Hitchens vs Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens is really one of my favorite writers on the political scene. I don't agree with him on everything and am troubled by his former Socialist tendencies, but I really respect his knowledge, his skill as a writer, and most importantly, his sense of humor. His manner is, probably for those who know me, very similar to my own.

Until today, I didn't know that he had a brother, that his brother is an award-winning journalist in Britain or that Christopher and Paul are estranged. The estrangement apparently stems from Paul's public statement about Christopher:

'I don't see why Christopher has become so pro-American; I can remember when he said he wouldn't be happy until he saw the Red Army watering its horses in the Thames.'

The brothers were recently re-united onstage at The Guardian's Hay Festival. This snippet should whet your appetite for more witty, fratricidal banter:

Peter Hitchens: You should have done what you do in almost any other occasion when you disagree with someone, you should have argued about it, and then we would have reached this position much earlier. Silence is never an answer to anything.

Cristopher Hitchens: I wanted it to mature in the cask.