A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible. But since, in practice, no one is infallible, it is frequently necessary to rearrange past events in order to show that this or that mistake was not made, or that this or that imaginary triumph actually happened.

The Thought Police are those who suppress all dissenting opinion. He also often stayed at the homes of Ruth Pitter and Richard Rees where he could "change" for his sporadic tramping expeditions. He received electrotherapy treatment and was declared medically unfit for service.

In 2008 The Times ranked him second on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Considered perhaps the 20th century's best chronicler of English culture Orwell wrote literary criticism poetry fiction and polemical journalism. Orwell's work continues to influence popular and political culture and the term Orwellian — descriptive of totalitarian or authoritarian social practices — has entered the language together with several of his neologisms including Cold War doublethink thoughtcrime Big Brother and thought police.