"But rhetoric is not the preserve of politicians, and sometimes the best of it comes from what we might call the professional margins: not the government, still less the lackey columnists or think-tank CV-padders, but the denizens of what used to be known as Grub Street. Smartypants hacks, in other words, masters of clever polemic about the daily press of events." Mark Kingwell on Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal and Christopher Hitchens. The Babu swears the idea of calling them the Three Stooges never even crossed his mind. More on Hitch.