PETER HITCHENS: I am no friend of Julian Assange. But I celebrate him winning his liberty after long cruel years in a British prison

Mean and narrow minds quickly sought to moan today about the release of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from his long cruel years in his Belmarsh dungeon.

That is only reasonable, given the huge amounts of official time and money this country has devoted to making his existence a misery.

As the Wikileaks founder began his journey towards a free life in Australia, joy was not as universal as you might have expected. Lord Hague spoke for the establishment, delivering his verdict on Times Radio this morning.

Hague, whom I remember long ago...