Peter Hitchens' Half Hour | 4-July-22

[@talktv]

Should marijuana be legalised?

[@JamesJohnAgar]

No - It will lead to people wanting more and turning to harder drugs which means society will become more dangerous since they will always be looking to feed their addictions anyway possible!

[@PeterReynolds.]

Yes. If you believe just half of the hysterical distortions of science that Hitchens spouts then how can it be sensible to allow such a 'dangerous' substance to be produced, distributed and controlled by criminal gangs? The more harmful you believe cannabis to be, clearly the more important that the market in it is brought under proper control under government regulation. To abandon the market, our communities and our children to gangs peddling it is sheer insanity.

[@danielmoncaster3216]

Yes. There is absolutely no reason a responsible adult should be criminalised for smoking a plant. One can not advocate for the legality of alcohol and tobacco without also doing so for cannabis.

[@PeterReynolds.]

@@Jayne-35 The usual command of logic, reason and rational argument demonstrated by prohibitionists 🤣😂🤣

[@steadfastandyx4947]

My 25 yr old son would say yes. I think no but I don't want alcohol, nicotine(vaping), sugar banned so we must think it through.

[@nicolaperren9493]

My husband and I are bringing up two grandsons, 12 & 14, in the 1st lock down the oldest did learn about Cromwell to be fair, but, yesterday he came home telling me that in Drama because he said he doesn't like drag Queens, they make him feel uncomfortable he was told to go sit in the corner and do written work instead of watching the film 'there's something about Jamie' ! I love a drag queen but I'm 62 and had the choice he hasn't! Last week a teacher told him he was ignorant because he disagreed with a child having two biological dads! Madness! The youngest has been taught about FGM but couldn't tell you where France is! I don't understand and don't like education if today!

[@alanfontaine586]

It's not education

[@JoBlakeLisbon]

Are they in the British education system?

[@MrMjp58]

I agree with Peter on the primal power of pop music. As I grow older, it becomes clearer to me that it has caused fundamental changes in society's attitudes and behaviour - and not for the better IMO. Rock n'Roll, Pop, Rock, Disco etc and especially Punk Rock, were cataclysmic, both at the time and up to the present [the current BBC series on the Rolling Stones is effectively perpetuating the strength of rock myths for a late-middle aged audience]. I haven't yet seen the film about him, but I always thought Elvis himself to be an entertainer of the old school; the way he was marketed leading to all those myriad rock style acts that followed him, being somewhat deified by the young in a similar way. Being born in 1958 and also being super-sensitive to popular music, the sixties scene had a devastating effect on my childhood and youth, even though I only heard it on the radio and [black and white] TV. It still affects me deeply to this day, but in a nostalgic, sentimental way, as I yearn for the past. Strangely though, I now find the popular music of the pre-rock era to be much more moving and powerful. I suppose most of that material was made more for a family audience, rather than strictly the 10's - 20's. It is more sophisticated musically and lyrically and seems to express actual, universal human feelings, rather than rock's more bizarre teenage obsessions. There are a handful of popular writers who do study this subject and present meaningful analyses [Nick Kent, David Hepworth and Bob Stanley being 3 of them; there are no doubt scores of others plus academics], but the overall message that usually comes over, is that the rock culture and attitude is historically inevitable and ultimately a good thing. I have become very sceptical of this notion.

[@burtingtune]

If you wanted to design lyrics to subvert society, you couldn´t outdo those that already exist.

[@DankyKang96]

I agree, music does have the power to control thought, but it also has the power to expand the mind, and honestly I’m not that old but I’ve been a huge fan of music and studying it’s timeline, and I’ve seen almost a musical battle fought over our minds for the last 60/70 years or so. People are out there either trying their best to help people realise their own potential, or they’re trying to brainwash them into living a life in the rat race and never realising their true potential. I have much hope that there will be something like a musical renaissance that will bring back the mind opening music we used to make.

[@gerardgauthier4876]

I used to laugh at conservatives.. Yes I was that guy! But I tried something different one day. One day I tried thinking about social issues and political issues but I removed all the emotional baggage that's used to color the issue. I wanted to see where I would land if I only applied rational thoughts to problems that we(our current society) are facing. Wow.. The conservatives actually have some sound/rational positions when you remove all emotional coloring that the left fires at our problems.

[@BlackWhite-tx2kb]

I'll tell you what was going on with Elvis and the Beatles. When women get in packs, they're creepier than men, and it's more socially acceptable for them to do so, by leaps and bounds.

[@johnwilson-mr6pw]

History is undoubtedly the hardest subject of all, simply because there is so much of it. I was born in 1940 and history then was massive. Since then so much has happened that the study of history has become a pick and mix affair. Studying say, the Vietnam war is isolation is just silly, because it would take a whole year of one one hour a week lesson to cover it. I thing history should be taught in decades and then just the salient points should be covered. If the individual wants to specialize, then that's fine. The essence of history is that its politically subjective, so where and how does a teacher start.

[@SagaciousFrank]

The Beetles were before my time, but I remember seeing stock footage of women going absolutely mental, screaming in a borderline unhinged fashion, always wondered what that was all about and struck me as odd.

[@seandelap8587]

It shows that gun ownership is not the root issue here when when you see what has happened in Denmark.

[@fujohnson8667]

Can’t intern the population if they are armed to the Teeth. Shanghai was a glimpse at our future.

[@klebitz1332319]

Brazil just made it easier for citizens to buy guns and their murder rate dropped by 34% the lowest point it has been in 14 years

[@JoBlakeLisbon]

Yup. Bolsanero is a top guy

[@GenATV33]

It would be nice to have a fun question for Mr. Hitchens. As he is a very well-cultured and knowledgeable man, although I think he may loathe me putting this question to him and how long I can draw out the preamble before I ask the question, but now that I have started on this dry droll direction I can't really stop; well here is my question without any further dithering or delaying, I wish to relate a question that perhaps he can afford us an answer to the following Monday in between discussing the state of our broken civilisation; what is Peter's top ten films of all times?

[@GenATV33]

Maybe another week top 10 prime ministers, but that would probably prove harder than the film question! Joseph Bower

[@SwissCheese112]

shut up, none of this makes you sound intelligent and he will never answer you.

[@anthonybartlett6924]

saw a program on california, because the licenses are so expensive & difficult to get, only large companies can afford to go legit. most dealers are still small illegal street dealers.

[@brian5154]

Come on everybody. I lived through Elvis and the Beatles. Yes, big impact. But the biggest was the birth control pill !!!!!!!!

[@afifahhamilton8843]

And both pop/rock music and the birth control pill effecting the same two to three generations, was, and continues to have vast cultural and social impacts.

[@danielmoncaster3216]

Sick of hearing Peter blame mass shootings on cannabis, it’s so boring

[@burtingtune]

Bet you´re fed up about hearing about gravity too.

[@mahakalavanilla6263]

Psychoactive drugs have strong effects on mentally ill people. Shocker of the century

[@seemourbutts6679]

Makes me wanna roll a fat one a spray down some innocents

[@ernestmcloud4515]

I like smoking weed and listening to Peter Hitchens

[@peterstevenson3077]

If you could see the damage done by Cannabis/Weed you would not joke about it. As for Peter Hitchens, he is at least an interesting and educated bloke worth listening to even if you don't agree or like his mannerisms.

[@spyzmusic]

@@peterstevenson3077 I've seen the damage done by alcohol personally, far far worse. That needs addressing before anything else.

[@SagaciousFrank]

@@spyzmusic , yeah alcohol is very damaging, let's unleash another damaging drug on the market then, that'll show alcohol who's boss. 🙄

[@spyzmusic]

@@SagaciousFrank i never said anything about unleashing a damaging drug. How did you come to that conclusion?

[@SagaciousFrank]

@@spyzmusic , true you didn't. But many of those who complain about alcohol being bad (which it is) but legal often use that as a logic for having more bad drugs legalised.

[@SagaciousFrank]

What's funny is you can tell how exasperated Mike Graham gets with Peter Hitchens at times.

[@johnclayden1670]

That ad break is making this unwatchable.

[@afifahhamilton8843]

skip it.

[@peterfoster8004]

Teaching history is not about a specific topic how ot read history in general.

[@colinregan7380]

Skin up Peter...

[@DankyKang96]

Again, I’m not gonna have a big bloated alco tell me what’s bad for me, lol. I also like how they started by saying ‘ooo weed…’ then said the shooter was on anti depressants. Wowee.

[@seanmoran2743]

No personal responsibility aye But when it goes tits up you want us to wipe your backside Because me me me me me It’s not my fault attitude 🙄

[@DankyKang96]

@John Burgundy good call, John

[@seandelap8587]

Alcohol is legal and it can impair judgement cigarettes are legal and they can cause a range of health issues so why not Marijuana which actually has many health benefits I don't get why the first 2 are legal while other drugs which are no more bad aren't it will only go onto the black market anyway and put it into the hands of the criminal making them legal would help to prevent that from happening.

[@SwissCheese112]

Cbd has health benefits not THC. There has been a direct link between marijuana and psychosis and violent assaults

[@anthonybartlett6924]

sean delap watch mariana z's trafficked. street dealing has not gone down @ all in california so your argument does not hold water.

[@peterhitchens4240]

Can someone else tell him? I'm sick of explaining it.

[@martynblackburn9632]

​@@SwissCheese112 Isn't CBD just a lot of hype and marketing?

[@MrMjp58]

I agree that alcohol especially, is a major public and private menace in the modern world. All drugs of any kind are problematic for society.

[@steadfastandyx4947]

Go to see TOP gun maverick. Fantastic film.

[@JoBlakeLisbon]

Agree. Great comment