[Part 3/5] Debate: Peter Hitchens argues 'Great' Britain is a fantasy

Поделиться
HTML-код
  • Опубликовано: 26 дек 2024

Комментарии •

  • @olwens1368
    @olwens1368 4 года назад +250

    Oh dear- I am a few years younger than Hitchens, but this resonates so much. Brought up in small town in Scotland, taught to be proud of Scottish shipbuilding and it's contribution to the succcess of Great Britain and the British Empire, proud of our hard working town with its history of whaling, mining, chemical industries. In those days it was scruffy but the streets were swept regularly and if you called the police a constable would be there within minutes. If you were ill you went to the surgery & were seen within an hour. That same town is now 'tidied up', old important buildings are 'heritage' sites. not productive any more, and the town is basically a dormitory town for the nearby city. The heart and soul has gone, along with the shops. And the kids are taught to be ashamed of their past, not proud of it.

    • @SirAntoniousBlock
      @SirAntoniousBlock 4 года назад +5

      Yeah and the pint costs more than it used to. 🙄

    • @TheClemcaster
      @TheClemcaster 4 года назад +14

      @William Hill You appear to have overlooked that Hitchens castigated both ends of the political spectrum - incidentally, 'gammon' is a term used for thick-necked, nationalistic Anglo-Saxons. I hope that bit of information comes in useful. And whilst Mr Hitchens makes some quite mordant observations, I think you'll also find that it is underinvestment by successive governments that have made the education system the mortally wounded creature that it has become, not the disappearance of grammar schools. Heavy industry has gone, because they build things cheaper in the East...that's capitalism for you; at any rate, enormous container vessels will become obsolete as technology transforms our requirements. It is the political right and conservatives generally that appear to view incipient green technology as at best a threat...at worst, and more outlandishly, 'a waste of time.'
      It is actually the dead hand of conservatism that will consign this country to the backwaters of history.

    • @TheClemcaster
      @TheClemcaster 4 года назад +3

      @William Hill You just did. 'Waffle?' Do I descdribe your brief outline as, 'overheated verbal diarrhoea?' No. I read it and decide that it is overheated, ill considered, poorly written angry man pub banter.

    • @TheClemcaster
      @TheClemcaster 4 года назад +1

      @William Hill Jolly good. Glad we sorted that out.

    • @TheClemcaster
      @TheClemcaster 4 года назад +3

      @William Hill William, it was really nothing. What really makes me feel confidant about the future, is the profundity contained in our exchanges...a feeling that all will be well now that the country is in the hands of men with your intellect, Bill.

  • @martinheath5947
    @martinheath5947 4 года назад +268

    This is what happens when your country is "run" by mediocre graduates with no work/life experience outside of politics, PR, media and journalism.

    • @1990-t1j
      @1990-t1j 4 года назад +2

      You've got the right surname to say that!

    • @JonJon-rz5el
      @JonJon-rz5el 4 года назад +10

      Exactly, Winston Churchill was a correspondent in the Boer war, later a soldier, commanded and presided over the catastrophe of Gallipoli and then went to fight in the trenches due to his guilt! That is steel and conviction an idea of duty.

    • @JonJon-rz5el
      @JonJon-rz5el 4 года назад +10

      What saddens me is when the wars come with the intolerance of Islam which will no longer be deniable, it will be the disgusting and appeasing wealthy left who can escape

    • @ParcelOfRogue
      @ParcelOfRogue 4 года назад +6

      @@JonJon-rz5el Sound like the National Front of the 70's. Then the BNP, then the EDL, then UKIP, then the Brexits, I wonder what happened to them and their nastiness? All gone!

    • @johnsmythe7940
      @johnsmythe7940 4 года назад +3

      They are not mediocrity. They know precisely what they are doing. Up- class and Middle -Class bandits like their forefathers before them.

  • @ralphdavidson9542
    @ralphdavidson9542 4 года назад +100

    The only good speaker on the stage - Peter Hitchens. His 10 minutes flew past. The others dragged. Wit, truth, intelligence and mastery of our language. Poetic, actually. Cheers Peter.

    • @babbaruff1045
      @babbaruff1045 4 года назад +11

      Couldn't agree more and totally admire his courage. He is in a league of his own in this current crazy climate.

    • @lingolarker9318
      @lingolarker9318 3 года назад +2

      His public discourses in these sorts of settings are absolutely compelling.

    • @lingolarker9318
      @lingolarker9318 3 года назад +2

      babba ruff He really is peerless as a reasoned, articulate debater.

  • @niclasjohansson4333
    @niclasjohansson4333 4 года назад +44

    This "decline" is not only limited to Britain, the rest of Europe (at least the western part) is having the same symptoms.

    • @CelticSaint
      @CelticSaint 4 года назад +11

      All being done by design.

    • @antikokalis
      @antikokalis 3 года назад +4

      @@billyjoel6352 No, Greece is. We are so far left as a country, that our supposedly center-right PM is a disgusting commie. We are beyond doomed

    • @Neater_profile
      @Neater_profile 2 года назад

      @@antikokalis Τι λες ρε μαλάκα.

    • @Sam-tz8ou
      @Sam-tz8ou 2 года назад +1

      @@billyjoel6352 no its not!

    • @seanmoran2743
      @seanmoran2743 2 года назад

      The Stupidity of 1914 is still rippling through all European Countries

  • @sepehrdaghbandan7964
    @sepehrdaghbandan7964 4 года назад +41

    Higher education in UK is a disgrace, truly is.

    • @susannamarker2582
      @susannamarker2582 3 года назад +2

      Do you think it's too Woke ? We do. We home-schooled our children.

  • @Belfreyite
    @Belfreyite 4 года назад +41

    I don't need to listen to Peter Hitchin to understand just how far down the slope we have slipped.
    Just look around at the decaying infrastructure, the scruffy careworn people, the tons of litter that choke every hedgerow, the dirty unkept streets, the foul mouthed tirades that pass for entertainment, the appalling divorce statistics, the junkfood on our plates. What have we got here that resembles the best of mainland europe?

    • @lokenontherange
      @lokenontherange 4 года назад +3

      Who cares about Europe? Britain nowadays is just a mess compared to what Britain was in our past.

    • @bogbay
      @bogbay 4 года назад +2

      @William Hill Record number of non-Eu migrants came into the UK last year under a Tory government. Austerity for nine years imposed by the Tories because their banker pals went bust. What fucking planet are you on?

    • @lokenontherange
      @lokenontherange 4 года назад

      @Niconoclastic Neoc Neoliberal is just something people call people they don't like. Nobody is actually a neoliberal.

    • @Belfreyite
      @Belfreyite 4 года назад

      @Darren Gregg It is a comment. Albeit a rant to which I am entitled on here.
      From one Bufoon to another so to speak!

    • @markofsaltburn
      @markofsaltburn 4 года назад

      eustace wozrite The Trotskyites joined the Conservatives a long time ago. Both sides have been played.

  • @ephphatha230
    @ephphatha230 4 года назад +41

    What an awful voice at the start lol

    • @fergal2424
      @fergal2424 3 года назад +4

      I thought it was a woman until it showed him close up.

  • @aidyledgard4582
    @aidyledgard4582 4 года назад +23

    He's not wrong. Agree with him completely. Society has had it. We make next to nothing. If we are honest, what can we say we are proud of these days?
    I'm struggling here.

    • @Saber23
      @Saber23 3 года назад

      Then maybe this will finally be enough for you people to give up all of the illogical philosophies the western world has been built on

    • @seanmoran6510
      @seanmoran6510 3 года назад +3

      @@Saber23 That’s so vague it’s meaningless

    • @aidyledgard4582
      @aidyledgard4582 2 года назад +1

      What's so vague?

    • @Warp75
      @Warp75 2 года назад +1

      @@aidyledgard4582 Your comment was not vague just the truth.

  • @adambritain5774
    @adambritain5774 4 года назад +110

    Never saw tickets for this. But appreciate literally any PH content. He is simply peerless.

    • @Intelligence-Squared
      @Intelligence-Squared  4 года назад +9

      To get tickets to our events and see what we have on visit www.intelligencesquared.com

    • @adambritain5774
      @adambritain5774 4 года назад +3

      Thank you.

    • @MindbodyMedic
      @MindbodyMedic 4 года назад +1

      @@adambritain5774 he demoralises people who want to 'go back to the future' and who understand the vicious anti white direction of western governments. he simply seems to have given up

    • @adambritain5774
      @adambritain5774 4 года назад +1

      Well he's clearly given up. Most of his recent (last few years) interviews will tell you that, and will even tell you the reason why...! And he even tells you where you can find hope.

    • @kaygarner7727
      @kaygarner7727 4 года назад +2

      Yet but a pale imitation of his brother.

  • @mememine69
    @mememine69 4 года назад +28

    "We shall never surrender" became "RUN HIDE TELL"

    • @stuartbritain8529
      @stuartbritain8529 4 года назад +3

      Churchill is one of the main reasons we’re in the quagmire. Literal war mongering criminal.

    • @stuchambo9528
      @stuchambo9528 4 года назад +1

      @@stuartbritain8529 ... yeah okay mate....

    • @stuchambo9528
      @stuchambo9528 4 года назад

      completely agree

    • @stuchambo9528
      @stuchambo9528 4 года назад

      with meme mine

  • @chrisdavie8163
    @chrisdavie8163 4 года назад +41

    They should have given him an extra 50 minutes

  • @roughdraught153
    @roughdraught153 4 года назад +35

    Peter's so negative, yet I have to concede that he's right.

  • @tbone35453
    @tbone35453 4 года назад +64

    From the video description: 'Peter Hitchens argues against the motion, 'There's Not Much Great About Britain,' Peter Hitchens argued FOR the motion. This sloppy incompetence is an example of what Peter was talking about.

    • @seanmoran6510
      @seanmoran6510 4 года назад +9

      tbone35453 He’s pouring a bucket of cold water over us and we need it !

    • @fredfredrickson5436
      @fredfredrickson5436 4 года назад

      A personification of his own polemic. Amusing.

  • @gustavoboom8448
    @gustavoboom8448 4 года назад +18

    Britain, as well as most of Western Europe is happily orchestrating its own demise.
    Europe is rapidly being conquered by invading non European hordes, all the while convinced that this is it is a good thing.
    It makes me sad to realize it is too late.

    • @Kitiwake
      @Kitiwake 4 года назад +1

      Eugenics is the real culprit.

    • @revol148
      @revol148 4 года назад +1

      @Gustavo Boom no country has an automatic right to first world status - it needs to be fought for.Free market capitalism - once the driving force of European innovation and supremacy is now turning against us due to centuries of complacency.If you want to see what the future looks like go to Bangalore, Singapore or Shanghai NOT Athens, Madrid nor Rome.

    • @NLJeffEU
      @NLJeffEU 4 года назад +1

      @@revol148 when did you uses anything that wasnt designed by europeans? Azia looks impressive because they dont have to design anything. They just buy/steal shit and use it with 4billion people.

    • @revol148
      @revol148 4 года назад +1

      @@NLJeffEU I agree with everything you've typed but I was thinking about the future not the present.Take a look at the Coronavirus crisis - the Chinese are stepping in and sending medical supplies to the Italians ! As for the coming European-wide recession after the crisis - I guess for countries like Greece and Spain it doesn't matter anymore - just rack up more debt that they will never be able to pay off to the European central bank.

    • @revol148
      @revol148 4 года назад

      @krosnoslova morinova along with most of western Europe

  • @benphilips9918
    @benphilips9918 4 года назад +22

    'An Evening of Light Music and Laughter ' with Peter Hitchens.

    • @mikep7847
      @mikep7847 4 года назад

      Of course the UNreformed Trot loves the fact that we're fucked.

    • @pintubackaga
      @pintubackaga 2 года назад +1

      😂

  • @williambeaumont1312
    @williambeaumont1312 4 года назад +13

    What made Britain ‘Great’ was its connection with the Old Testament. The right to property, that even the state could not tax or take away, (Naboth’s reply to king Ahab). The right to jury trial, everyone under the law. The right to “innocent until proven guilty. Life for a life, the justice system. That was what made Great Britain great.

  • @thelastdetail1
    @thelastdetail1 3 года назад +28

    Peter Hitchens is a first-class public speaker and debater and it shows, whether you agree with him or not. If only the House of Commons were full of such thoughtful intellects on either side of the House. Imagine what might be achieved.

  • @babbaruff1045
    @babbaruff1045 4 года назад +28

    I could listen to Peter Hitchens endlessly, his eloquence is truly a beautiful thing 👏👏👏

  • @frankhynd885
    @frankhynd885 3 года назад +4

    Why is the UK involved in the anti-Chinese AUKUS pact? The Taiwan and Mainland China dispute is an internal Chinese issue and it is not a strategic UK concern which is 5,000 miles away.

    • @nigelft
      @nigelft 2 года назад

      It isn't just between Taiwan, but also Hong Kong, with which many there still feels a deep connection with Britain, and certainly doesn't want anything to do with Mainland China ... and definitely do not want direct rule from Bejing. I'm still in touch with at least one class mate, of a comprehensive school here in London, England, who was born in Hong-Kong, who still has family there, and who is deeply concerned about what China may do to Taiwan and Hong-Kong both, as, as she told me, her friends in Taiwan don't want direct rule either. But they also dare not try and declare outright independence, given what happened in Tiananmen Square, in 1989 ...
      It is also about China's agressive moves into the South China Sea, which makes even India nervous, and certainly is of serious concern to both South Korea and Japan.
      Even Australia is concerned; so concerned, it broke off negotiations with France, over a contract for the latter to build brand new diesel-electric submarines for the Royal Australian Navy, and opted for, essentially, nuclear fast-attack subs, due to likely endurance limits of diesel-electric, even though diesel-electric are more acoustically quieter, when running on its batteries. However the same which, if paired with a nuclear reactor(s), can be recharged whilst still near maximum depth, without needing a snorkel like device, at periscope depth. And I suspect the torpedo tubes are now sized to fit sea launched cruise missiles, and anti-ship missiles, at near sea-level, that's between sonar, and radar, detection ...
      And don't forget ... both Australia and New Zealand both have the Union Jack in the upper left hand corners of their flags ...
      You may as well say that the Falkland Islands aren't part of the UK, despite the Islanders themselves wanting to stay British, but keeping the Union Jack on their flag ...
      ... and they are considerably further away than 5,000 miles ...
      So, if the Pact between Australia, the UK, and the US, is anti-Chinese, it came about as China has pushed the boundaries of what is considered their littoral waters to the limit ...
      It takes alot to make Australia as a nation worried ... but seeing China building islands as close to international waters as they (China) dare, is making Australia nervous ... especially if those islands are stable enough for ballistic missile launches ...
      I'm pretty sure that if Japan, and South Korea expands into the South China Sea, Bejing will treat that as an act of aggression ...
      The great game of chess between America and the Soviets has become a large table of No Limits Texas Hold'em ...

  • @Longshanks1690
    @Longshanks1690 4 года назад +20

    Peter has probably the only rational viewpoint in this series.
    Britain is not great because it’s system and culture is degraded beyond repair, not because we’re a country of racist bigots incapable of progress. Likewise, we’re not great simply because we have a past to be proud of since our present is abysmal.
    We can be great again, if only we actually did what we needed to do to get there.

    • @Longshanks1690
      @Longshanks1690 4 года назад +4

      @Frankly Frank *Sigh* Way to miss the point entirely.
      Every nation has profited from slaves in it's past. Britain is unique in profiting from their liberation.
      Every major power instigates conflict. The British Empire was unique in settling them down where it ruled.
      If you think Britain is the worst for bigotry, please visit Eastern Europe, lmao.
      Still proud because of the foundation of liberty, freedom of religion, limited monarchy, representative democracy, capitalism and too many inventions to name which have benefited mankind immensely.
      But that's not the point. Obsessing over the past is useless whether to demonise or glorify when our present is so miserable and wretched that we can scarcely call ourselves free, let alone great.

    • @RD-uf6gw
      @RD-uf6gw 4 года назад +3

      @Frankly Frank Oh, fuck off with the colonial guilt shtick, would you?

    • @SirAntoniousBlock
      @SirAntoniousBlock 4 года назад

      @@Longshanks1690 _"The British Empire was unique in settling them down where it ruled."_ Ireland Cyprus Palestine Nigeria Sth Africa India/Pakistan/Afghanistan? And you wonder why half the world hates you.

    • @SirAntoniousBlock
      @SirAntoniousBlock 4 года назад

      @William Hill I've got no "remoaning tears" 😂 I can't wait till Scotland is free and Ireland reunited.

    • @SagaciousFrank
      @SagaciousFrank 4 года назад

      @Twenty Faces, independent, self-determined, free, prosperous, secure, efficient, competent, cultured and grown up, would be my guess.

  • @sebastianbooth5659
    @sebastianbooth5659 4 года назад +39

    Peter Hitchens is just outstanding.

  • @billyb6001
    @billyb6001 4 года назад +20

    I love peter. his brother would be proud. he would disagree with him on so much but would be proud.

    • @darrenalway4687
      @darrenalway4687 4 года назад +1

      Creep!

    • @seanmoran6510
      @seanmoran6510 4 года назад

      Suckered in by CH charm and polemic propagandist chatter,
      poor you.

    • @lingolarker9318
      @lingolarker9318 2 года назад

      One would hoooope so😄. But he did say some pretty rude things about him whilst still well.

    • @billyb6001
      @billyb6001 2 года назад

      @@lingolarker9318 true. I've only seen their debates and a couple interviews about it.

    • @seanmoran2743
      @seanmoran2743 2 года назад

      Christopher Hitchens equals
      American Dominance via its military industrial complex
      Trotskyist Globalist that the yanks are to dumb to see

  • @Siddhartha02
    @Siddhartha02 4 года назад +36

    One word. Rotherham.

    • @aquilatempestate9527
      @aquilatempestate9527 4 года назад +4

      One word. Treason.

    • @Mister.Weatherbee
      @Mister.Weatherbee 4 года назад +2

      Telford, Rochdale, Oxford...
      20,000 a year. Every town. Every city.

    • @uioplkhj
      @uioplkhj 4 года назад +1

      You cannot blame muslims for everything

    • @Siddhartha02
      @Siddhartha02 4 года назад +4

      ​@@uioplkhj Who are you responding to? No one has said anything close to "everything in the world is the fault of Muslims". I'm stunned, are there really people in the world that are as dumb as you? Or maybe you can't read, but you managed to write that pointless reply. Either way, wow man, just wow.

    • @uioplkhj
      @uioplkhj 4 года назад +3

      @@Siddhartha02 We all know what you were referring to. Don't play the stunned puppy card, when their are cookie crumbs on your face.

  • @fisher1907
    @fisher1907 4 года назад +27

    Peter Hitchens is so depressing.
    His so right though 😥🙄

    • @fisher1907
      @fisher1907 4 года назад

      Rad Derry
      I don’t know bout that. Britain’s depressing atm the country’s going through abit of a identity crisis.
      I think the whole worlds abit depressing atm. Also we’ve just been through the wettest winter every recorded that in its self is quite depressing.

    • @fisher1907
      @fisher1907 4 года назад

      Darren Gregg
      I’ve read it. 👍. I love your optimism we need more people like you here. Like I said in my other comments Britain’s going through abit of an identity crisis.
      Plus I think the whole worlds quite depressing atm.

    • @fisher1907
      @fisher1907 4 года назад +1

      Darren Gregg
      Lmao 😂. I get fed up with the shit weather about this time of year lol.
      I drive a nice car got a nice house a great job and only 29. This country to does work for you ,if you wanna work for it.
      I can understand why Peter Hitchens moans. He moans about thing to spark change and give people food for thought. Without the pessimist we’d just think we’re awesome and never move forward.

    • @fisher1907
      @fisher1907 4 года назад

      Rad Derry
      Not sure that true really.
      My Mrs literally messed up everything when she left school. Then she decided to go in a different direction now she’s a doctor on 70k a year she didn’t know anyone. I’m not gonna say I didn’t know anyone because I did but I still jumped through hoops to get where I needed to be.
      And the decline is real but the decline is decline of an empire the worlds a different place we are a different country.
      We could be better. I know but if you look through history we’re a lot better off than we was then.

    • @fisher1907
      @fisher1907 4 года назад

      Darren Gregg
      Britain needs air con lol.

  • @WilliamMallinson
    @WilliamMallinson 4 года назад +3

    Well doine, Peter Hitchens! As long ago as 1977, I was reading the FCO PUSs Christmas message to staff, which suggested that Britain should stop trying to behave like a world power. But jingoism and individual greed then got in the way. It still does.The fact is that we piggy back the US, to paste hairs onto our chests. As for Trident, it seems bizarre that the British taxpayer should pay US shareholders up to 100 billion quid, in order to me targetted by Moscow. Professor William Mallinson, former British diplomat and author of 'Behind the Words' and of 'The Threat of Geoplolitics to International Relations'.

  • @dellmanification
    @dellmanification 4 года назад +8

    We were given the name Great Britain by the French to distinguish Bretagne (Brittany) and Grande Bretagne (Britain)

    • @jonnutter
      @jonnutter 4 года назад +4

      ... and it was because of size rather than any kind grand achievements therein

    • @ralphdavidson9542
      @ralphdavidson9542 4 года назад +2

      No that was "Greater Britain ". A long time before that it got the name Great to distinguish the larger land mass from smaller ones in the isles.
      True it has never meant 'good' or anything similar.

  • @stuartbritton7408
    @stuartbritton7408 4 года назад +16

    We have lost the simple moral values of our grandparents and previous generations. We now treat them with contempt. This is what is wrong with us.

    • @samkam2319
      @samkam2319 4 года назад +3

      Stuart Britton not all of them were great mate, they invaded various lands, caused untold deaths, but some of them sacrificed their lives in ww1/ww2 to defend our islands, it’s not black and white mate

    • @stuartbritton7408
      @stuartbritton7408 4 года назад

      @Darren Gregg 'Racism' and 'sexism'. Two fake words make up by the Instagram generation do-gooders. You don't know what you are saying. It is a tragedy that we have lost those old values. If we had those attitudes today, we would all be much better off. But we don't and we're not. We have modern values. Where are we now? We can't even go out for a walk any more or shopping or to the pub. Do you think our grandparents would put up with being treated like that?

    • @CelticSaint
      @CelticSaint 4 года назад +1

      And kill them off in nursing homes by placing people infected with a virus into the nursing homes instead of into hospitals.

    • @Saber23
      @Saber23 3 года назад

      @@CelticSaint as an Arab I seriously hate this idea that “elders just don’t get it” it’s stupid and foolish Britain should abandon it

    • @philiplarkin7908
      @philiplarkin7908 3 года назад

      @@stuartbritton7408 When someone uses do-gooder as a negative they've lost the argument. Doing good is good. Only those who can't help but do wrong would have an issue with people who do good.

  • @dl240787
    @dl240787 4 года назад +20

    The chair of this debate is hopeless.

  • @Mr_Lo_
    @Mr_Lo_ 4 года назад +5

    Is it any surprise that this was hidden from my subscription inbox?

  • @TheMrgoodmanners
    @TheMrgoodmanners 2 года назад +2

    The only reason why the UK never saw any of the social upheavals that plagued continental europe till the mid 20th century is because brits could immigrate en masse to other regions. When things got tougher they could go to Australia NZ, canada or any of the colonies they had in Africa at the time. Were the UK not an imperial power it and the monarchy to be precise would have suffered the same fate as imperial germany in the end

  • @pastyman001
    @pastyman001 3 года назад +2

    I don't share Hitchins obsession with manners, social control, or religion. But he is right about the UK's overblown self importance and it's decline into mediocrity

    • @LoseBellyFatNow0
      @LoseBellyFatNow0 3 года назад +1

      Manners make the person, the person makes the nation.

  • @l3enz0
    @l3enz0 4 года назад +4

    Great Britain is the largest Island in the British Isles , hence the Great . That is all . It means nothing else . Never has .

    • @fatfat1877
      @fatfat1877 4 года назад

      No shit sherlock.

    • @l3enz0
      @l3enz0 4 года назад +1

      @@fatfat1877 And yet , here's a whole debate implying otherwise ...

    • @fatfat1877
      @fatfat1877 4 года назад +1

      @@l3enz0 They arent implying otherwise, they are arguing about whether Britain is great or not.

    • @l3enz0
      @l3enz0 4 года назад

      @@fatfat1877 lol

    • @fatfat1877
      @fatfat1877 4 года назад

      @@l3enz0 Im laughing at your failure at being at smartass.

  • @generaljackripper666
    @generaljackripper666 4 года назад +3

    They never let Peter speak long enough.

  • @babbaruff1045
    @babbaruff1045 4 года назад +7

    Aww I just love Peter Hitchens 👏👏👏

  • @williambuxton8223
    @williambuxton8223 4 года назад +4

    Love this man!

  • @jacobfield4848
    @jacobfield4848 Год назад +2

    Old man shouting at clouds and romanticising his youth.

  • @Barmforth
    @Barmforth 4 года назад +7

    Civilisations rise and fall as the struggles to create them are forgotten by the generations that only know the ease and luxury they inherited. There is a way to fall yet before we start any kind of 'renaissance'. Not nostalgia, just pragmatism.

  • @gjingodjango
    @gjingodjango 4 года назад +1

    People just want to wake up in the morning knowing that they can afford the country they live in. It’s not rocket science.

  • @benanson
    @benanson 3 года назад +2

    Finally, someone who shares my opinion.

  • @richards9407
    @richards9407 4 года назад +6

    Depressing but true. Peter says what a lot of us think, but he has the courage to stand up and say it. But who was that complete knob who introduced him?

  • @suzimonkey345
    @suzimonkey345 4 года назад +3

    @IntelligenceSquared Will you please increase the volume chosen for upload? Even on full volume it’s rather quiet...

  • @carefulconsumer8682
    @carefulconsumer8682 2 года назад

    Whose speech did he memorize at 10:14 min? The words were slurred so I could not understand him. Thanks.

  • @RIP_Greedo
    @RIP_Greedo 3 года назад +1

    Could it be possible that major construction projects like the ones he mentioned might take longer now because we have things like workers rights and safety standards?

    • @michaelneal3041
      @michaelneal3041 3 года назад +1

      Perhaps. But if so...is the decline worth what "safety" has provided?

  • @Knappa22
    @Knappa22 2 года назад +1

    He is very eloquent and there are grains of truth in much of what he says but in reality it is very easy to be a wrecker like him. Farage is the same (though not in the same intellectual league as Hitchens). Neither of them are builders, neither of them are creators. They just moan about things that they think are wrong. And that's easy to do. Any old man in a pub can do that.

  • @petermaxwell2965
    @petermaxwell2965 3 года назад

    Did not even know he had a brother, also smart and vocal .

  • @michellefrench9240
    @michellefrench9240 4 года назад +4

    The achievements of Great Britain and it's glorious past happened by enslaving it's working clasees and the natives of the many countries of the Empire.
    Had the Great Western Railway (one of the exaples that Hitchens used) been built by workers paid a decent wage and had good working conditions it would have cost a lot more and took a lot loonger, all the great achievements of Britain industrial past were builtr on the backs of the ordinary worker. Many of the them paid with their lives..
    What is good -not great- is that most workers don't have go through that to earn a living these days

    • @Hollows1997
      @Hollows1997 4 года назад +1

      To quote the song Sit Down by James: “If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor”
      Life was a lot simpler back then. Although they most likely knew they were working incredibly hard, they appreciated the outcome of their work.

    • @seanmoran2743
      @seanmoran2743 2 года назад

      Things are still built on the ordinary worker oh but wait we live in a country that won’t even pick its own food
      Where we are run by metropolitan bourgeoisie elites who love cheap labour
      Enough of your Marxist bilge
      The poor would still be poor under your rule

    • @Sam-tz8ou
      @Sam-tz8ou 2 года назад

      Well said

    • @thdoom81
      @thdoom81 11 месяцев назад

      THANK YOU...finally someone with some sense

  • @TalkernateHistory
    @TalkernateHistory 3 года назад +2

    "I am the sepulchral voice"

  • @lapamful
    @lapamful 2 года назад +1

    Well, this was uploaded on the 5th March 2020 just as hell on earth was about to be unleashed. Would anyone like to try and contradict what Peter said now?

  • @seanmoran6510
    @seanmoran6510 4 года назад +2

    Of course we are lesser than we were !
    All Empires decline it’s how they do it that matters
    A lesson how not to manage Imperial Decline has been demonstrated
    Only time will tell if the English Empire will stand
    I’m not holding my breath

  • @SagaciousFrank
    @SagaciousFrank 4 года назад +2

    Where are Parts 2 and 4 of this debate? I can view Parts 1, 3, and 5. Granted I'm here because Peter Hitchens is speaking, but I would like to hear the whole debate nonetheless.

    • @Intelligence-Squared
      @Intelligence-Squared  4 года назад +2

      You can watch all parts of the debate here: ruclips.net/p/PLkZmdWVCTDvaqVqF1qOnXIevBungbDp6u
      Thanks for watching!

    • @SagaciousFrank
      @SagaciousFrank 4 года назад +1

      @@Intelligence-Squared, thank you. I managed to stumble across the 2nd and 4th videos much further down the 'Up Next' list on RUclips, presented as a column on the right hand side of the screen. This seems to me to be an issue with RUclips's algorithms.

  • @paulwilliamson9457
    @paulwilliamson9457 4 года назад +5

    I only wish there were more people talking sense like Peter

  • @stephenkerensky710
    @stephenkerensky710 Год назад

    The `great` isn`t moral approval, it`s just a geographical designation for a country with 6000 islands.

  • @tommoon5063
    @tommoon5063 4 года назад +3

    Dumb down and replace. Who would do such a thing.
    On point with hard truths, but who cares anymore?

    • @Hollows1997
      @Hollows1997 4 года назад

      @Darren Gregg No, it’s not just the UK. Soviet infiltration of American culture and academia (as explained by Yuri Bezmenov) made sure that the same infiltration spread all throughout western civilisation because of American culture becoming almost universal throughout western nations.
      How can you not be dour when you realise that not only is your house on fire but that you’re powerless to stop it.

  • @SuperBartles
    @SuperBartles 4 года назад +14

    I love Peter Hitchens' debating skills (I told him so once), and he's a very pleasant guy indeed, but I think this is his big mistake. One of the principle reasons for the state of Britain today is the attitude of virtuous negativism. People are negative about our past, our future, about each other and about themselves. If our best brains are dedicating themselves to this wholly destructive exercise, instead of fighting for a better future, then things aren't going to get better. PH is *very* bright, and he's on the wrong end of what I've just said.
    Some of the best minds in the our academic History establishment have dedicated themselves - for many decades - to painting a bleak and horrible picture of our past, trying to persuade us that our history is worse than any other country's (the BBC began to follow suit in the 70s). Not really true, there are no extermination camps in our history, no genocides that I can think of, no Gulags, no French/Russian revolution-style bloodbaths, no Spanish Inquisition, no experiments in collectivisation of agriculture leading to millions of deaths (a la Stalin/Mao).
    Empire? yes. But everyone was at it. We were just more successful. Not more evil. And yes, some bad bits.
    On the other hand what has Britain given the world? Nothing much, except an unrivalled range of inventions and scientific advancement, extraordinary literature, ideas of freedom & rights of the individual, a model of democracy, a mass of beautiful literature, leading the fight against the Nazis at a crucial stage, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin etc

    • @SuperBartles
      @SuperBartles 4 года назад

      Yes that was in the past and we now have to make the future great, too. But that was true of the Britons who faced Trafalgar & Waterloo, and those who faced the second world war. All the ones who made our country what it is. Now we have to show the same courage, and possibly complain a bit less :)

    • @andrewmckay2118
      @andrewmckay2118 4 года назад

      He is a looser bommer and will die before we start winning again. But he represents the looser bommer. He was
      A leftist and still is a sad sack leftist. But he knows it's all over for the leftist.
      And so chose nationalism because he knows where he comes from.

    • @RichardSmith-vm4dq
      @RichardSmith-vm4dq 4 года назад +2

      @@andrewmckay2118 Try that again, in English.

    • @jimmycakes7158
      @jimmycakes7158 4 года назад +1

      I've noticed a lot of negative outlook when it comes to UK and it's people. There's almost joy coming from the mouths that denigrate it, like they're proud of doing self harm. UK should be enjoying higher standards of living and lower population but the opposite is occurring

    • @freddibnah1830
      @freddibnah1830 4 года назад

      LOL

  • @malcolmcanning548
    @malcolmcanning548 4 года назад +2

    It's a sceptic tank if you know what I mean.

  • @ylracci
    @ylracci 3 года назад

    what was it that sir Humphrey sat about Trident..its deterrent...lol

  • @EuropeanQoheleth
    @EuropeanQoheleth 4 года назад +1

    I'm not a conservative or whatever he calls himself but I do find Peter Hitchens an entertaining and insightful guy.

  • @johnbobson1557
    @johnbobson1557 2 года назад +1

    He's absolutely correct!

  • @patrick_dy3r
    @patrick_dy3r 2 года назад

    Moderator: Lift our spirits!
    Peter: Yeah...

  • @riccardoverde4683
    @riccardoverde4683 4 года назад +5

    Does anyone know who we owe the national debt TO?

    • @adambritain5774
      @adambritain5774 4 года назад

      The money lenders.

    • @riccardoverde4683
      @riccardoverde4683 4 года назад +1

      Anti-semite!

    • @oldboy5001
      @oldboy5001 4 года назад +2

      The financial institutions who created the money by typing some digits into a computer.

    • @Robertodb2012
      @Robertodb2012 4 года назад +1

      Who ever bought the government debt usually in the form of bonds.

    • @Robertodb2012
      @Robertodb2012 4 года назад

      Also all Blairs buddy's he has made even richer with the PFI scheme which financially enslaves us for decades.

  • @janed5197
    @janed5197 4 года назад +4

    Peter's " we are arguing a case " !! 😂👋 Against the greatness

  • @stephenlawrence4821
    @stephenlawrence4821 4 года назад

    I don't think people entertain a fantasy that Britain is great. We are certainly lucky to be here at this time compared to almost all other times and other places.
    If Peter Hitchens had his way it would be far worse. Wed be in the dark ages before we knew it.

  • @sticksman1979
    @sticksman1979 Год назад +1

    Hitch knows the score.

  • @Michellemutts7848
    @Michellemutts7848 3 года назад +1

    It was great until the government brought it to it's knees

  • @neilsavage8915
    @neilsavage8915 4 года назад

    I would not trust Piers Morgan who said that he did not believe that it was ethically wrong to hack someone's phone when the phone hacking was discovered.

  • @thegrimreaper4915
    @thegrimreaper4915 3 года назад +2

    In an age where the minority is looked after, the majority is ignored, the priority, is normally given to the minority, these days, with this virus, the short comings of that are only to apparent, and governments are being forced to deal with that policy in a very realistic way, which is funny, as the pc mind set is such a fragile thing. Therefore, this dealing with reality is painful for them, and it will take a long time for them to address in a contextual way. This came to me whilst was doing some soup

  • @thevo4100
    @thevo4100 4 года назад +1

    I see Will Self is in no hurry to share that bag of sweets he has in his pocket.

  • @baronmeduse
    @baronmeduse 3 года назад

    Peter is really lamenting the 'merry England' Will Self said never existed. Such people tend to think other countries are doing spectacularly in comparison, while the home country collapses from moral decline. Failing to to see that Britain's promotion and export of monetarism actually destroyed itself and other places.

  • @johnfitzjohn4300
    @johnfitzjohn4300 4 года назад

    I can listen to Peter all day the man tell,s you the. TRUTH. So rare today

  • @MrMassivefavour
    @MrMassivefavour 4 года назад +6

    I like any sentence that begins with "so" not annoying at all!

  • @ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511
    @ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511 4 года назад +3

    brought up to know by heart John of Gaunt's dying speech.
    now our children are brought up to hate themselves and their country and to only value "ethnic art" and to believe that actually "shakespeare's plays were really written by a black woman"
    how many school leavers now would even know john of gaunt?
    i love my country, but i was raised to hate it. it's only by being away that i realize the value of patriotism, and we have given it away, thrown it away with indoctrination and propaganda being used to brainwash us into embracing our own conquerors

    • @seanthompson3938
      @seanthompson3938 4 года назад

      what are you on about, the writings of a mad man I love my country was never brought up to hate it even served in the army but I'm not a patriot, patriotism breeds idiots who blindly follow orders and act in hatful ways to anything that threatens there idea of there nation.

    • @ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511
      @ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511 4 года назад +1

      @@seanthompson3938 maybe we're different generations.
      there always seemed to be a vein of guilt for the british empire and all of the "bad things" and a devaluing of our own culture while pedestalising anything foreign

    • @ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511
      @ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511 4 года назад

      @@seanthompson3938 maybe we're different generations.
      there always seemed to be a vein of guilt for the british empire and all of the "bad things" and a devaluing of our own culture while pedestalising anything foreign

    • @seanthompson3938
      @seanthompson3938 4 года назад

      @@ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511 for years we as a country have only ever celebrated the empire and there is a lot to celebrate and also a lot to reflect on I don't believe in historical guilt, but to look back and not see the invention of the concentration camp, what we did to Ireland during the famine, India during are rule of it, slavery.
      You don't become the biggest empire in history by being "nice" we all look back on the Roman empire and say look at all there achievements in amazement but we also say it was a brutal empire which killed millions you can do both. But patriotism is a disease that coursed 2 world wars.

    • @CelticSaint
      @CelticSaint 4 года назад

      The left ALWAYS destroy they NEVER create or build. They only know hatred.

  • @Hwd371
    @Hwd371 Год назад

    “Intellectuals” are always nearby when great countries fall…

  • @stephenbrown4211
    @stephenbrown4211 3 года назад

    Thanks to people like Hitchens who are trying to destroy it

  • @28pbtkh23
    @28pbtkh23 2 года назад

    Unbelievable! Who else knew that HMS Dreadnought was built in a year and a day??

  • @jimmy2k4o
    @jimmy2k4o 3 года назад +2

    I love the UK
    But I also love hearing Mr Hitchens being the harbinger of our national doom.
    Britain won’t die with a bang, or a whimper, we have Peter Hitchens……….we’ll die with a smug snicker of knowing we were right when all other are wrong.

  • @Hollows1997
    @Hollows1997 2 года назад

    Soberingly true, we truly are in the death rattle of our former glory… the sick man of Europe indeed.

  • @seekingsomething9026
    @seekingsomething9026 4 года назад +5

    Well. He's right.

  • @jonkline709
    @jonkline709 2 года назад

    It’s not. For one ask South Africa, India, any country in the Middle East last but not least Ireland oh and early America for starters

  • @joshuaadams-leavitt4603
    @joshuaadams-leavitt4603 4 года назад

    What is wrong with the hosts voice?

  • @gudmundurThor96Nr2
    @gudmundurThor96Nr2 4 года назад +2

    When parts of London don't even speak English in the country it originated from , you know that it is no longer Great Britain.

  • @ghostdog4330
    @ghostdog4330 4 года назад

    Probably wasn't a good idea to flog off the family silver but then the Tories won't rest until nothing is left.

  • @lecco666
    @lecco666 3 года назад +2

    Peter is a professional miserabilist.

  • @divvy1400yam600
    @divvy1400yam600 4 года назад +1

    I general I support Hitchens' view of the depressive failing state of the UK except in this vid. his lament at the removal of the 11+
    It is blindingly obvious that children develop at different rates due to mental and SOCIAL circumstances. Making important decisions at 11 is preposterous.
    Comprehensive education for ALL with discipline , selection and using any teaching method that is known to produce results , UK public school approaches if necessary.

  • @robsol123
    @robsol123 4 года назад

    Why have they got an actual goblin presenting and where did they get him from? 😂😂

    • @Asl6uk
      @Asl6uk 4 года назад +1

      I could see him as a Harry Potter character.

    • @robsol123
      @robsol123 4 года назад +1

      @@Asl6uk 😂😂

  • @abrogard142
    @abrogard142 4 года назад

    so what happened? did he win his point? he convinced me.

  • @265petsar
    @265petsar 4 года назад

    More mouth than sense. He is trying to live up to his brothers heights, the difference is his brother was intellectually sensible and argued reasonable views. This guy has very little to say other than the fact he loves the sound of his own voice.

  • @neilsavage8915
    @neilsavage8915 4 года назад

    I would not trust Schofield who hid what he was from his wife nor would I trust Holly either who must have been aware of what he was.

  • @lesbatty84
    @lesbatty84 4 года назад +1

    Neros warming up,crash,bang,wallop the Empires death rattle lol

  • @mikegalvin361
    @mikegalvin361 3 года назад

    He seems to just tell it as it is.

  • @R00365
    @R00365 4 года назад +5

    Always interesting. Even if his trademark despair serves no one but himself.
    Perhaps Britain's mediocrity is why younger people like myself were keen to form a European superstate. When all collapses, build anew.

    • @sirhumphreyappleby8399
      @sirhumphreyappleby8399 4 года назад +1

      You can’t unfortunately. You’re building with crumbling masonry and thin mortar, Europe is a dead continent and has been as such for a while.

    • @sonofnike2800
      @sonofnike2800 4 года назад +1

      @historypoliticsbb the EU is a Supermarket whose Admins are so Corrupt they don't seem to mind that the Nations that Built it are dying; Demographic shift, Civil Strife; Money doesn't mend a Society but it sure has Destroyed it.

    • @owenthompson5214
      @owenthompson5214 4 года назад

      A United states of Europe sounds like a bigger mistake, most of the 27 EU countries are even worse.

    • @adambritain5774
      @adambritain5774 3 года назад +2

      Us joining the EU has been one of the major problems of the last 6 decades.

  • @PaulWise-r4h
    @PaulWise-r4h 6 месяцев назад

    Dearest Dearest Peter Hitchens, please God, JEHOVA, you were buried, and not cremated.
    Your words "They must say they do believe there is something supernatural that provides faith "
    As clearly put as I have heard it. Up there with Solzenytsyn.

  • @jonoessex
    @jonoessex 4 года назад +3

    Britain did not "surrender" to the IRA. 22 years have passed since the Belfast agreement and NI is still very much part of the UK.

    • @Whodyanikabollockov
      @Whodyanikabollockov 4 года назад +4

      The agreement says the assembly can call for a referedum on irish unification every 7 years as many times as they like until it succeeds, once this happens, there is no undoing it.
      Government buildings in NI can only fly the NATIONAL FLAG on designated days, not very much like the rest of the UK. And finally we are prosecuting our own soldiers for alleged events 40 years ago meanwhile we grant and maintain AMNESTY TO CONVICTED TERRORISTS.
      If not a surrender, what would you call that?

    • @markofsaltburn
      @markofsaltburn 4 года назад

      Whodyanikabollockov Britain’s “war” against republicanism was always unwinnable.

    • @jimmycakes7158
      @jimmycakes7158 4 года назад +1

      Who cares, they sell themselves to the EU anyway, and they're currently importing more foreign nationals than their own birth rate

    • @jonoessex
      @jonoessex 4 года назад

      @@Whodyanikabollockov I would call the referendum policy (if indeed it exists) perfectly reasonable. SO far there has not been a referendum and NI is still part of the UK
      Ok so the national flag can only fly on certain days. That has not come about as a result of IRA violence it has come about through agreement, maybe poor negotiating
      Again the situation as regards soldiers is unfair and has probably come about through poor negotiating. It has not come about because of IRA violence. There has been no surrender to the iRA.

  • @BenjL
    @BenjL 4 года назад +2

    The UK is lovely fantastic country, with the greatest people on earth living here, I am truly grateful to have born onto this outstanding but of land that we call home. It was a blessing from God himself to born into God's own country, England.

    • @grubbygruber1621
      @grubbygruber1621 3 года назад

      GibbyGahWhayBow

    • @motebike
      @motebike 3 года назад

      Sorry to hear that.

    • @jesusistheonlygodamen3406
      @jesusistheonlygodamen3406 3 года назад

      But now it's turned away from Christ it has a horrendously immoral and degraded sinful culture, our work ethic is rubbish now and lawlessness is abounding.

  • @paulrimmer2853
    @paulrimmer2853 4 года назад +5

    Hitchens could never have foreseen Farage He fails to grasp the significance of Brexit. We have turned the corner.

    • @javiergilvidal1558
      @javiergilvidal1558 4 года назад +4

      Brexit or not, Britain has no future if she doesn´t overcome, drastically and fast, the racial and religious tragedy she´s in the throes in. A tragedy so presciently announced by Enoch Powell no less than 52 years ago, when it was still so easy to prevent. Now it can´t be remedied without civil war. The cleansing, if it ever happens, is as indispensable as it is going to be expensive and bloody.

    • @tsaxondale2499
      @tsaxondale2499 4 года назад +3

      @@javiergilvidal1558 "cleansing!" What nonsense. 5% of the UK has darker skin than you. Get over it.

    • @paulrimmer2853
      @paulrimmer2853 4 года назад +6

      @@javiergilvidal1558 Just cut off the Welfare pipeline & watch them bale out.

    • @markofsaltburn
      @markofsaltburn 4 года назад

      No you haven’t; you’ve been sold a pup by the same people. Brexit was designed to destroy Britain, not save it. It’s reflexive control. Farage is the real 5th columnist here.

    • @paulrimmer2853
      @paulrimmer2853 4 года назад

      @@markofsaltburn Another Lefty traitor masquerading as a Patriot.

  • @TheNobbynoonar
    @TheNobbynoonar Год назад

    He’s not wrong.

  • @theconversation9103
    @theconversation9103 4 года назад

    All these commentators agreeing but we're all responsible. Vast majority wouldn't have a hope in hell of getting an A in a Maths A-level and wouldn't bother go back to night school to even try

  • @chrisgriffiths2533
    @chrisgriffiths2533 4 года назад

    Some good points here. You need to be as Familiar with Gloom as Optimism, but there is some Neuances to these.

  • @withaak
    @withaak 2 года назад

    Vainglorious is the word.

  • @tsaxondale2499
    @tsaxondale2499 4 года назад +5

    Of course things could be built quicker back in the day - there was an endless pool of extremely cheap labour that could be worked into the ground.

    • @tsiiphsycoii
      @tsiiphsycoii 4 года назад +8

      And now we have giant machines that lay rail line automatically...

    • @matthewread7220
      @matthewread7220 4 года назад +2

      Not only machines but also hoardes of middle easterners and Africans to drive down the wages.

    • @tsaxondale2499
      @tsaxondale2499 4 года назад

      @@matthewread7220 right, so thanks to unions and workers rights, they know have to find cheap labour overseas, hence manufacturing goes to China. what happens when the people there start asking for rights too?

    • @matthewread7220
      @matthewread7220 4 года назад

      @@tsaxondale2499 easy, they give them right but increase the cost of living so your rights are not worth a wank

    • @tsaxondale2499
      @tsaxondale2499 4 года назад

      @@matthewread7220 if you feel your rights are not worth a wank, please feel free to work for £1 a week , have no right to vote, not sick pay, etc, etc

  • @scottwhat3362
    @scottwhat3362 4 года назад

    First coherent argument.