Shortlist Debate 2009 - Part 2: Nick Cohen

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Shortlist
• Announcement
• Nick
• Cohen

[kzearo]

Were there any questions from the audience at this discussion? I was wondering if Peter Hitchens said anything else.

Thanks.

[TheOrwellPrize]

@kzearo

There were - we'll be putting them up shortly. Sorry for the delay!

[Leftygit]

Would Orwell approve of Peter Hitchens? Well, as a socialist he wouldn't have agreed with Hitchen's conservative views. Would he approve of his being outspoken and critical? Obviously.

You can approve of someone's independent approach to thinking without approving of the conclusions they've arrived at.

(Especially if their the ones Peter Hitchens is always rambling on about :P)

[CosmosLoyal]

I consider my views closer to Cohen than Peter Hitchens however Hitchens is ten times the intellect and integrity of this man. Cohen comes across here as a clown who cannot hold his drink. As for the whole cringeworthy 'would Orwell' approve stuff Chesterton reminds us that when any stick will do be careful it’s not a boomerang. Would Orwell approve of being represented by such a frivolous man?

[OneBigRetard]

Nick Cohen is a chopper here.

[midianholic]

Is he pissed ?

[MarxBakuninMe]

He said, as if justifying the things: "They WERE prostitutes". Orwell would turn in his grave if he knew such pricks were being nominated for "his" award. Hitchens should be standing in church ranting on to a miniscule audience of old people. He's a relic from an age of Christian stupidity and nastiness. The cunt.

[MarxBakuninMe]

I remember Hitchens talking about the Ipswich murders a few years back on Starkley's show on More 4.

[sjamoon]

I've actually read most of Orwell's essays- Ive got volumes 3 and 4 of his Collected Writings on my bookshelf. But I cant be expected to remember every sentence he wrote.

[relarerfhjk]

The quote is indeed from Orwell, you have demonstrated your ignorance of Orwell's writing, because it is a very famous quote from him! You can Google it if you wish. Orwell also famously wrote that Britain is "unique in the world, in having an inelligentsia who despise their own country". He couldnt have summed up the liberal Left any better!

[sjamoon]

Well, if that quote is from Orwell, all I can say is that he has dropped in my estimation.

[relarerfhjk]

sjamoon can you not read? The quote is NOT from Hitchens it is from Orwell! You have taken the quote literally,the point he was making was that the leftist elite hate their own country so much that they would rather steal from charity than honour their own monarchy! Exaggerating to make a point. Hitchens accepts life was miserable for many in the Victorian era,but he is right to point out life is equally miserable for many now,such as millions of fatherless kids,and our legions of teen mothers