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Peter Hitchens was a Social sciences and society good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Should this article be in the category "British anti-vaccination activists"? The article says he "promoted anti-vaccination views and misinformation about the MMR vaccine", but it also reports that he "rejected accusations he is an anti-vaxxer". Would the initial, secondary sourced information be enough on its own to categorise him, and/or does his own denial override the previous evidence? (Hohum@) 00:30, 13 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Hohum Given that he has had the vaccine, and has claimed he has never spoken against the vaccine, and I cannot find an instance of him doing so, then I believe it would not be accurate to implement your proposals. HelpfulPi (talk) 18:19, 20 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I haven't advocated anything. I asked a question, which you haven't actually answered.
I don't know what vaccine you are referring to as him not ever having spoken against, but the article has decent sources on him denouncing the MMR vaccine. (Hohum@) 18:39, 20 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Hohum I was referring to the COVID-19 vaccines. I don't have the time to argue with people on the internet. I saw your query that no one else had attempted to respond to, and did my best to apply my knowledge to resolve it; I was not obliged nor required to answer it in any capacity regardless. He has had the COVID-19 vaccine, he therefore cannot be anti-vaccination; he may be sceptical of some vaccines, but 'anti-vaxxer' implies he is anti-vaccination, not anti-particular vaccinations, or sceptical about one. HelpfulPi (talk) 18:56, 20 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I am banned for life from editing Wikipedia, for reasons which still elude me. But I never 'denounced' the MMR vaccine. I merely sympathised with parents who felt browbeaten into giving it to their children, during years when fears that it might be risky were still prevalent. I thought that a readiness to take their fears into account, by extending availability of the single vaccines, would be more likely to achieve the herd immunity which I thought then, and think now, to be desirable. I came very late to the debate. If I had denounced the vaccination, then you would be able to find words in which I had done so. The quotation provided does not make any such denunciation, but asks a question. Likewise I never expressed any opinion on whether other people should or not have the Covid vaccine, and in fact was reluctantly vaccinated, a fact I made public. I cannot stop people lying about me here, but at least they should *know* that they are lying. Peter Hitchens. Anyone who wishes to verify that I am the author of this statement may reach me at The Mail on Sunday in London. +44 203 615 0000 will reach me. 86.157.175.107 (talk) 13:33, 2 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
No, it doesn't, for the simple reason that I never did so. The sources cited contain no direct quotations of me denouncing the MMR vaccine, because they do not exist. This is because I did not do so. That was 'Private Eye' magazine. Peter Hitchens (barred from editing wikipedia) 195.234.243.131 (talk) 15:17, 9 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This is barking. Assertion isn't ebvidence. Evidence is evidence. My rejection would 'carry no water' if any source could produce a direct referenced quotation showing otherwise. There isn't one. Peter Hitchens See above for my contact details. 195.234.243.135 (talk) 16:08, 28 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Someone can not be a "Burkean Conservative" AND a "Social Democrat" - they are opposed positions.
A follower of the "Old Whig" Edmund Burke (a "Burkean Conservative") is someone who believes in smaller, more restrained government - see the works of Edmund Burke such as "Thoughts and Details on Scarcity". A Social Democrat is someone who believes in a bigger government, more government spending and regulations to (in their view) help the people. Mr Hitchens can not be both these diametrically opposed things, at the same time. But it is hard to see where to put this fact in a reference article. It is rare for a political figure to describe themselves in such contradictory terms - so it is hard to know how to respond to such behaviour.2A02:C7E:1CA8:CE00:DC08:EDC1:1DB1:8B52 (talk) 19:26, 19 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Hitchens is of course free to *claim* whatever he wants regarding his heritage and to identify as he wishes, but as a scholar of Jewish cultural history I can’t see how his claim of only 1/32 Jewish descent for him and his brother is substantiable, even in purely genetic terms. According to this article and several other media sources, eg. The Guardian, his maternal grandmother was Jewish — ‘the daughter of Polish Jewish migrants’, per a Guardian article on his brother Christopher. Unless there’s genealogical information I’m unaware of, and leaving completely aside the traditional notion and practice of Jewish matrilineal descent, even genetically a Jewish grandmother would make Hitchens’ mother at least 1/2 Jewish, and him and his brother 1/4 Jewish. That’s a far cry from the 1/32 Jewish ancestry Hitchens claims. I have no stake in making Hitchens any more or less Jewish, but I feel a Wikipedia article should be based in fact, not fantasy, and at least point out the discrepancy or mention the issue. Unless, as I say earlier, there’s actual genealogical evidence to the contrary. Happy to discuss. Thanks and best. - MKh MotkeKhabad (talk) 01:18, 6 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My 'Jewish grandmother' was in fact half-Jewish, and that not through the matrilineal line as her mother was not Jewish at all. As you seem to care, let's compromise on 1/16. Peter Hitchens 195.234.243.135 (talk) 16:05, 28 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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