Hitch.

Christopher Hitchens has died.

I mentioned him before in my 'Quotes' blog. I think he is the first celebrity hero of mine to die in my lifetime, certainly the first one when I have been more cognitively aware of what it means to mourn.

I am sad about it. I'm sad he won't be around to fight against religion or to surprise me with his views.

When I logged onto BBC News, the most read story was about Amy Pond leaving Dr Who next year. Hitch's death was 7th on the most read. That made me sad too.

Reports often incorrectly label him as 'right-wing', mainly just because he supported the Iraq War. Effectively though his political thoughts didn't really work in wings. He was merely taking atheism to its logical conclusion.

Against political correctness, it wasn't Iraq that he felt needed opposing, but rather Islam itself. That was the heart of his argument. All religion needed opposition to expose it.

I don't know what I'm going to do. Buy all his books I haven't read, I guess.