Peter Hitchens' Half Hour | 05-October-22

Peter Hitchens joins Mike Graham for his reaction to this week's biggest stories.
#talktv #talkradio #mikegraham #peterhitchens

[@talktv]

Rate Liz Truss's speech out of 10 and tell us why?

[@martingonzalez2850]

0

[@SagaciousFrank]

Not heard it, but if it's anything like the apples and pork speech then -💯

[@burtingtune]

custard out of ten!

[@finderoftruths]

😂she’s done

[@28train36]

It was like an ASDA conference in SCUNThorpe

[@anonymouse740]

It's not just the labour party the Tories adapt themselves to, it's also the Guardian and BBC. They constantly criticise the Tories' every move and yet the Tories kowtow to them and make u-turns based on their outrage peddling only to then be in the position where the Guardian and BBC mock them for making that u-turn. The 45% tax rate and banker bonus thing, while not being a big deal economically, was probably not the smartest move in the current financial climate but then backing down due to the leftist media was a far worse move.

[@mitchellgallagher7093]

Of course they criticise Tories' every move, because they are incapable of making the correct decisions and what is best for the public. Look at the chronic state of the UK's infrastructure, public services, position in the world and the nation's finances. Twelve years in power and the country is heading for an inevitable break up and is regressing significantly.

[@TheSecurdisc]

A few weeks back I saw a group youths (15/16 year olds) occupying two benches outside and entrance to the park. Some of the group, including girls, were openly smoking cannabis. To my shock horror 2 uniformed Bobbies turned up and had a chat with the group. A bit of smiling and laughter went on and then the Bobbies walked away leaving the group to carry on enjoying themselves and to continue to smoke cannabis. Nothing was done. You could smell the cannabis half way down the high street.

[@barriewilliams4526]

Obviously no wrong thinking by the group😉

[@fletcherhamilton3177]

The irony of it is, had those teens been smoking tobacco / common cigarettes, then the police who confronted 'em probably would have been more severe . . .

[@davidreed9671]

It is well known that cannabis causes permanent damage to developing brains.

[@davidreed9671]

@DoubtingThomas drink driving was once acceptable, as was spitting openly on public transport, then there's the way smoking has been controlled and reduced ..... it must be done at least in public!

[@fletcherhamilton3177]

@DoubtingThomas - as Hitchens continually - _continually_ - points out, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution backfired because, whilst it banned the _manufacture, transportation and sale_ of ‘intoxicating liquors’, it did not prohibit their possession or consumption. It’s actually been a few days since I listened to this video but I’m over seventy percent sure that he mentioned that fact here again, too - did you actually listen to this discussion at all? Moreover, although popular culture may engender a contrary impression, I’d argue that drugs like marijuana are still FAR from ‘culturally acceptable’ in civilized Western and East Asian nations, and I think that ultimately you’d do well to wonder just _whom_ is advocating for its acceptance and what they potentially stand to gain from that. I can assure you that your ‘freedom’ or your ‘happiness’ are the very last priorities the ‘dope lobby’ have in mind for you . . . Just some food for thought ay? 👍

[@burtingtune]

"We must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!"

[@jamesclarke2789]

Gotta love that Simpsons reference.

[@susannamarker2582]

Spot on from Hitchens : the Tory Party needs to say AND DO things which are actually Conservative. What the hell is Net Zero ? Red Kier Starmer must never be a PM.

[@markbateman9222]

Simply put, she has more support in the wider Party than from the Tory MPs. I got the impression that she was talking to her base in the Party and asking them to support her against any possible move from her opponents in the parliamentary party. The speech itself? Repeated platitudes, slogans and homilies devoid of any intellectual content - just like the one we heard from Starmer last week!

[@takilatime]

The party members wanted Badenoch

[@seanmoran2743]

Every Tory Leader at these events talk to the base and then promptly ignore them. PH has referred to this on many occasions. The Conservative party big idea is Money and Office at any price to paraphrase PH It’s high time we got rid of these dead parties that represent only themselves

[@martingonzalez2850]

And every one of the other traitors for the last thirty years.

[@mikedee1771]

That sums up the speech and the one by Starmer. We have to somehow hope that the many problems sort themselves out over time. As a nation we are still in the "kick the can down the road" mode.

[@Alex1234496]

If you legalise cannabis you might as well get rid of drug driving too. People dont realise there are knock on effects to your pursuit of getting high off your face.

[@barrychuckle5565]

It may be difficult for you to grasp, but drug driving is and always should be illegal.

[@benjamin4894]

Gotta love it when people who grew up in the 1960s complain about marijuana being absolutely everywhere!

[@carolphillips8802]

I've just finished reading "The War We Never Fought - Drugs", where Peter elucidates, and shows loads of evidence of, the fact that the 'war on drugs' was never seriously fought, and still is not being fought. The war against alcohol was futile because alcohol had been around for millennia. Cannabis has now been effectively 'acceptable/legalised' for decades, now, making any war against it also futile.

[@benjamin4894]

@@carolphillips8802 Prohibition of any illicit substance has always been a futile exercise. Criminalising the drink never worked for a second. Repealing the absurd legislation did, however, eliminate all the bootleggers.

[@bunneybeast]

I love listening to Peter Hitchens while smoking a spliff

[@seanpidduck]

same lol. I'm a passionate conservative but Peter is miles off with his stance on weed. undermines himself

[@MrDanielvass]

A Lannister doesn’t use class Cs

[@bunneybeast]

@@MrDanielvass a lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of a sheep

[@Ruda-n4h]

@@seanpidduck He's miles on.

[@susannamarker2582]

Don't be silly.

[@SagaciousFrank]

Not in the studio - what happened? Did Hitchens' bike breakdown or did they only have semi-skimmed/skimmed available at the nearest convenience store causing him to withdraw at the eleventh hour?

[@burtingtune]

The best argument against making dope legal is the comments written by the dopes who smoke it.

[@barriewilliams4526]

As the saying goes. Never send a boy to do a man's job.....

[@Belfreyite]

Will someone please explain the term "Optics"? I have a pair of binoculars with good optics. My local sells spirits from optics. Why are pundits hijacking yet another well-understood term rather than talking plainly?

[@alexanderclose400]

Optics = propagandistic value

[@dilltdog1158]

The Russian army don't need to be up to much Pete, it's their nuclear stockpile that's the worry.

[@alg7115]

This is what worries me they can blow up the entirety of nato in an hour if they want.

[@SagaciousFrank]

Headlines in the paper, "Police disapprove of crime shock" - and some have claimed that Hitchens has no sense of humour.

[@stephenphillips6888]

The presenter should concentrate on what Hitchens is saying rather than scrolling through stuff on his screen.

[@sylviamarshall5217]

I think your being very petty. He most pro ale reading notes.

[@stephenphillips6888]

@@sylviamarshall5217 We’ll have to agree to disagree. I think he should be concentrating hard to try and keep up with Hitchens and maybe even challenge him on things he says once in a while, instead of scrolling through his screen to see what Bob from Huddersfield reckons.

[@benvids]

Every friend I had who began smoking weed regularly became really boring and plainly dumb. It alters people’s personalities and they become a generic and cliché blob of stupid ideas.

[@Theslavedrivers]

I'm a libertarian by instinct, but I can't argue with any of that, Ben ... @Ben

[@peterduncan-smith463]

It's quite funny that they attack labour you do it all by your self

[@mitchellgallagher7093]

Same old scaremongering blabbering on about how things would be worse under Labour. Have you tried getting a GP appointment?, dentist appointment?, been to the beaches full of sewage?, seen how many food banks are across the country?, seen the state of the country's finances?, or the state of people's mortgages now due to the recklessness of Truss and Kwartang. 12 years of Tory rule and they have nothing to show for it. Police, nurses, doctors, all cut to the bone. The sooner the UK does away with an unelected House of Lords and adopts proportional representation to better represent the electorate the better. The 'Labour would be worse' excuse gets trotted around without any substantial evidence to back it up. It just gives people another reason to continue accepting their Stockholm syndrome and an excuse to justify voting Tory previously, despite being shafted at every opportunity.

[@charlytaylor1748]

Smoke a bong, Pete, chill out

[@goodyeoman4534]

Get a job, druggie, and do something constructive.

[@seanpidduck]

Mike Graham thinks cannabis gives you lung cancer within 3 years lmao

[@ronniemacdonald2768]

Nah just schizophrenia and a tedious personality.

[@Theslavedrivers]

@@ronniemacdonald2768 based

[@barrychuckle5565]

I'll always massively respect Peter for questioning lockdowns when no one else dared, but his view on weed is so archaic and wrong.

[@Ruda-n4h]

No it isn't.

[@sirhenrysimmerson9385]

No it isn't he's bang on

[@barrychuckle5565]

He's completely wrong, tarring everyone with the same brush.

[@robertstewart239]

If you read his column every Sunday, he puts forward some pretty good arguments on this issue.

[@martingonzalez2850]

Have you seen the damage skunk is doing?

[@seandelap8587]

Alcohol and cigarettes are legal so why not cannabis which causes less damage overall.

[@seanmoran2743]

Yeah right 🙄

[@davidreed9671]

it doesn't

[@DaBIONICLEFan]

That's because a lot fewer people use cannabis than alcohol or cigarettes

[@Ruda-n4h]

@@seanmoran2743 It's a dangerous drug rightly associated with crime, squalor and mental illness.

[@sirhenrysimmerson9385]

Oh ye? How so?

[@TheSnowmanBKK]

Cannot listen to such poor audio , switching off.

[@bristolspotlight6387]

Good thing they haven't made being a twazzock illegal, otherwise [the unsuccessful] Hitchens and Graham would be doing life without parole.

[@fletcherhamilton3177]

'Unsuccessful'? Sounds to me like you're wearing some serious green eyeshade for the _both of them,_ you bloody loser!! 😂

[@DS-kd4py]

Eugh cringe

[@bristolspotlight6387]

@@DS-kd4py Eugh cringe viz my post or Hitchens and Graham?

[@finderoftruths]

Did these two jokers watch any of the conference😂

[@Theslavedrivers]

Probably very little

[@vivwindsor4055]

This prat Graham is desparate for Peter Hitchens to say something positive about the speech, but Hitchens refuses to play the game.

[@Norfolkandchance886]

I like hitchins but he has no business talking about "cannabis" not marijuana Peter that's not it's name! I've actually lived that life. I know about drugs and in the grand scheme of things smoking weed is not a massive problem. Smoking it in your childhood, breaking your developing brain like I did that's a problem! Legalization would help that. It wouldn't stop it as there will always be a black market but it would certainly help. I could get it easily at school. He mentions the cartel's not nothing to move bud anymore. The gangs who currently profit over here would do the same. No point growing weed if everyone is getting better down the road from a shop. It's what they call a no brainer.

[@danielmoncaster3216]

Why does Hitchens never advocate illegality of other harmful drugs like alcohol and tobacco? His 1950’s anti-cannabis attitude is so outdated and uses all the same stereotypical nonsense platitudes. The state has no business threatening responsible adults with criminal penalties for smoking a plant which they peacefully enjoy or in many cases require for medical necessity.

[@davidreed9671]

Why I should have to breath in this stinking weed every time I go out in the street? Just because alcohol and tobacco are legal is no argument to legalise yet another harmful substance. Try living next to a house that smokes cannabis. Actually Hitchens has pointed out that if tobacco was invented now it would be illegal. The status of alcohol is different entirely, it is made as a beneficial refreshment and will not cause harm in moderation.

[@VMist-vy8qg]

Because smoking and alcohol are too ingrained in the culture to get rid off now

[@danielmoncaster3216]

@@VMist-vy8qg A convenient way of excusing blatant inconsistency.

[@davidreed9671]

@@danielmoncaster3216 but true none the less. Meanwhile those that don't drink because of ideology are at the forefront of the drug trade!

[@Ruda-n4h]

They are already legal and it's impossible to criminalise and drug once it is so.

[@paulslater9061]

Totally unbias reporting as usual until labour is mentioned then it's just slagging off

[@sirhenrysimmerson9385]

Quite rightly

[@robertstewart239]

That's their job. Right-wing media slags off the left and vice versa. Watch the BBC and see for yourself.

[@peterduncan-smith463]

if i could block you i would peter hitches is the worst talk TV has nothing cannot say anything

[@chillwinston8961]

The problem with Hitchens analysis of cannabis is his big reason against it is that people who commit violent crimes (such as mass shootings or minor crimes like burglary’s) tend to have used in the past. This is true but what Peter doesn’t seem to realise is how much of the population have smoked weed at some point in there life. Basically everyone who went to university smoke weed at least once. Anyone who has gone on a lads holiday has smoked weed. Hell even Peter himself has smoked it once. To say “ah look the people committing crimes have also smoked weed in the past! There must be a correlation!” Is just silly. Also if your the sort of person who doesn’t care about the law obviously more likely to smoke cannabis but that doesn’t mean that smoking it causes psychosis. Don’t get me wrong I don’t support the use of cannabis, it is a depressant that can be abused and it genuinely is harmful if smoked before the age of 18. But peters views don’t quite add up.

[@MrDanielvass]

I’ve never smoked weed, or cigarettes, but I’ve done other recreational drugs.

[@redset11]

All drugs are demonic - users of them are on a pathway to hell

[@Ruda-n4h]

They add up completey it's yours that are muddled.

[@definitelymaybe3805]

@@Ruda-n4h if you bothered to do some resrarch on the subject you'd find that they don't. Hitchens arguments are mostly based on a handful of old and discredited research papers.

[@sirhenrysimmerson9385]

@@definitelymaybe3805 everyone in the comments saying Peter is wrong on weed are just guilty they take it.

[@mitchellgallagher7093]

Forever living in his brother's shadow.

[@Theslavedrivers]

Mike Graham doesn't have a brother ........

[@billyliar1614]

''Labour would be measurably worse''. How ? Peter Hitchens doesn't quantify this, neither does he give any audible opinion here on the pressing issue, perhaps the only issue of any real significance of whether he believes in Trussonomics. It appears as though he does. If he supports tax cuts for the rich, and it appears that he does, how does he propose to fund the infrastructure ? Does he believe in Liz Truss's fantasy of ''going for growth'' ? I think Kier would be immeasurably better actually

[@artistreality]

Cannabis should be legalised. When states in the USA, countries like Canada and even Thailand legalise it, you need to stop the backwards thinking in Britain. Its bad enough people with depression get given big pharma drugs, yet studies prove micro dosing Psilocybin mushrooms helps anxiety and depression. We need an adult debate on drugs.

[@goodyeoman4534]

How long have you been a druggie?

[@michaelarchangel1163]

@ artisreality Over forty years ago, a chap I knew was bashed off his motorbike, his pillion riding wife getting two broken arms. The car driver was so doped up that in spite of the biker's anger, he didn't have the heart to give the fella a clout for being in such a state. I recall being told that when he opened the car door, the waft of weed from inside was almost overpowering. I agree with the medicinal use of cannabis oil, especially for epilepsy and spinal pain etc., but anyone who thinks that legalising it blindly is, frankly, a fool. How about a smoker in control of a high speed train or an articulated lorry ? How old are you ? 16 ?

[@barrychuckle5565]

@@michaelarchangel1163 what a stupid argument. Drink driving isn't legal and neither should be weed driving. That's not the point whatsoever.

[@seanmoran2743]

You don’t need drugs to overcome or live with the conditions you stated.

[@seanmoran2743]

We wanna be free to what we wanna do 🙄 We just want others to pick up the pieces either within ourselves or society at large ! How about educating a more robust individual and society.