Peter Hitchens
speaker
821 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 9 Sep
Peter Hitchens’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 1.
Appearances
has completely changed that.
The idea that the British are fundamentally independent-minded, stand up on your own two feet, quite like the Americans, is actually not true.
Big government isn't always wrong.
In wartime, you need big government to be effective for a start.
When I used to argue about nationalization and privatization with conservatives, I said, well, you say you don't want state control of anything.
Do you actually think you can privatize the Royal Navy?
You think that could run?
And some of them, to my amazement, said, well, yes, of course, all we need to do is hire a lot of people with private ears.
I said, OK, well, then we're in the realm of madness here.
But they resisted the idea that anything was better run by the state.
though some things are.
So I'm not a let the free market rip person.
I mean, for instance, I would really like it if they properly renationalized the railways, rather than the ridiculous porridge they're making at the moment.
Because I think there are some things which are just better run that way.
So yeah, no, but there's no point yearning for British people to be as they were before 1914.
Because amongst other things, you have to remember,
Until 1916, the British army, which went to France and was mown down in the mud, was composed of volunteers.
And these volunteers were people who'd been persuaded that this was a vital war for civilization in which every man and spirit had to take part as a matter of conscience.
So what did you do?
You lost...
Showing 481–500 of 821 · page 25 of 42
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