Boris, the Hitchens brothers and Shirley Williams on Rushdie's knighthood

The BBC's Question Time, 22 June 2007. Christopher Hitchens (looking very good at 56) and his conservative brother Peter defend Sir Salman Rushdie's knighthood, as does the Labour Party minister, Boris Johnson opposes it simply because his books are unreadable and Shirley Williams says it's 'not wise and not very clever'. Christopher Hitchens says 'that's a contemptible statement'.

Christopher Hitchens wasn't bad for a Trotskyite, right about free speech but wrong about most things. A very good writer and great speaker. I heard him at the Cambridge Union when I was 19.