“I must have been one of the least surprised people on earth on September 11. I felt very braced for that. I knew something like that was going to come.”

British journalist and polemicist of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, he was renowned for his sharp, provocative essays on politics, literature, and culture. His work blended rigorous analysis with a combative wit, often challenging ideological dogma and defending free speech and secularism.