SOURCE: Raven, Charlotte. “How Central Heating Made Us Bad.” New Statesman (25 October 1999): 12.

In the following essay, Raven discusses the confrontation of the political left and right in a public debate between Christopher Hitchens and his brother, Peter.

Hurrah for Prospect. I take it all back. Far from being the stuffy old stick-in-the-muds portrayed in a previous article of mine, the magazine and its editors have proved, in the past two weeks, an unending source of delight. First there was David Goodhart's world-beating oxymoron, overheard at a London Review of Books party: “I believe in the end of history.” Pure gold, as my father would say.

Then, the following week, the long-awaited Hitchens v Hitchens debate, organised and sponsored by Prospect. However, Goodhart fans were disappointed to learn that the debate was to be chaired by John Humphrys. Our hero, it seems, was too modest to share the lime-light...