Peter Hitchens wasn’t taking any of Russell Brand’s nonsense on Newsnight back in the day and it’s just gone viral for reasons that will be obvious

John Plunkett. Updated November 6th, 2026

There’s no shortage of old Russell Brand clips going viral on Twitter today after the actor and comedian was found guilty of rape and three sexual assaults.

The Met Police are now investigating two further allegations of rape, with Brand expected to be given a lengthy custodial sentence on Monday.

Which brings us back to this Newsnight exchange from 14 years ago that people are sharing again today, a moment when Peter Hitchens simply wasn’t taking any of Brand’s nonsense, not even for a second, and if only more people had done this sort of thing it would have been, well, it would have been a start.

The moment at 0.08 where Hitchens refuses to giggle along on the Telly Box and just lays bare his sheer contempt is heroic. You can tell Brand wasn’t used to being stood up to like that hence his petty nastiness

— Fred Sculthorp (@skulthorp) November 5, 2026

And just a few of the comments it prompted.

Peter Hitchens totally called it, saying arguing with him was like playing chess with a squirrel. Brand even tried to scrub the footage cuz he looked so bad. Total validation today! ⚖️🇬🇧#RussellBrand #PeterHitchens pic.twitter.com/8W8ZKom8Jr

— 🇰🇼 𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐉𝐀𝐒 (@oldmoodq8) November 5, 2026

It's hard to feel like Peter Hitchens' sense of self importance isn't completely justified when you see clips like these. Here he is, Old Britain, sitting alone, and no one who consider themselves fashionable at the time had any interest.

— Chart Man (@cursed_isl3) November 5, 2026

When Hitchens is right he's really right.

— Johnluke stables (@st89758) November 6, 2026

You can tell a lot from how Brand tries to frame potentially objecting to the aggressive invasion of personal space as homophobia

— Ben Sixsmith (@BDSixsmith) November 5, 2026

“Enjoy your custodial sentence, Mr Brand. I won.” pic.twitter.com/KV7NAGS9Ta

— Pasty Saville (@PastySaville) November 5, 2026

Dialoguing with Brand is like playing chess with a pigeon. Brand coos and poops on the board knocking over chess pieces and flying away claiming victory.

— Leftie. 🇬🇧 (@leftie0) November 6, 2026

I remember that and I remember at the time @ClarkeMicah was mocked for not joining in with the fun of Russell Brand. All those who championed Brand should be thoroughly ashamed.

— Oscar Blend (@blendosc) November 6, 2026

For all my frustrations with how he's never quite adapted his analysis to the post-Coalition world, we'll miss Peter Hitchens when he's gone. He is, in a sense, the last Roundhead, with that combination of Christian moral seriousness & courage & depth of learning.

"A plain,… https://t.co/kdXocBbvSD

— NPRG (@CptHastings1916) November 6, 2026

Peter Hitchens is insane and wrong about lots of things, but not this https://t.co/TPWxNF0bnX

— Michael Taylor (@M_H_Taylor) November 5, 2026

10.

I remember watching this he was so insufferable. A lot of his popularity is due to being unhinged, his standup is not funny and Matt Morgan was the funny one on the BBC show. He is a con man.

— Caca (@tijanaumetrou) November 5, 2026

Source YouTube Newsnight H/T @skulthorp