Update: a couple more. I didn’t include Salman Rushdie’s because it was more personal, but I see it’s also on Twitter where anyone can see it, so –
Goodbye, my beloved friend. A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops. Christopher Hitchens, April 13, 1949-December 15, 2011.
And Richard Dawkins –
Christopher Hitchens, finest orator of our time, fellow horseman, valiant fighter against all tyrants including God.
My thoughts exactly.
Francis Wheen at Facebook –
BBC radio news at 7am reports the death of Christopher Hitchens, “an alcoholic”. How I wish Christopher was still here to challenge imbecile reporter Nick Higham over this lie. His epitaph, he once told me, should be “He never missed a deadline”. Farewell, dear old fruit.
Nick Cohen ditto –
The editor is letting me write about the Hitch. The fact that I had a gun to his head at the time is neither here nor there.
Also, a few minutes earlier –
Anyone who wishes to raise a glass of whisky in memory of an absent comrade can join Padraig Reidy and me at 5.30 at the King’s Head Islington.
That’s two hours from now, you have plenty of time.
Martin Robb ditto –
Now it’s up to the rest of us to stay on the case of Galloway and all the other friends of tyrants.
And on the case of the ultimate tyrant, Colonel God.
There’s a liquor store in the strip mall across the parking lot from work. I’m tempted. Just for Hitch, you know.
What sad news to wake up to. A great man.
I may take up drinking in his honor. He was an inspiration.
I heard the news on the Today program when I woke at 6am. It was second to a story on how NHS staff do not know how to handle patients suffering from dementia.
I was tempted to go back to sleep in the hope I was having a bad dream.
Well, I’ve already checked to see if JW Black Label is vegetarian friendly, and it appears it is, so some time in the next week… Maybe anti-Christmas.
I wonder how much stupid there’ll be to put up with in the meantime. More, or same-as-always.
There will be plenty. One genius called Hitchens a “twat” on Wheen’s thread. Yay lads culture.
I heard the same news report as Wheen this morning. The sort of shameful spite that should be expected I suppose of a cringing mediocrity like Higham for whom a talent like Hitchens’ must be experienced as a constant rebuke. But the BBC should know better.
I will miss Hitch’s voice so much. And if anyone hasn’t read his Vanity Fair essay about losing is voice, you really should.
It is only just gone 4pm here in the UK, but I have nothing else left to do today, and I am at home so I have poured myself a large vodka (not liking whisky) and have toasted him.
Will try to find my copy of “God Is Not Great” later, so I can re-read it.
I’m opening my Laphroaig.
Calling Hitch and alcoholic is like calling Higham a journalist. They both dabble a little, but neither is a professional.
Over at Huffington Post (yes, I know. Sorry.) David Frum has written a lovely obituary for Hitch. Well worth reading.
Marta – well at least you don’t call it the PuffHo!
I haven’t read any of his books, just most of his journalism. Also watched many of his talks. Needless for me to say, his wit, erudition and eloquence were, and probably will be, truly unsurpassable.
To the Hitch *toast*
(Had to say something, somewhere. So.)
You owe it to yourself to read some of his books. I can highly recommend “God Is Not Great”, and his book on Mother Theresa is well worth reading as well.
Muslims responding with their usual grace:
http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?312497-Hitchens-can-finally-find-out-if-God-exists-or-not
http://forums.islamicawakening.com/f18/writer-christopher-hitchens-dead-62-aka-another-54187/
Matt #13:
Yes, I do, thanks. I’ve been lazy, and now’s as good a time as any to start reading his books.
Drinking a glass to his wit, integrity and courage. What a loss.
Hitch, as such, cannot be replaced. But those of us who shared his ideas of what is important in the only world we’re ever going to have understand that we’ll all have to work a bit harder now to make up for the shortfall.
I’ve responded to the loons on those Muslim forums.
“With so much hate and disgusting things done in the name of faith around the world, it is surprising that the vitriol is being aimed at a person who did no more than reject the same gods you do and simply went one further in rejecting yours.”