I have conflicting feelings about the other side of the “two cultures” divide. Often the relentless verbiage used to disguise the trite opinions irritates me – why can’t they just use evidence, and write systematically so that people can understand, eschewing the verbal pyrotechnics? However, the beauty sometimes does attract me despite such misgivings.

Martin Amis has written a kind of obituary for Christopher Hitchens, who is not yet dead, but expected to be so soon. Not only is it very interesting and attractively written, it is clearly motivated by real feelings of friendship.