Geopolitics

Hitchens alleges Britain is being readied for war, dismissing Russia as overstated threat

Name: Hitchens alleges Britain is being readied for war, dismissing Russia as overstated threat
Uploaded: 2026-07-25T18:10:00+00:00
Description: Asked what Britain is not talking about, Hitchens says there are ongoing attempts to make the public "warminded", pointing to public warnings by intelligence and defence figures about preparing for war. He argues the Russian military’s capability is routinely exaggerated, later calling a Red Square parade a display of "strategic scrap metal" and citing corruption and poor training.

Triggernometry · "We Live in the Age of Delusions" - Peter Hitchens · July 25, 2026

Triggernometry

"We Live in the Age of Delusions" - Peter Hitchens

""There is there's we're constantly to people are constantly coming intelligence chiefs come out and say we have to prepare for war. Russia is a great threat. Well, you can believe that if you want. Uh though I find it a struggle.""

Asked what Britain is not talking about, Hitchens says there are ongoing attempts to make the public "warminded", pointing to public warnings by intelligence and defence figures about preparing for war. He argues the Russian military’s capability is routinely exaggerated, later calling a Red Square parade a display of "strategic scrap metal" and citing corruption and poor training.

About this episode

Peter Hitchens tells Triggernometry he believes Britain is on a downward trajectory driven by long-term economic, institutional and cultural failures, arguing the state has expanded while the family has weakened, making provision for children and old age both more costly and less effective. He criticises what he calls a national “delusion” about Britain’s power and wealth, and links this to foreign-policy ambitions and defence spending choices, including the nuclear deterrent.

On public finances, Hitchens warns of a potential currency and fiscal “cataclysm”, describing scenarios where money “dies” and living standards fall abruptly, drawing on his experience of post-Soviet Russia to illustrate how quickly middle-class security can collapse. He also makes a specific historical claim that the UK defaulted on its First World War debt to the United States by stopping payments in 1934.

The conversation ranges across Britain’s 20th-century history: Hitchens argues the gravest UK mistake was entering the First World War, which he says bankrupted and transformed the country, and he disputes popular narratives about Britain’s post-Second World War status and the “special relationship” with the US. He also criticises pandemic-era conformity and what he views as the public’s appetite for big government.

In closing, Hitchens says the UK is not discussing what he sees as repeated efforts to prepare the public for war, and he questions portrayals of Russia as an imminent military threat.

Key takeaways

Hitchens says Britain is “borrowing money to pay the interest on its debts” and argues multiple core institutions are failing, from criminal justice to transport.
He argues that replacing family functions with state provision has been both expensive and damaging, and says reversing women’s mass entry into paid work is now structurally difficult.
He predicts a potential fiscal/currency rupture in which money “ceases to exist” in practical terms, leading to sudden impoverishment and social disorder.
He claims the UK stopped paying its First World War debt to the US in 1934 and “actually defaulted” on it.
He argues the UK entered the First World War unnecessarily and that it triggered a long-term national decline in wealth, power and cohesion.
He says Britain’s “special relationship” with the US is largely a fantasy, recounting that he saw the UK “ruthlessly squashed” by the Clinton administration on Ireland.
He alleges British public messaging is encouraging war readiness and questions whether Russia has the capability implied by official warnings.