, my courageous brother Christopher, 1949-2011 →
dailymail.co.uk
I wouldn’t normally suggest anyone reads anything by Peter Hitchens, and especially not in the Daily Mail, but considering their huge disagreements over the years, this tribute is extremely moving without becoming unnecessarily maudlin.
“Everybody does have a book in them, but in most cases that’s where it should stay.”
—Christopher Hitchens
“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.”
—Christopher Hitchens
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Christopher Hitchens dies after battle with cancer →
bbc.co.uk
Oh. Damn. We needed the intelligence and critical insight of Christopher Hitchens now more than ever. Instead, by some unfair reasoning, his brother Peter Hitchens continues to exist. If there was a God, I’d be shaking my fist at him right now for such gross unfairness.
