Max Hastings



Profile:


Full name: Sir Max Hastings, FRSL

Area of interest: Politics, Military history

Journals: The Guardian, Daily Mail. Financial Times

Email:

Website:

Blog:

Agent: The Gordon Poole Agency | PFD

Networks:



Biography:
Education: Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford

Career: reporter and foreign correspondent for the BBC and the London Evening Standard; editor/editor-in-chief at the Daily Telegraph 1986-1996; editor, Evening Standard until 2001 (ret)

Current position/role: columnist


 * also writes/has written for: occasional contributor to The New York Review of Books

Other roles: historian

Other activities: President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England 2002-2007

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:

TV/Radio: see: IMDb

Controversy/Criticism: The oldest hatred revisited - Melanie Phillips Diary, 11th March 2004

Awards/Honours:
 * Knighted, 2002
 * numerous British Press Awards, including: What the Papers Say Reporter of the Year 1982; Journalist of the Year, 1982; Editor of the Year, 1988
 * Twice winner of Yorkshire Post Book of the Year
 * Somerset Maugham Award winner in 1980
 * Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Scoops: When Hastings was with the 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment as part of the British press corps reporting the Falklands War, the troops were ordered to stop but Hastings received no order and walked on, becoming the first man with the Falklands Task Force to arrive in the capital, Port Stanley. He then arranged an interview with the commanding officer of the Argentine forces who had occupied the islands

Other: Son of Macdonald Hastings and Anne Scott-James; Grandson of Basil McDonald Hastings, journalist and playwright



Books & Debate:
Selected bibliography:
 * Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940-45 OCLC430839024, 2009. Review here by Piers Brendon in The Sunday Times
 * The evolution of strategic studies OCLC213446256, 2008
 * Nemesis: the battle for Japan, 1944-45 OCLC14829737, 2007 (re-titled Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 for US release)
 * Country fair: tales of the countryside, shooting and fishing OCLC61302090, 2005
 * Warriors: exceptional tales from the battlefield OCLC59876964, 2005
 * Armageddon: the battle for Germany, 1944-45 OCLC56650467, 2004
 * Editor: an inside story of newspapers OCLC50401755, 2002
 * Going to the wars OCLC43032430, 2000
 * Scattered shots OCLC44905200, 1999
 * On the offensive OCLC36720354, 1995
 * Outside days OCLC20565603, 1989
 * The Korean War OCLC16130754, 1987
 * Victory in Europe: D-Day to V-E Day OCLC12097933, 1985
 * The battle for the Falklands OCLC9197447, with Simon Jenkins, 1983
 * Bomber command OCLC5170758, 1979
 * Montrose: the kings' champion OCLC5170477, 1977
 * Ulster 1969: the fight for civil rights in Northern Ireland OCLC105151, 1970
 * America 1968: the fire this time OCLC39832, 1969

Latest work: Did you really shoot the television?: a family memoir OCLC310154411, March 2010. Review here by Dominic Sandbrook in The Sunday Times

Speaking/Appearances:

Current debate: 

The Guardian:
Column remit: (usually) international relations

Section: Comment & debate

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:comment@guardian.co.uk comment@guardian.co.uk]

Website: Guardian.co / Max Hastings

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Monday

Regularity: fortnightly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles:

 * paradox of Israel's pursuit of might'' - Forty years ago, I was enraptured by Israel's courageous sense of mission. For me today, as for many, that idealism has palled - 9th May 2009
 * and Obama may fail in Afghanistan, but they cannot give up'' - Western involvement in the region is hugely problematic, but the rise of al-Qaida in Pakistan has made it worth the risk - 30th March 2009
 * the next election should be the least of Cameron's worries'' - The Tories face the vastly more difficult task of producing a new model of capitalism to satisfy an embittered electorate - 16th March 2009
 * financial advisers: I wish I'd stuffed my cash into the mattress'' - The wreckage of my investments makes me feel rage towards those who have grown rich at my expense - 2nd March 2009
 * will be painful: we're not the generous society we thought we were'' - The picketing of the oil refineries marks just the first frightening stirrings of a recession-era anger that is bound to grow - 2nd February 2009
 * defence is to be strategic rather than politically expedient, dump Trident'' - Party leaders see no votes in debating the nuclear issue, but these weapons look ever more costly and irrelevant as a deterrent - 19th January 2009
 * all these trillions, how can we keep hold of the meaning of money?'' - We lack the slightest idea of the significance of the vast sums being pledged, lent, spent or squandered in our name - 5th January 2009
 * US orders'' - British troops are stuck in Afghanistan until Barack Obama recognises the war is unwinnable - 22nd December 2008
 * good won't do. Cameron must become a great prime minister'' - The Tories are likely to win the next election, but the challenges will be even greater than those Thatcher faced in 1979 - 8th December 2008
 * times like this, we should welcome leaders who enjoy managing a crisis'' - History shows that it is far better to be led by a man who relishes a challenge than by one who slumps into despondency - 24th November 2008
 * us inquiries into the banking crisis and Iraq, not Bloody Sunday'' - There is little new to be learned from Derry, 1972. But it is vital that we fully investigate the current decade's major failures - 10th November 2008
 * best hope is for controlled warlordism''- The Taliban are losing the battles but winning the war. The prognosis is wretched, yet we must sustain military aid - 13th October 2008
 * reading of Pepys's diary provides a wonderful corrective'' - If we measure today's woes with those of former eras, we can muster a little courage to endure the credit crunch - 29th September 2008
 * of these bankers are horrible people, but we will still need them'' - For years money moguls were allowed too much power. Now the excesses must be curbed, but without stifling growth - 15th September 2008
 * Ghaffur case exposes just how weak attempts at fairness can be'' - All hirings and firings are arbitrary, but until more minorities are in senior jobs, the perception of discrimination will linger - 1st September 2008
 * Russians yearn for respect in the same way as a street kid with a knife'' - Rubbing Moscow's nose in its historical failures cannot bring peace. The west must revive the art of traditional diplomacy - 18th August 2008
 * with Iran is maddening, but bombing would be a catastrophe'' - US military posturing towards Tehran lacks credibility and, in any case, such action would fail in all its purposes - 4th August 2008
 * of close cooperation between Russia and the west are now dead'' - As BP is discovering, the change of leadership at the Kremlin will not end its autocratic and nationalistic policies - 21st July 2008
 * may seem ineffective, but we need G8 in order to face the daunting future'' - Common action against shared perils like poverty and climate change may not be forthcoming. Still, it is our best hope - 7th July 2008
 * we endorse yob behaviour in role models, we'll become a yob nation'' - Every time TV chef Gordon Ramsay screams obscenities on screen, he kicks civilised values between the legs - 23rd June 2008

archive



Daily Mail / FT et al:
Column remit:

Section:

Role:

Pen-name:

Email:

Website: MailOnline / Max Hastings

Commissioning editor:

Day published: varies

Regularity: varies

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2011

 * lion tamer to reset media relations'' - why governments should be wary of courting journalists - 24th January
 * useful defeat in Cameron’s long campaign'' - The prime minister got the result he needed - 14th January
 * silent prayer for Clegg'' - Why the Tory leader is hoping for Lib Dem victory in Oldham next week - 8th January



Articles: 2010

 * old ruling class is on a high, but can it last?'' - The ruling class is cockahoop but will this mood continue - 13th November
 * military thinking must get cleverer'' - The only good news is that Cameron’s intervention delayed some big decisions - 25th October
 * beware, the squeezed middle is here to stay'' - The rich have always been with us, but for decades society saw its circumstances improve in step. This is no longer so - 16th October
 * skewers Britain’s post-imperial refit'' - Hard to believe Britain should deploy a deterrent against Russia or China - 23rd September
 * is a leader to the manner born'' - In this, his honeymoon phase, we still know little about his real vision - 2nd August
 * salami-slicing defence and cut the behemoths'' - We should cut big budget items in defence and focus on cyber-warfare - 24th July
 * war on greed begins at the dinner table'' - I feel a social duty to wince when I am seated next to a banker - 14th July
 * coup could be Clegg’s undoing'' - The Lib Dem leader is likely to face rising dissent in his party - 15th May
 * 96-year-old mother wanted to end her life. But I still believe assisted suicide is a path to barbarity'' - 8th February
 * comes first for the Conservatives'' - A precipitate commitment to curb spending might even save Brown - 6th February
 * from Chilcot on the Atlantic alliance'' - Tony Blair’s appearance on Friday before the Chilcot inquiry on the Iraq war conformed to expectations. It was an exercise in self-justification, indeed self-righteousness, at one with everything the former UK prime minister has said since 2003 - 1st February (Iraq war inquiry)
 * expect contrition from the man whose deceit cost so many lives and crippled our standing in the world for a generation'' - 29th January
 * It's not the middle classes but social engineering zealots like Ms Harman who are to blame for Britain's inequality gap'' - 29th January
 * this picture of neighbours pulling together in the big freeze fills me with hope'' - 13th January
 * idiots in London let the cod fishers make fools of us'' - 8th January
 * bright new dawn: At the start of the new decade, Britain's mood may be bleak. But there are reasons for optimism'' - 2nd January



Articles: 2009

 * end of Britain’s long weekend'' - Historians are likely to look back on 2009 as the year in which the UK was confronted by truths of lasting significance. The national mood approaching Christmas 2010 and 2011 is likely to be much bleaker than today’s - 21st December
 * damaging silence on Israel'' - Many Muslims fear Israeli encroachment into the West Bank and especially in Jerusalem is no longer reversible, short of war - 26th November
 * is still a looming crisis for Cameron'' - It is unlikely Britain will leave the EU, but highly plausible that Mr Cameron will feel obliged to force a crisis on sovereignty and jurisdiction, of which the outcome is anybody’s guess - 17th November
 * west’s strategic options in Afghanistan'' - Choices are limited - 29th October
 * Nato troops will not make up for Karzai II'' - Combat operations conducted in a political vacuum are worthless. Tactical successes mean nothing unless the Afghan government is sustainable, which is very doubtful - 16th October
 * has few Afghan options'' - The dispatch of more troops is futile without a coherent political strategy, such as only Barack Obama can articulate - 23rd September
 * of fortune cannot remain outside the law'' - Private military contractors are necessary in the world’s trouble-spots but their home governments must accept that they have a responsibility to regulate them - 14th August
 * friends weigh on the west in Afghanistan'' - So much attention focuses on what our troops are or are not achieving. Yet the greatest problem facing the allies in Afghanistan is not military but civil: the absence of Afghan administrators to exploit tactical successes by bringing visible benefits to local communities - 31st July
 * genie of violence needs strong leaders to combat it -  not bitter and blood-stained old men like Gerry Adams'' - To describe a double murder as 'wrong and counterproductive' seems starkly inadequate. Yet those were the words Gerry Adams used yesterday on the BBC's Today programme - 10th March
 * Jobzilla ate your future! Public sector pay and perks - paid for by YOU - will cripple this country for years to come'' - During a week of collapsing markets and soaring job losses, for one privileged section of society it's business as usual - 5th March
 * hope these two know what they're doing - but I fear they're as clueless as the rest of us'' - As Gordon Brown meets Barack Obama in Washington today, the world confronts its gravest crisis since 1945 - 5th March
 * is wrong but why, in the name of sanity, should we allow those who hate us to live here?'' - It is a wicked thing, if Binyam Mohamed has been tortured during his seven years' confinement, latterly at America's Guantanamo Bay, and equally wicked if Britain has been complicit in that torture. But most people in this country, I suspect, felt a stab of justified anger and frustration on Monday as he descended at Northolt from a plane chartered by the Government to bring him 'home' - 25th February
 * Hanging bankers from lamp posts would do no one any good - but this bonus gravy train is just an insult to us all - If the banking moguls assembling in Davos this week continue to pay themselves millions, they should not be surprised to see threatening faces peering at them, and hands fingering ropes - 27th January
 * Obama's moment of truth - The responsibilities are awesome, the expectations so high no mere mortal can ever fill them. But we need to believe in Obama - because if he fails, we will ALL be losers - 16th January
 * No one admires high-achievers more than me - but you'll never get social mobility by passing laws against middle classes - The last refuge of a Labour government free-falling without a parachute - Tony Blair took that - is to restart the class war - 13th January



Articles: 2008

 * not proud of it but human nature DOES sometimes make us all racist'' - 2nd September
 * rivalry is once more a fact of life - and death'' - 16th August
 * I'll always be a happy camper (as long as there's a good hotel nearby!)'' - 5th August

archive



Links:

 * Wikipedia bio
 * New Statesman: profile - Once Fleet Street's most feared editor, he now speaks for the countryside. But can he ever learn to be a gentleman? Max Hastings profiled - Sholto Byrnes, August 2002