"The Abolition of Liberty" by Peter Hitchens

I read this book on the flight back to Moscow today. Hitchens is a hard-nosed right wing commentator in the (generally pretty horrendous) "Mail" newspapers ("The Daily Mail", "The Mail on Sunday"). I can't say I agree with a lot of what he says. He is not particularly libertarian in his outlook. But he does put forward an interesting analysis of where Britain has gone wrong in recent years and goes a long way towards explaining why the Left in British politics is becoming increasingly authoritarian (despite the hippyish roots of many of its current leaders).

Sadly he is also on the money as to why the Conservatives are dead in the water as an opposition. He goes so far as to address the entire book to the Left on the basis that they are going to provide the ruling class in Britain for the forseeable future and that "...influencing the counsels (sic) of the Tory Party is about as much use in British politics as gaining the favour of the Hapsburgs would be in present-day Continental diplomacy.."

There is a link to Amazon in the sidebar to this blog. I recommend the book despite its flaws - particularly to any left-wingers who are wondering why they are turning authoritarian in their old age!