Mr Hitchens asserts in this short squib that he felt compelled to omit a great deal of discreditable material and confined himself "to the identifiable crimes that should be placed on a proper bill of indictment".
But note that in the Guardian's poll, 36% of those surveyed said that homosexuality was not morally acceptable, and 33% that being gay was not compatible with a cabinet job.And as for the sensitivity of the press, the tabloids are known to be digging around in Mr Brown's past, looking for discreditable episodes.
The pregnant, colloquial style of Strindberg's early novels and, especially, of his short stories, brought about a long-overdue regeneration of Swedish prose style, and The Son of a Servant gave perhaps the strongest impulse since Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions to the publication of discreditable self-revelations.
His indecision was not discreditable, though his criticism of Pompey's strategy was inexpert.
The succession story of King David, for example, does not spare details of his discreditable actions.
It was discreditable to him, and his self-justifying letters must be viewed with caution.
In the Vienna of the 1790s, music had become more and more the favourite pastime of a cultured aristocracy, for whom politics under the reactionary emperor Francis II were now discreditable and dangerous and who had, moreover, never shown a like appreciation of any of the other fine arts.
I genuinely hope that the next time a politician is doorstepped with some marginally discreditable episode from his or her past – one which obviously creates no real problem for their ability to do their current job – they have the nerve to reply as she did.
Until the issue of sentencing is tackled – particularly addressing those short sentences that so often lead to re-offending – Britain's prisons will remain overcrowded, a discreditable merry-go-round of recidivism, wasted money and blighted lives.
It's also important that the full facts are brought to light, culpability and discreditable conduct exposed and suspicion of deliberate wrongdoing is allayed," said Louise Hunt, senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull.
As if he suspected her of deriving from this death — or from their proximity to this death — a feeling that was discreditable and self-centered.
