08-05-2025
PETER HITCHENS: I've had enough of VE Day celebrations. Yes, it was our finest hour, but do we really need to cling so hard to events from 80 years ago?
Two nations on earth still treat the Second World War as a sort of moral scripture, remembering it as their greatest and most noble moment. They like to measure their standing in the world by proclaiming their part in it.
Their ideas about good and evil, right and wrong, are measured against it. If at any time they wish to luxuriate in the comforting warmth of past triumph, it is always there to provide this, like an old army greatcoat on a cold night.
