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Vlad..you're living in a Liberal fantasy mate. A great majority of the British people want this mass immigration/woke rubbish stopped. They want it STOPPED, they want it stopped dead, and they want it stopped NOW!. And, I'm sorry; what "problem"? - you mean just how fast Farage can eradicate Liberals from the British establishment/Civil Service/Acedemia/Media? That's a problem, well, a challenge; because there are just many of them dug in so deep it will take monumental effort to weed them all out. But it has to be done.
@@GeorgeGeorgeOnly They don't have to. Musk is a true believer in his own insane delusional world views. He's been so captured by his own X algorithm that he fully lives in an alternate, made up reality that does not really exist. Because of that, he's extremely deluded and paranoid.
@@GeorgeGeorgeOnly I'm fairly certain that the whole MAGA movement intends to go the way of Putin and United Russia. That's their blueprint. It appeals to Trump because someone like Xi or Putin is as close to a deity as anyone can be; they are immune from public prosecution, they have the power of life and death, they have absolute unmitigated control over their nation. Why wouldn't Trump want that? This is a man who cares about only himself and his ego and who absolutely hates being challenged... no doubt he wants what Xi and Putin have and I suspect Putin has been whispering in Trump's ear about how great it is.... "Oh Donald, I'm so sorry to hear about all these legal troubles you're having. I wish I could say I know how you feel but I never had these kinds of problems in my country because I abolished independent judiciary. Oh Donald, how awful those free media outlets are saying all those mean things about you. I wish I could say I know how you feel but I removed all the free media in my country so I don't have that problem."
Musk should be careful with trying to bring about the Russian way of things. In our part of the world oligarchs still retire in peace, in Russia and countries like that they often get retired through gravity. Not sure he'll like the world he's trying to bring about.
@@jbcola74 how bad it is is kinda in the eye of the beholder imo. but yeah, i also don't see this going in a direction that will turn out well for anybody long term...
You’re being too considerate. Musk is only partly ignorant of his own mediocrity, the thing is that he’s also aware of his lies and distortions of reality, and forwards them regardless, out of malice. Don’t believe that any “post truth” politicians are naive.
What if the issue is bigger than democracy? What if the brutal truth is that there are simply too many human beings on the planet, from a purely ecological point of view? As I get older, I see more and more the limits of rationality to guide events. I can't see myself believing in an actual old man in the sky puppeteering us to entertain himself. But I can see a certain hardwired biological imperative overriding our ideas about impeccable logic.
@@JackRMason I think so too. The core issue is overshoot. We can only have nice things like religious freedom, democracy and human rights when there is an abundance of resources. High EROEI fossil fuels drying up and climate change has put a stop to our progressive experiment. The last century was very atypical for human history. It's been named the carbon pulse, and that pulse is now over. I fear that we're all heading in the direction of resource wars, oligarchs/warlords, fascism. The West is shrinking.
@@ImperialDiecast I think you missed the point--it doesn't matter what anyone thinks. It's not about thinking. It's about there simply being too many people.
@@JusufBideovic Indeed, we need the liberal democratic political parties imagine further - to change peoples views and minds, or else we will fall into a far right populist continent (including the the UK).
@@JusufBideovic yep, nederland moet ook waakzaam zijn, de grootste partij heeft al geprobeerd het parlement buiten te sluiten (zie noodwet), heel slecht voor de bestuurbaarheid van het land.
I can tell you this about Farage - when Trump started his political journey, in 2015, no one took it serious, even him. And he just received 77 million votes.
And the bourgeois commentariat helped them get there by swooning for them both. Farage was massively boosted after the 2009 crash when his party was on a similar level to The Greens. Now they and the Greens have a similar number of MPs, the LibDems have many more. Commentariat never stops going on about him, and barely starts with the others. Proposing a reactionary and fake alternative when the establishment is in crisis is a standard bourgeois move since the dawn of fascism. It writes itself and the shot-munchers swallow it whole. Foreign elites will fund politicians who say they oppose foreign elites and millions won’t blink an eye.
What is Musk's interest? Why now? He has never been a citizen of our nation and has never had a personal fascination with the UK until recently. But suddenly, in his 50s, he's all concerned about our freedom (particularly in ways that limit his ability to use X as his personal outlet) and trying to put his finger on the scale. It's hard to see this as anything more than a self-serving move that's part of a business strategy. It's like if an itinerant "doctor" suddenly showed up at my door professing deep concern about my health. I'd wonder why he is trying to get me to take his medicine.
That's true, but I think -- as an American-- that UK voters are probably like US voters, who don't care about any of that. They don't see politics as capable of producing anything positive. It's just a game of punishing somebody. And to that extent, they see Musk as a vehicle for punishing the insincere, inauthentic bureaucrats that do nothing but make life difficult for them.
@@DavidJBurbridge it is about the global of the Most Wealthy to kill democracy wherever it exists. Because only democratic governments can say, “No” to them. Democracy is the only check on their power & can legally take their wealth via taxes.
For me, it feels like an ego trip. Musk is a terrifyingly self-centred man, with an insatiable desire to be on top, to be the best, and to be in control. He won't be happy until... ever. He's the world's richest man, and it's just not enough for him. Nothing ever will be. The moment he's achieved one thing, he'll be going after something else.
What a brilliant and intelligent and informative video, dear professor. You help me so much on making intelligible to friends and family the caveats democracy are facing in these crazy times! Thank you so much! Lots of love from the beautiful techno-banana republic of Brazil 🇧🇷
I always appreciate it when Vlad offers advice on how to deal with these post-truth populist threats but in my experience they're ineffectual for the intended demographic. There's simply no reasonable discourse to be had if people are no longer tethered to reality. The very act of honest discourse is unbearable and toxic for these people.
I'm just dumbfounded Farage has any credibility left with the masses. No one did more to bring about Brexit than he did, and the majority agrees it has been a bad decision. So why believe him now?
I think the US and UK voters may have some important similarities in this regard. Speaking as an American, I think US voters don't care about any of that. They've given up on the potential for politics to achieve anything positive ages ago. All they want is a chance to punish the bloodless, time-serving bureaucrats who brought the country to this state in the first place. Sure, Farage is no more sincere than them, but you can't say that he is exactly 'bloodless', or a part of the traditional power structure.
He had nothing to do with the actual process of Brexit, he just campaigned for Leave, disappeared for a few years while the Tories destroyed themselves over it, and his fans have doubled down saying Brexit would have been great if only we weren't betrayed by remainers who didn't believe hard enough.
If the threat of a Putin>Trump>Musk>Farage led UK does not lead to an independent Scotland, then frankly I am not capable of imagining a kind of threat that would. Farage is LOATHED in much of Scotland - particularly the urban areas at least. Where he comes across as an ideological child of the still hated Thatcher. Even if he does not talk about the same things that she did - he FEELS like he comes from the same species.
I wish i could take Musk less seriously, but his immense wealth makes it impossible as there are countrys that have less revenue than him... what a nerd, and in his case i actully mean that as an insult.
Thank you, Vlad, for talking to us. Hope, the chair will not lead to rebound. All the best for your health. Lots of love to you and to the Beautiful Community. 🤗
Vlad you seem to feel better and stronger hope it's so at least! Thank you very much for taking your time, this should be pointed out for sure. The last words about Musk though so on point, it was clear a while ago that he doesn't understand anything in russian history or politics either but he seems to believe that he knows about everything better than anyone, very much like Trump btw, this is dangerous cause such unintelligent people can be easily manipulated :(
I have been watching your videos for some time now and becoming increasingly impressed with them. Your analysis of the disengagement many ordinary people feel with the political process is spot on. I have many times felt that if the British public spent as much effort on politics as they do on football or fashion. Then most of the politicians over my lifetime, at least, would have been out on their ear.
Interestingly enough, "Doge" is, I kid you not, is a political position, meaning the Head of the Republic of Venice, in the Medieval and Early Renaissance times. I think they're elected by fellow nobles.
Further down in the comments, I saw technocrats equated with tech bosses, so we definitely need a definition. I thought Vlad was shooting at any attempt to model the likely effects of a mix of policy tweaks whether to reduce carbon emissions, immigration or the budget deficit. Without magical thinking these problems can only be solved at a cost to what is available on the kitchen table and unless the general public offer informed consent to the actual best estimate cost and effect of such policies then democratic legitimacy will continue to decline. To some extent the technocratic language is going to have to nibble away at the kitchen table discourse. How else are you going to explain that there are various external scenarios, such as tariffs and foreign endorsement of green transition and wars, that can change forecasts and necessitate further policy changes?
You could say technocratic speech is speech by experts using expert jargon. This speech is fine if it is used when talking to other experts but runs into some problems when you use it with the average person Political experts such as policy writers, lifelong politicians, lobbyists, etc. can use this jargonistic speech between themselves, but when used for the average voter you have a disconnect, it exacerbates the 'opaqueness' the average voter feels to politics.
@@desolatemirror3006 you are probably right, but where is the threshold between everyday speech and technocratic speech? Also, do all the experts fully understand the terms that they are using? Thinking of the topic of tariffs in the recent US elections, which are neither a fee paid by foreign exporters nor a sales tax, I was puzzled by the failure of the press to explain what tariffs actually are and what effects they are likely to have. Just deeming tariffs a technocratic term and coming up with invalid analogies, as both parties actually did, seems to me to promote the very opaqueness that avoiding technocratic speech is supposed to reduce.
Technocracy is thinking that things will be solved if you put smart enough people at the top to work it all out for you. Social problems are just a math problem that's too hard to fix for most elected officials.
Thank you. Though depressing i found this talk enlightening and positive. Sometimes if i accidentally hear Farage or Trump on the radio i turn to you to disinfect my confused mind of their rhetoric.
@bluetoad2668 it makes me wonder, about farage. A big chunk of his platform, leaving the controversial stuff aside, had always been independence. How is supplicating himself to America First Trump and a South African billionaire help him make his case? And where does the rupert murdoch fit in? Brexit was an act self harm borne from often very toxic rhetoric, achieved by a very small margin that's prety much gone now. And that was the heyday of divisive politics, aren't people now slowly realizing that Farage is ultimately all about Farage?
I loved those long format videos with images where you narrated in the background. You have a very calming voice. If you ever fancy making anymore of those types of videos about historical periods in Europe and Russia.. that would be nice
Thank you for a very interesting video! There's a lot to think about in there. I agree with you that my country has similar problems to the UK. The names and organizations are different, but there's the same kind of populist frustrations underneath, and the same apparent cluelessness by the political parties. All the Western democracies seem to be going through the same thing right now. The US was just the first. But I'd like to focus on one thing you talked about that I don't understand. You said that Prime Minister Starmer and his Labour Party (and by implication similar politicians in other nations) needs "to break the mold of his technocratic self understanding." I think you mean he has to learn how to communicate with the people of the UK without sounding like a technocrat, to make it more likely they'll listen to him. But I'm not sure what this would mean. Would that mean focusing less on economic or free market solutions and talking more about the things people are feeling? Trump is always talking about how horrible things are now, and how he's going to fix everything. He almost never talks about solutions, but spends a lot of time telling people that he understands what they're feeling and feels it too. Is that what Starmer would need to do?
I don't know much about UK politics but here in Australia an embittered billionaire poured the equivalent of £60 million into his party and won one seat. In the US Dems had much more money and lost. I'm not sure money helps, greater presence can mobilise people to not vote for those with deep pockets who bombard voters.
In Germany the constitution is written down, everybody who wants can go and read it. In the UK, the constitution is NOT written down. Makes it both harder to implement and easier to make stuff up.
Hi Vlad, thanks for that piece - interesting in regards to the state of English/British politics but going much further and concretising on how to answer post-truth politics. Other question: Can you point out some other content creators/ analysts you would recommend to watch? I know you like Anders Nielsen and Mark Galeotti regarding the russian war against Ukraine. Anyone else you want to recommend?
Looking Good Vlad.Good points. It seems that Musk sees himself as a citizen of the world,so he wouldn't think of it as foreign interference. Also Labor needs to learn from the Democratic Party (US) failure and the style and appeal of Bernie Sanders, who knows the language of the average voter or the iconoclast.
@@rachelatwood9555 Before he bought twitter. More or less. He literally went pearshaped after that. I'm a geophysicist and I was gung ho on the Mars thing, but this stuff he's doing now is interfering in other people's lives.
you got to enjoy the good years, imagine growing up in this mess. state pensions will be removed in time, hopefully all the old people will be gone or powerless by then.
If only Reform was actually a political party with voting members. However it is a limited company that is controlled from the top and the “members” have no vote over policy or in candidate selection.
This seems not to be a problem in populist authoritarian/anti-democratic...eee.. organisations. This same modus operandi applies for the Fidesz of Hungary, the Georgian Dream, to have only these two examples spontaneously. Probably also goes for russia, not well informed enough.
Something similar with the Dutch PVV, the "party" of Geert Wilders (you may have heard of him). Political parties in the Netherlands must be associations, to promote some measure of internal democracy. But this association has only two members: Wilders himself, and his foundation of which he is the only board member. And new membership registration is closed. So no one gets a say except the boss himself. It's as if all these populist rightwingers follow the same instruction manual on how to gather and consolidate power. I don't think it's a wild conspiracy theory, seeing that they do communicate extensively. Wilders loves travelling to Hungary, Israel etc.
Reform UK are not a political party, they are a plc, this is why they publish a contract and not a manifesto. This also means they would have to go through several admin hoops before bidding for power.
Galbraith talked about the technostructure in the sixties I think and James Burnham’s “the managerial revolution “ was published in 1942. This is a longstanding trend
The million dolar question is : is there a way to fix the issues the people have without creating more problems that will make them more angry. Because i dont see how you fix those things without taxing more( the problem labour have with balancing the budget ),and adrressing demografic decline without doing the same.
If I lose my faith in Labour, I haven't lost my marbles. Let Reform bring out a fully costed manifesto before they are a credible alternative. As soon as I think privately educated millionaire former bankers can solve Britain's issues I'll let you know.
Doesn't the UK have somewhat reasonable laws around monetary contributions to politics, at least compared to the US? Or are they toothless and full of loopholes enough that even someone with the subtlety and eye for detail of Elon Musk can get around them? Or will he just break campaign finance law out in the open with no consequences?
For decades the UK politicians have looked for support from media. Musk and X is just an extension of this. We should be talking about the press's involvement in politics in general. Also. The UK people are angry about illegal immigration. Most are fine with legal migration.
I have more experience integrating immigrants than most. It is very hard and tasking, and it is not a question of liking cuisine, that is a caricature of the existential challenge in traversing cultures. You're writing off the agency of Farage's voters Vlad. It is not their inexperience or opacity with institutions which lead them to vote against immigration. It is likely their visceral existential confrontations with failing integration, and seeing through that institutions have no plan, and are counting immigrants as numbers for cheap labour, and not the vaunted humanist's holy grails on slender feet.
@@mat3714 Good one. I respect Vlad's core message of civility and the proper value of institutions, but I do not fool myself that holding back criticism of a public intellectual is doing any favours! I appreciate the forum is a bit dampened by Vlad's very sad misfortunes in health, but that doesn't mean he can't take it like a philosopher!
@@tiaretsnyheter6026 -A. This was directed at you....not vlad. -B. This isn't about having a plan or integration, this is a simple recurring human réflexe. Scapegoating and good old intolerance. People don't care about plans, they don't even follow politics, they check headlines and convolve their feelings into a simple magical solution that begs to be exploited. -C. We don't need cheap labor, we need labor and replacement levels or everything we experience right now will get much worse and it might already be unavoidable at this point.
Theres an unspoken rule that in a democracy, voters are blameless and can never be wrong. If they vote for horrible policies that screw them over, it is always the opposition party's fault for failing to convince them and failing to stop it
@@thesenate1844 I think I see what you're writing: As "In marketing, don't blame the customer", and "In public relations, don't blame the public". Then Vlad's recently said, it's our job to denounce unspoken rules like such, and not treat politics as a consumer good?
To invert a phrase, no representation without taxation. As UK law currently stands, Musk could only direct a company contribution from the division of Twitter incorporated in the UK, whose profits run at about £8.5M... way off the speculated $100M
@@GeorgeGeorgeOnly We can only wait and see. At least any contribution will be highly visible, and as Vlad suggests, its effect may be marginal, for an already popular party. (Under first past the post, ‘marginal’ can be ‘decisive’.) Even if the short-term political battle is decided unfairly, though, IMO, it’s more important to hold steady, for the long-term constitutional war.
As someone who is helping to pay an elderly relatives heating bill, I cannot see any way forward with a Labour government. Not saying Reform is the answer but neither labour nor conservatives are an option either.
@Vlad Vexler: What do you think of this seemingly global lurch to the right one can’t but help notice everywhere. Not just governments, but electorates in various countries. Would love to hear your thoughts. Was there no way to avoid this global outcome? Thx, in advance.
Historically it is a kind of return to normal in part, certainly in Europe. It is also about liberalism giving up on the welfare state and on emancipatory politics in the second part of the 20th C. It is of course also the 4 causes of distrust I often discuss. And much more. We shall talk about this in greater depth.
Musk can provide data from X to identify the grouping of the population and the correct marketing to apply to each group, the targeting advertising to each group dependent on that groups concerns will give Reform a high probability of performing well in any election, they can also feed the dissatisfaction of supporters of other parties to reduce their vote. This can be done without breaking any election rules as reform could pay a token amount for the service.
Agree. Remember how Cambridge Analytica used Facebook's release of customer analytics to more effectively target customers' vote. Jared was spearheading that psychological profiling used in targeted ads, Trump 2016 campaign. Musk has other influencers tout his abilities to underpin his "genius" at everything. And Musk participates in Bro culture forums, then craps on "establishment" on X... to aid Trump and, now, Farage.
The biggest issue I have with what's happening, is the fact that that the state isn't contesting foreign powers direct political influence. Like the UK is a in a genuine position, paying enough dollars, MP would vote to dissolve the state to whomever paid enough. And people are confused why people vote for "ultra nationalists". Yes, a lot of ultras are in the pocket of foreign powers , but those are considerably likely to be shot.
Neither did the USA Obama whimpered about it then the GoP politicized it and they stopped saying anything. UK and USA are both just big auction houses where all is for sale to the highest bidder-- the people, the state, public resources, government functions... absolutely everything.
@@RaedanWulfe perhaps it's time to release Idiocracy II. I don't know what Luke Wilson is up to, but Maya Rudolph's workload is a lot lighter than she (and many of us) hoped it would be a couple of months ago
This may be the first time Vlad has fully engaged on the economic causes of democratic decline. It reminds me of David Gray, who similarly, forecasts the inevitable western decline, was asked if taxes were realigned to "New Deal" levels, if this would change the inevitable, he said, of course, but that is impossible.... Increasing taxes is more difficult than allowing dictatorship...sad😢
I can’t believe Farage would allow that, especially since he is on record multiple times saying “We must keep overseas billionaire money out of UK politics” If he accepted $100 million, from an overseas billionaire that would make him a hypocrite …we all know politicians are not hypocrites! 😊
Thank you for your political and philosophical insights. It gives me an anchor in the storm of the Ukraine war. You look very strong today. May you receive greater improvement every day.
No one would give a toss about immigration, woke, the EU etc if people felt they were getting richer, their standard of living was improving and the social contract wasn’t broken. By which I mean they were getting the services and infrastructure their taxes were paying for.
Calling it "post truth" is pretty much legitimizing dishonesty. Why can't we call out politicians as inveterate liars if they are so? Enough with the kid gloves.
My first thought was what are the clowns planning to do next? Are we not already a circus. Doesn't matter if the circus is led by technocratic management, the adults in the room, more clowns, or clowns with different stripes. It still is a circus with punch and judy rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.
A positive start but then you carefully tread around the issue of what should be done about immigration. Farage is not post truth, he's straight to the point. A point you avoid.
The biggest problem I see is if Farage is allowed to accept 100M USD then this starts a political funding arms race, where we end up like the US where you need an enormous amount of money to compete in elections. We will end up with a 2 party system because there will not be sufficient donors to support anything more. The UK economy is not big enough to have that many big donors so inevitably parties that solicit money from foreign donors from places like the US China and middle east will dominate and so we will end up like the US with a political system entirely captured by corporate interests.
Politicians need to be honest with the public that falling birth rates necessitates rising immigration to prevent an aging population from bankrupting the country. They also need to realize the public would be more accepting of higher migration if infrastructure and housing construction kept pace and uninvited arrivals promptly deported. The dialogue around immigration lacks nuance, and both sides are guilty of telling half a story. Talk to the public like adults and present trade offs to them.
I wouldn't go there. That argument is not likely to be received the way you think it will. These people are going to hear about a worker shortage and wonder why they can't get a job that pays a living wage. It just doesn't pass the smell test. I know you could cite like a million individually small qualifications that support the consistency of your position with market forces, but really, they all add up to immigration subsidizing billionaire lifestyles at their personal expense. I'm not saying that you don't have a point, at least with regard to certain specific sectors--like medicine, where certain countries with high rates of out migration subsidize education, and therefore produce a comparative advantage for its natives. I'm just saying the situation is way more complicated than you're portraying, and I don't think you want to lead with complexity in these highly charged debates.
@JackRMason These debates are always complex and need simplifying. I'd urge you to look at the long-term impacts of a birth rate below 1.5. It's far worse than climate change. This is the elephant in the room that hasn't been communicated to the public.
@@noonecaresaboutgoogle3219 I think you missed my point. You can be right, or you can be effective. That's your choice. Because I promise you absolutely nobody cares about what you are talking about, even if they should. I promise you.
Convincing people to have kids to save the very economy that is screwing them over? I cant see that going well. We'll have to see how South Korea does, bad as the UK is, it has nothing on them
Brilliant to hear you talk in more detail about UK politics, which is something I’ve been wanting you to go over in a long time. As a UK Citizen myself I recognise all of what you describe and agree with your point of view. However, while I appreciate this was not the direct point of this video, what I feel we need to hear more from you about is how (especially in the UK, but elsewhere too) we regain more responsible and trustworthy journalism and trust in our media (to scrutinise and hold politicians to account - ie system of checks and balances), when the organisations they work for are either owned by billionaires, or otherwise tarnished with distrust and political bias. The unashamed admissions that were made by those who no longer had to play along with the Conservatives, when their near electoral annihilation looked on the cards, and like rats jumping ship how they now needed to cosy up to their new ‘masters’ was frankly revolting and revealing of the reality how ‘client media’ works here 🤮 This is especially important in a world where more and more people get their diet of ‘news facts’ from non-journalistic sources on social media, both eroding the platform for responsible journalists and mainstream media, and enabling irresponsible and malign forces to peddle lies and misinformation. That also brings into focus the importance of the scandal going on around the sale of part of one of the last remaining self-claimed ‘independent’ newspapers to a dodgy new owner, who has no good reason to own (probably several bad ones though) or knowledge of how to run a media organisation. Point is politics and media are in reality inseparable, and we cannot rebuild trust in democracy without balanced, independent and responsible media that allow proper journalists to do their job with integrity. I know that’s an idealistic view that we’ve never completely had in reality, but in a world of ever shorter attention spans, deluged by crap on social media, it’s something we desperately need 🤞❤
Much needed level headed assessment of the Uk situation. I am both repulsed by Farage’s schtick but also have come to quietly tolerate/respect the widespread sentiment of disenfranchisement that has upturned our politics. This anger hasn’t appeared as if by magic. We need to stop performing high handed morality and get real. A new discourse is needed. Until the centre or left find one, Farage gets the pitch to himself.
@nigelgarrett7970 1) politics from both Left and Right has failed to make a positive difference to average people’s lives for some time. 2) as Vlad has said more eloquently than I, the failure to deliver in practical terms while carrying on riding the neoliberal wave of laissez faire economics and “doing transnational” deals at v high levels has compounded the sense of politicians being in it for themselves, drifting ever further from everyday concerns. It’s been a perfect storm for voter alienation. Then … enter Farage … he’s going to mop up. Unless professional politicians raise their game, the con man will win.
@@nigelgarrett7970 the cause is the notion that there is a class of people who think they know better. This isn't the 1950s. That's not appropriate in a democracy.
@@nigelgarrett7970 Left and Right alike have demonstrably failed to make a positive difference to people’s lives. And at the same time as offering precious little by way of opportunity they have blithely ignored people’s concerns. Ignore voters at your peril…
Not sure why but this Musk-Farage news just tipped me over into depression. Will there be even 1 responsible person to stop an outright purchasing of British politics by a wealthy oligarch. I know I shouldn't but I'm overcome by the desire to disintegrate and disappear, or at the very least check out.
Nigel Farage.... getting into power.... is a scary thought 😭 I suppose the term "Correlation does not equal causation" comes to mind when talking about if Farage is in the pocket of the Kremlin. The fact that he recently spewed Kremlin slopaganda isn't evidence enough that he's being made to do it. 🙃
I don’t think too many people mind if your street in East London is populated entirely by Syrians Vlad; we’ve become used to London being this way. People are nervous about their small market towns and villages in the shires changing beyond recognition.
It’s not Reform party alone who use immigration as leverage with disengaged voters, Conservative and Labour also play the same card. The disengagement is the disconnect with what they all say and the reality (since their beloved Brexit immigration has gone up). Fauxrage leaning against the end of the bar whispering in the ear of the common man like a 1940’s black marketeer spiv is better at making the bridge. Immigration is a not the biggest issue of our time, but that doesn’t matter in the travesty theatre of our time.
When Political parties run an election campaign, can we setup a limit for all parties that can be spent, that is checked fervently by a Independent institution during the campaign, and monitored during the term. Political Parties should not win based on how much money they are supported with but upon their policies.
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Vlad..you're living in a Liberal fantasy mate. A great majority of the British people want this mass immigration/woke rubbish stopped. They want it STOPPED, they want it stopped dead, and they want it stopped NOW!. And, I'm sorry; what "problem"? - you mean just how fast Farage can eradicate Liberals from the British establishment/Civil Service/Acedemia/Media? That's a problem, well, a challenge; because there are just many of them dug in so deep it will take monumental effort to weed them all out. But it has to be done.
Check what they say about him on led by donkeys 😅😅😅
3:15 In this way Musk and his ilk have learned from modern Russian destabilization techniques
Of course. It's probably his Russian friends who have persuaded him to do it.
@@GeorgeGeorgeOnly They don't have to. Musk is a true believer in his own insane delusional world views. He's been so captured by his own X algorithm that he fully lives in an alternate, made up reality that does not really exist. Because of that, he's extremely deluded and paranoid.
@@GeorgeGeorgeOnly And also malignant.
Chicken first or egg?
@@GeorgeGeorgeOnly I'm fairly certain that the whole MAGA movement intends to go the way of Putin and United Russia. That's their blueprint. It appeals to Trump because someone like Xi or Putin is as close to a deity as anyone can be; they are immune from public prosecution, they have the power of life and death, they have absolute unmitigated control over their nation. Why wouldn't Trump want that? This is a man who cares about only himself and his ego and who absolutely hates being challenged... no doubt he wants what Xi and Putin have and I suspect Putin has been whispering in Trump's ear about how great it is....
"Oh Donald, I'm so sorry to hear about all these legal troubles you're having. I wish I could say I know how you feel but I never had these kinds of problems in my country because I abolished independent judiciary. Oh Donald, how awful those free media outlets are saying all those mean things about you. I wish I could say I know how you feel but I removed all the free media in my country so I don't have that problem."
Man, you're sounding SO much stronger! Whatever you're doing, it's working!
Musk should be careful with trying to bring about the Russian way of things. In our part of the world oligarchs still retire in peace, in Russia and countries like that they often get retired through gravity. Not sure he'll like the world he's trying to bring about.
He believes the Tech Bros can do it better.
However, Black Swans will always be with us.
@@patrickdonohue530 the arrogance of people like musk is going to get us all shittified if we're not careful
with united health, it seems to start in the US too, really bad evolution
@@jbcola74 how bad it is is kinda in the eye of the beholder imo. but yeah, i also don't see this going in a direction that will turn out well for anybody long term...
@@patrickdonohue530your comment is doubly troubling as I go past a black swan in Perth Australia.
Musk has a God complex in its unbothered form. He thinks he knows best in everything.
That sounds like Trump. Birds of a feather...
You’re being too considerate. Musk is only partly ignorant of his own mediocrity, the thing is that he’s also aware of his lies and distortions of reality, and forwards them regardless, out of malice. Don’t believe that any “post truth” politicians are naive.
Or every socialist ideologue that draws breath
apartheid epigenetics have done their job. complex trauma, sociopathy, a touch of psychopathy, and some mazochism, etc etc. they are all the same!
@@0nFoot Turkeys of a feather. ;)
Thank you for addressing this, Vlad.
Tackling democratic decline will be a really uncomfortable process for lot of people who are very happy with the current state. I hope it can be done.
What if the issue is bigger than democracy? What if the brutal truth is that there are simply too many human beings on the planet, from a purely ecological point of view? As I get older, I see more and more the limits of rationality to guide events. I can't see myself believing in an actual old man in the sky puppeteering us to entertain himself. But I can see a certain hardwired biological imperative overriding our ideas about impeccable logic.
@@JackRMason I think so too. The core issue is overshoot. We can only have nice things like religious freedom, democracy and human rights when there is an abundance of resources. High EROEI fossil fuels drying up and climate change has put a stop to our progressive experiment. The last century was very atypical for human history. It's been named the carbon pulse, and that pulse is now over. I fear that we're all heading in the direction of resource wars, oligarchs/warlords, fascism. The West is shrinking.
@@JackRMason if india can deal with too many people per sq km while keeping the peace, then we have no right to even think of this topic.
@@ImperialDiecast I think you missed the point--it doesn't matter what anyone thinks. It's not about thinking. It's about there simply being too many people.
@@JackRMason well, consisting the birth rate issues in several countries(including Russia and China), that may self correct
Hello from Amsterdam Vlad, I am glad to follow you and how can enlighten us. Thank you 🙏
wel deprimerend om te kijken :P
@@Zonaskiosk1 grateful to have you.
@@JusufBideovic Indeed, we need the liberal democratic political parties imagine further - to change peoples views and minds, or else we will fall into a far right populist continent (including the the UK).
@@JusufBideovic yep, nederland moet ook waakzaam zijn, de grootste partij heeft al geprobeerd het parlement buiten te sluiten (zie noodwet), heel slecht voor de bestuurbaarheid van het land.
I can tell you this about Farage - when Trump started his political journey, in 2015, no one took it serious, even him. And he just received 77 million votes.
And the bourgeois commentariat helped them get there by swooning for them both.
Farage was massively boosted after the 2009 crash when his party was on a similar level to The Greens.
Now they and the Greens have a similar number of MPs, the LibDems have many more.
Commentariat never stops going on about him, and barely starts with the others.
Proposing a reactionary and fake alternative when the establishment is in crisis is a standard bourgeois move since the dawn of fascism.
It writes itself and the shot-munchers swallow it whole.
Foreign elites will fund politicians who say they oppose foreign elites and millions won’t blink an eye.
@@stevendurrant1724Basically Musk is everything the right claim George Soros is.
Farage has been in politics since the early 90s.
And the bellend doesn’t even take himself seriously
Damn, I thought Farage was politically dead after time has shown that Brexit was a disaster for UK economy...
Nigel Faraj is even worse than Trump in my opinion.
It doesn't take a genius, you know
My 15 month old daughter says he is a racist.
What is Musk's interest? Why now? He has never been a citizen of our nation and has never had a personal fascination with the UK until recently. But suddenly, in his 50s, he's all concerned about our freedom (particularly in ways that limit his ability to use X as his personal outlet) and trying to put his finger on the scale. It's hard to see this as anything more than a self-serving move that's part of a business strategy. It's like if an itinerant "doctor" suddenly showed up at my door professing deep concern about my health. I'd wonder why he is trying to get me to take his medicine.
That's true, but I think -- as an American-- that UK voters are probably like US voters, who don't care about any of that. They don't see politics as capable of producing anything positive. It's just a game of punishing somebody. And to that extent, they see Musk as a vehicle for punishing the insincere, inauthentic bureaucrats that do nothing but make life difficult for them.
@@DavidJBurbridge it is about the global of the Most Wealthy to kill democracy wherever it exists.
Because only democratic governments can say, “No” to them.
Democracy is the only check on their power & can legally take their wealth via taxes.
Totally agree. I posted something similar yesterday on Vlad's channel, but it has been wiped and I wonder why.
It's all about money,money, money...lots stashed in offshore accounts...Check it out!
For me, it feels like an ego trip. Musk is a terrifyingly self-centred man, with an insatiable desire to be on top, to be the best, and to be in control. He won't be happy until... ever. He's the world's richest man, and it's just not enough for him. Nothing ever will be. The moment he's achieved one thing, he'll be going after something else.
“Ideologically bloated emanation of the very cause…” marvellous. Thank you.
Yes!!!
What a brilliant and intelligent and informative video, dear professor.
You help me so much on making intelligible to friends and family the caveats democracy are facing in these crazy times!
Thank you so much!
Lots of love from the beautiful techno-banana republic of Brazil 🇧🇷
I always appreciate it when Vlad offers advice on how to deal with these post-truth populist threats but in my experience they're ineffectual for the intended demographic. There's simply no reasonable discourse to be had if people are no longer tethered to reality. The very act of honest discourse is unbearable and toxic for these people.
They are the mob of the French revolution.
what do YOU think should / could be done about expressing or engaging on these issues- any good ideas?
Many who are tethered to reality are his audience, but they won't act as they want this outcome. Who are they? White liberals
musk also endorsed AfD. absolutely insane
I'm just dumbfounded Farage has any credibility left with the masses. No one did more to bring about Brexit than he did, and the majority agrees it has been a bad decision. So why believe him now?
I think the US and UK voters may have some important similarities in this regard. Speaking as an American, I think US voters don't care about any of that. They've given up on the potential for politics to achieve anything positive ages ago. All they want is a chance to punish the bloodless, time-serving bureaucrats who brought the country to this state in the first place. Sure, Farage is no more sincere than them, but you can't say that he is exactly 'bloodless', or a part of the traditional power structure.
He had nothing to do with the actual process of Brexit, he just campaigned for Leave, disappeared for a few years while the Tories destroyed themselves over it, and his fans have doubled down saying Brexit would have been great if only we weren't betrayed by remainers who didn't believe hard enough.
Agree with every single word. Why are GB News and others speaking vilely about the Labour party....
If the threat of a Putin>Trump>Musk>Farage led UK does not lead to an independent Scotland, then frankly I am not capable of imagining a kind of threat that would. Farage is LOATHED in much of Scotland - particularly the urban areas at least. Where he comes across as an ideological child of the still hated Thatcher. Even if he does not talk about the same things that she did - he FEELS like he comes from the same species.
I often refer to Farage as Thatcher without the balls.😂
Its amazing how despite both kickstarting the neoliberal age, Thatcher is despised whike Reagan is fondly remembered
I wish i could take Musk less seriously, but his immense wealth makes it impossible as there are countrys that have less revenue than him... what a nerd, and in his case i actully mean that as an insult.
What do you mean that he has "revenue"? I think he actually has a lot of equity in his companies, and takes out loans collateralized by that equity.
@@georgeholloway3981 Revenue as in income... What do you refer to as equity?
Is he really that wealthy? Or is it just on paper..like trump financial waffling.
Elon is a proper dork. No amount of money can hide that fact.
@@georgeholloway3981 exactly!
Thank you, Vlad, for talking to us. Hope, the chair will not lead to rebound. All the best for your health. Lots of love to you and to the Beautiful Community. 🤗
Vlad you seem to feel better and stronger hope it's so at least! Thank you very much for taking your time, this should be pointed out for sure. The last words about Musk though so on point, it was clear a while ago that he doesn't understand anything in russian history or politics either but he seems to believe that he knows about everything better than anyone, very much like Trump btw, this is dangerous cause such unintelligent people can be easily manipulated :(
I have been watching your videos for some time now and becoming increasingly impressed with them. Your analysis of the disengagement many ordinary people feel with the political process is spot on. I have many times felt that if the British public spent as much effort on politics as they do on football or fashion. Then most of the politicians over my lifetime, at least, would have been out on their ear.
One of your best, Vlad, at least I think so.
Elon Musk is buying his fiefdoms around the world until he can crown himself The Doge.
Those were _elected_
Interestingly enough, "Doge" is, I kid you not, is a political position, meaning the Head of the Republic of Venice, in the Medieval and Early Renaissance times. I think they're elected by fellow nobles.
@@el52 that's true. He uses his wealth the same way the Medici family used to do. Minus the arts.
@@col0342 But that doesn't mean votes can be bought right? 😁😁😁
And no one will like him still.
Thank you for defining neoliberalism for me. I may also need you to define what you mean by technocratic speech. I love your talks, Vlad!
Further down in the comments, I saw technocrats equated with tech bosses, so we definitely need a definition. I thought Vlad was shooting at any attempt to model the likely effects of a mix of policy tweaks whether to reduce carbon emissions, immigration or the budget deficit. Without magical thinking these problems can only be solved at a cost to what is available on the kitchen table and unless the general public offer informed consent to the actual best estimate cost and effect of such policies then democratic legitimacy will continue to decline. To some extent the technocratic language is going to have to nibble away at the kitchen table discourse. How else are you going to explain that there are various external scenarios, such as tariffs and foreign endorsement of green transition and wars, that can change forecasts and necessitate further policy changes?
You could say technocratic speech is speech by experts using expert jargon. This speech is fine if it is used when talking to other experts but runs into some problems when you use it with the average person
Political experts such as policy writers, lifelong politicians, lobbyists, etc. can use this jargonistic speech between themselves, but when used for the average voter you have a disconnect, it exacerbates the 'opaqueness' the average voter feels to politics.
@@some_phantom2599 thank you for putting this in some form of context that I can cogitate upon
@@desolatemirror3006 you are probably right, but where is the threshold between everyday speech and technocratic speech? Also, do all the experts fully understand the terms that they are using? Thinking of the topic of tariffs in the recent US elections, which are neither a fee paid by foreign exporters nor a sales tax, I was puzzled by the failure of the press to explain what tariffs actually are and what effects they are likely to have. Just deeming tariffs a technocratic term and coming up with invalid analogies, as both parties actually did, seems to me to promote the very opaqueness that avoiding technocratic speech is supposed to reduce.
Technocracy is thinking that things will be solved if you put smart enough people at the top to work it all out for you. Social problems are just a math problem that's too hard to fix for most elected officials.
Thanks Vlad and Happy Holidays 😊 to you and the Beautiful Community 😊
They don't just feel betrayed, the HAVE been betrayed
who betrayed whom?
Rational explanations help ease troubled minds. Thank you.
Thank you. Though depressing i found this talk enlightening and positive. Sometimes if i accidentally hear Farage or Trump on the radio i turn to you to disinfect my confused mind of their rhetoric.
These huge amounts of money spent on Political Campaigns are ridiculous, when you consider how many are starving in this world etc.
From the U.K. Thank you for covering this. Hope you are ok. Happy Christmas Vlad.
Happy Christmas!
Because Brits just luuuuuuve when outsiders try to influence their politics.
So much for "Taking Back Control" of our "Sovereignty!"🙄
That depends what the outsider is saying. In this case he's saying just what certain people want to hear and he has Farage as his front man.
@bluetoad2668 it makes me wonder, about farage. A big chunk of his platform, leaving the controversial stuff aside, had always been independence. How is supplicating himself to America First Trump and a South African billionaire help him make his case? And where does the rupert murdoch fit in? Brexit was an act self harm borne from often very toxic rhetoric, achieved by a very small margin that's prety much gone now. And that was the heyday of divisive politics, aren't people now slowly realizing that Farage is ultimately all about Farage?
I loved those long format videos with images where you narrated in the background. You have a very calming voice.
If you ever fancy making anymore of those types of videos about historical periods in Europe and Russia.. that would be nice
Thank you for a very interesting video! There's a lot to think about in there. I agree with you that my country has similar problems to the UK. The names and organizations are different, but there's the same kind of populist frustrations underneath, and the same apparent cluelessness by the political parties. All the Western democracies seem to be going through the same thing right now. The US was just the first.
But I'd like to focus on one thing you talked about that I don't understand. You said that Prime Minister Starmer and his Labour Party (and by implication similar politicians in other nations) needs "to break the mold of his technocratic self understanding." I think you mean he has to learn how to communicate with the people of the UK without sounding like a technocrat, to make it more likely they'll listen to him. But I'm not sure what this would mean. Would that mean focusing less on economic or free market solutions and talking more about the things people are feeling? Trump is always talking about how horrible things are now, and how he's going to fix everything. He almost never talks about solutions, but spends a lot of time telling people that he understands what they're feeling and feels it too. Is that what Starmer would need to do?
I wouldn't let Farage, judge a Clacton Knobbly Knees Contest.
🤣😂
He’s not qualified to do knees only milkshakes
I don't know much about UK politics but here in Australia an embittered billionaire poured the equivalent of £60 million into his party and won one seat.
In the US Dems had much more money and lost.
I'm not sure money helps, greater presence can mobilise people to not vote for those with deep pockets who bombard voters.
The "table kitchen" image was excellent. Adopted. Thanks Vlad as every each occasion you hit the mic.
Vlad, I’m a great fan of clothes and fashion, and I can’t help noticing that you always wear such lovely jumpers!
🌻
Receipts are impossible in a post truth discussion. They'll tell you "what receipts? We don't need no stinking receipts!"
There are plenty of non-Tesla EVs that are pretty sweet. Must is good at marketing, but BWM engineering still is better.
Here in Germany, donations to a political party by aan allen are punishable by law. What about Britain?
In Germany the constitution is written down, everybody who wants can go and read it. In the UK, the constitution is NOT written down. Makes it both harder to implement and easier to make stuff up.
Quite so. I looked it up yesterday and while there are rules...there seem to be WHOPPING loopholes...and hiding places.
Thank you for joining up the dots. This was really helpful.
Hello beautiful Vlad 🌻💙🌻
❤
If Lindner already contacted Musk?
@@Julia-Richter It would be funny if Musk influenced the D-Day paper, but I guess Lindner isn't important enough to get an appointment.
Hi Vlad, thanks for that piece - interesting in regards to the state of English/British politics but going much further and concretising on how to answer post-truth politics.
Other question: Can you point out some other content creators/ analysts you would recommend to watch? I know you like Anders Nielsen and Mark Galeotti regarding the russian war against Ukraine. Anyone else you want to recommend?
When was the last time you had your piano tuned?
Thanks so much for creating and sharing this informative video. Great job. Keep it up.
Heroyam Slava. 💙💛 🇺🇦
Successive UK governments have failed to carry out the will of the people. What did they think was going to happen?
Looking Good Vlad.Good points. It seems that Musk sees himself as a citizen of the world,so he wouldn't think of it as foreign interference. Also Labor needs to learn from the Democratic Party (US) failure and the style and appeal of Bernie Sanders, who knows the language of the average voter or the iconoclast.
It's not difficult- all it requires is someone with integrity or a spine
This was interesting.. Thanks Vlad
Message to Eelon: MYOB
@@AllistairNeil when has he ever?
@@rachelatwood9555 Before he bought twitter. More or less. He literally went pearshaped after that. I'm a geophysicist and I was gung ho on the Mars thing, but this stuff he's doing now is interfering in other people's lives.
@@AllistairNeil He was spewing propaganda before buying Twitter, it got worse afterwards.
I would add an F in there.
@Ukie88 DF as in MYODFB
I am so glad Iam at the end of my life as the world is going to shit, Iam sad that Iam leaving this world in this state 😢
come on old chap its not that bad, good luck for your voyage
The world has always been going to shit but weirdly things improve at the same time.
you got to enjoy the good years, imagine growing up in this mess.
state pensions will be removed in time, hopefully all the old people will be gone or powerless by then.
I wish this had not happened in my time, so do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide
And you'd end it believing the likes of this imposter. Double sad.
If only Reform was actually a political party with voting members. However it is a limited company that is controlled from the top and the “members” have no vote over policy or in candidate selection.
This seems not to be a problem in populist authoritarian/anti-democratic...eee.. organisations. This same modus operandi applies for the Fidesz of Hungary, the Georgian Dream, to have only these two examples spontaneously. Probably also goes for russia, not well informed enough.
Something similar with the Dutch PVV, the "party" of Geert Wilders (you may have heard of him). Political parties in the Netherlands must be associations, to promote some measure of internal democracy. But this association has only two members: Wilders himself, and his foundation of which he is the only board member. And new membership registration is closed. So no one gets a say except the boss himself.
It's as if all these populist rightwingers follow the same instruction manual on how to gather and consolidate power. I don't think it's a wild conspiracy theory, seeing that they do communicate extensively. Wilders loves travelling to Hungary, Israel etc.
Thank vlad you just got my thoughts put right
Looking strong vlad, keep em coming! Comment for the algo, let's go! :)
love to see you in the chair. proverbially bidding for your recovery
Reform UK are not a political party, they are a plc, this is why they publish a contract and not a manifesto. This also means they would have to go through several admin hoops before bidding for power.
Hello Vlad. I write little essays of your views. This helps me to understand with more clarity.
@@lynleybreeze3283 how interesting!
Galbraith talked about the technostructure in the sixties I think and James Burnham’s “the managerial revolution “ was published in 1942. This is a longstanding trend
Hey Vlad!😊
The million dolar question is : is there a way to fix the issues the people have without creating more problems that will make them more angry. Because i dont see how you fix those things without taxing more( the problem labour have with balancing the budget ),and adrressing demografic decline without doing the same.
Reference “Patriotic” statements about Farage.
He is so unpopular that a foreign state has to support him financially.
If he ties himself to Trump, he may be cooked should the Trump admin prove to be a disaster.
Appreciate your roundabout way! So true.
Do you have a new camera? You look amazing 😊🎉
In what respect is Reform more "post-truth" than, say, the Labour party?
they are only post truth in that they aren't actually right wing and more containment for real rightwing parties.
Even if I squint, I can't see how you conclude Labour are "post truth". Vague and disseminating, for sure, but not untethered from truth.
@@alantyndall85 Labour avoids any discussion on subjects they don't want to talk about. Maybe "post-real" would describe them better.
at this point i think even mr blobby would be an improvement, lets give reform a chance
If I lose my faith in Labour, I haven't lost my marbles. Let Reform bring out a fully costed manifesto before they are a credible alternative. As soon as I think privately educated millionaire former bankers can solve Britain's issues I'll let you know.
You need someone with enough of a mandate to rebuild the bureaucracy from scratch
Doesn't the UK have somewhat reasonable laws around monetary contributions to politics, at least compared to the US? Or are they toothless and full of loopholes enough that even someone with the subtlety and eye for detail of Elon Musk can get around them? Or will he just break campaign finance law out in the open with no consequences?
MUSK had ambitions to work with Russia in starship development to ditch the problems with restrictive policy's in the U.S.A.
Yes, to your headline.
For decades the UK politicians have looked for support from media. Musk and X is just an extension of this. We should be talking about the press's involvement in politics in general. Also. The UK people are angry about illegal immigration. Most are fine with legal migration.
I have more experience integrating immigrants than most. It is very hard and tasking, and it is not a question of liking cuisine, that is a caricature of the existential challenge in traversing cultures.
You're writing off the agency of Farage's voters Vlad. It is not their inexperience or opacity with institutions which lead them to vote against immigration. It is likely their visceral existential confrontations with failing integration, and seeing through that institutions have no plan, and are counting immigrants as numbers for cheap labour, and not the vaunted humanist's holy grails on slender feet.
That's just false.....and you probably liked your own comment or one of your other account did it ?
@@mat3714 Good one. I respect Vlad's core message of civility and the proper value of institutions, but I do not fool myself that holding back criticism of a public intellectual is doing any favours! I appreciate the forum is a bit dampened by Vlad's very sad misfortunes in health, but that doesn't mean he can't take it like a philosopher!
@@tiaretsnyheter6026 -A. This was directed at you....not vlad.
-B. This isn't about having a plan or integration, this is a simple recurring human réflexe. Scapegoating and good old intolerance. People don't care about plans, they don't even follow politics, they check headlines and convolve their feelings into a simple magical solution that begs to be exploited.
-C. We don't need cheap labor, we need labor and replacement levels or everything we experience right now will get much worse and it might already be unavoidable at this point.
Theres an unspoken rule that in a democracy, voters are blameless and can never be wrong. If they vote for horrible policies that screw them over, it is always the opposition party's fault for failing to convince them and failing to stop it
@@thesenate1844 I think I see what you're writing: As "In marketing, don't blame the customer", and "In public relations, don't blame the public". Then Vlad's recently said, it's our job to denounce unspoken rules like such, and not treat politics as a consumer good?
So many grifters
To invert a phrase, no representation without taxation. As UK law currently stands, Musk could only direct a company contribution from the division of Twitter incorporated in the UK, whose profits run at about £8.5M... way off the speculated $100M
What if he setup a shell company, or even a SPACs in the UK, and then funded that from the US to the UK? Or would that count as money laundering?
@GeorgeGeorgeOnly Quite. As I understand it, The Electoral Commision is right now calling for a tightening of the law to foil this kind of trick.
@@rbettsx We should certainly hope so, Robin. But can it be enacted in time?
@@GeorgeGeorgeOnly We can only wait and see. At least any contribution will be highly visible, and as Vlad suggests, its effect may be marginal, for an already popular party. (Under first past the post, ‘marginal’ can be ‘decisive’.) Even if the short-term political battle is decided unfairly, though, IMO, it’s more important to hold steady, for the long-term constitutional war.
As someone who is helping to pay an elderly relatives heating bill, I cannot see any way forward with a Labour government. Not saying Reform is the answer but neither labour nor conservatives are an option either.
Happy to see you today Vlad
Happy to see you too!
@Vlad Vexler: What do you think of this seemingly global lurch to the right one can’t but help notice everywhere. Not just governments, but electorates in various countries. Would love to hear your thoughts. Was there no way to avoid this global outcome? Thx, in advance.
Yeah, it was caused by the globalization of capital and human movement from the early 2000s. Immigration in one word
Historically it is a kind of return to normal in part, certainly in Europe. It is also about liberalism giving up on the welfare state and on emancipatory politics in the second part of the 20th C. It is of course also the 4 causes of distrust I often discuss. And much more. We shall talk about this in greater depth.
not letting in millions of people from the third world would have certainly postponed it for at least 20 years.
@@VladVexlerChat Thanks again! 😃
Is there a politician from a major party who is not an "ideologically bloated emanation"?
❤❤❤from Brisbane Australia 🇦🇺
YES. to your headline question.
The British people won't elect Reform UK. They will split between the Conservative and Reform. The others will mostly vote Labour.
Musk can provide data from X to identify the grouping of the population and the correct marketing to apply to each group, the targeting advertising to each group dependent on that groups concerns will give Reform a high probability of performing well in any election, they can also feed the dissatisfaction of supporters of other parties to reduce their vote. This can be done without breaking any election rules as reform could pay a token amount for the service.
Agree. Remember how Cambridge Analytica used Facebook's release of customer analytics to more effectively target customers' vote. Jared was spearheading that psychological profiling used in targeted ads, Trump 2016 campaign.
Musk has other influencers tout his abilities to underpin his "genius" at everything. And Musk participates in Bro culture forums, then craps on "establishment" on X... to aid Trump and, now, Farage.
The biggest issue I have with what's happening, is the fact that that the state isn't contesting foreign powers direct political influence.
Like the UK is a in a genuine position, paying enough dollars, MP would vote to dissolve the state to whomever paid enough.
And people are confused why people vote for "ultra nationalists". Yes, a lot of ultras are in the pocket of foreign powers , but those are considerably likely to be shot.
Neither did the USA Obama whimpered about it then the GoP politicized it and they stopped saying anything. UK and USA are both just big auction houses where all is for sale to the highest bidder-- the people, the state, public resources, government functions... absolutely everything.
May not be the worst timeline (or point thereon apparently) - but dear lords, it's certainly making a run for the most stupid one... 😮💨
this is the second worst timeline, the worst one is where we had a nuclear war during the cold war and lost to the commies.
@@RaedanWulfe perhaps it's time to release Idiocracy II. I don't know what Luke Wilson is up to, but Maya Rudolph's workload is a lot lighter than she (and many of us) hoped it would be a couple of months ago
This may be the first time Vlad has fully engaged on the economic causes of democratic decline. It reminds me of David Gray, who similarly, forecasts the inevitable western decline, was asked if taxes were realigned to "New Deal" levels, if this would change the inevitable, he said, of course, but that is impossible.... Increasing taxes is more difficult than allowing dictatorship...sad😢
Is this just the logical end point of neoliberalism?
I can’t believe Farage would allow that, especially since he is on record multiple times saying
“We must keep overseas billionaire money out of UK politics”
If he accepted $100 million, from an overseas billionaire that would make him a hypocrite …we all know politicians are not hypocrites! 😊
Thank you for your political and philosophical insights. It gives me an anchor in the storm of the Ukraine war.
You look very strong today. May you receive greater improvement every day.
Just when I thought this cesspool couldn't get any more revolting.
No one would give a toss about immigration, woke, the EU etc if people felt they were getting richer, their standard of living was improving and the social contract wasn’t broken. By which I mean they were getting the services and infrastructure their taxes were paying for.
Calling it "post truth" is pretty much legitimizing dishonesty. Why can't we call out politicians as inveterate liars if they are so? Enough with the kid gloves.
My first thought was what are the clowns planning to do next? Are we not already a circus. Doesn't matter if the circus is led by technocratic management, the adults in the room, more clowns, or clowns with different stripes. It still is a circus with punch and judy rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.
What can people do to stop this? Any solutions or we all just roll over and take it up the a?
Foreign Money should never be allowed to influence the British Political System.
A positive start but then you carefully tread around the issue of what should be done about immigration. Farage is not post truth, he's straight to the point. A point you avoid.
Farage has not promised anything specific, hes just running on vibes at this point.
The biggest problem I see is if Farage is allowed to accept 100M USD then this starts a political funding arms race, where we end up like the US where you need an enormous amount of money to compete in elections.
We will end up with a 2 party system because there will not be sufficient donors to support anything more.
The UK economy is not big enough to have that many big donors so inevitably parties that solicit money from foreign donors from places like the US China and middle east will dominate and so we will end up like the US with a political system entirely captured by corporate interests.
Politicians need to be honest with the public that falling birth rates necessitates rising immigration to prevent an aging population from bankrupting the country. They also need to realize the public would be more accepting of higher migration if infrastructure and housing construction kept pace and uninvited arrivals promptly deported.
The dialogue around immigration lacks nuance, and both sides are guilty of telling half a story.
Talk to the public like adults and present trade offs to them.
I wouldn't go there. That argument is not likely to be received the way you think it will. These people are going to hear about a worker shortage and wonder why they can't get a job that pays a living wage. It just doesn't pass the smell test.
I know you could cite like a million individually small qualifications that support the consistency of your position with market forces, but really, they all add up to immigration subsidizing billionaire lifestyles at their personal expense.
I'm not saying that you don't have a point, at least with regard to certain specific sectors--like medicine, where certain countries with high rates of out migration subsidize education, and therefore produce a comparative advantage for its natives. I'm just saying the situation is way more complicated than you're portraying, and I don't think you want to lead with complexity in these highly charged debates.
@JackRMason These debates are always complex and need simplifying. I'd urge you to look at the long-term impacts of a birth rate below 1.5. It's far worse than climate change. This is the elephant in the room that hasn't been communicated to the public.
@@noonecaresaboutgoogle3219 I think you missed my point. You can be right, or you can be effective. That's your choice. Because I promise you absolutely nobody cares about what you are talking about, even if they should. I promise you.
Convincing people to have kids to save the very economy that is screwing them over? I cant see that going well. We'll have to see how South Korea does, bad as the UK is, it has nothing on them
Brilliant to hear you talk in more detail about UK politics, which is something I’ve been wanting you to go over in a long time. As a UK Citizen myself I recognise all of what you describe and agree with your point of view. However, while I appreciate this was not the direct point of this video, what I feel we need to hear more from you about is how (especially in the UK, but elsewhere too) we regain more responsible and trustworthy journalism and trust in our media (to scrutinise and hold politicians to account - ie system of checks and balances), when the organisations they work for are either owned by billionaires, or otherwise tarnished with distrust and political bias.
The unashamed admissions that were made by those who no longer had to play along with the Conservatives, when their near electoral annihilation looked on the cards, and like rats jumping ship how they now needed to cosy up to their new ‘masters’ was frankly revolting and revealing of the reality how ‘client media’ works here 🤮
This is especially important in a world where more and more people get their diet of ‘news facts’ from non-journalistic sources on social media, both eroding the platform for responsible journalists and mainstream media, and enabling irresponsible and malign forces to peddle lies and misinformation.
That also brings into focus the importance of the scandal going on around the sale of part of one of the last remaining self-claimed ‘independent’ newspapers to a dodgy new owner, who has no good reason to own (probably several bad ones though) or knowledge of how to run a media organisation.
Point is politics and media are in reality inseparable, and we cannot rebuild trust in democracy without balanced, independent and responsible media that allow proper journalists to do their job with integrity. I know that’s an idealistic view that we’ve never completely had in reality, but in a world of ever shorter attention spans, deluged by crap on social media, it’s something we desperately need 🤞❤
Much needed level headed assessment of the Uk situation. I am both repulsed by Farage’s schtick but also have come to quietly tolerate/respect the widespread sentiment of disenfranchisement that has upturned our politics. This anger hasn’t appeared as if by magic. We need to stop performing high handed morality and get real. A new discourse is needed. Until the centre or left find one, Farage gets the pitch to himself.
Question to you. Why has this widespread sentiment of disenfranchisement appeared? What has caused it?
@nigelgarrett7970 1) politics from both Left and Right has failed to make a positive difference to average people’s lives for some time. 2) as Vlad has said more eloquently than I, the failure to deliver in practical terms while carrying on riding the neoliberal wave of laissez faire economics and “doing transnational” deals at v high levels has compounded the sense of politicians being in it for themselves, drifting ever further from everyday concerns. It’s been a perfect storm for voter alienation. Then … enter Farage … he’s going to mop up. Unless professional politicians raise their game, the con man will win.
@@nigelgarrett7970 the cause is the notion that there is a class of people who think they know better. This isn't the 1950s. That's not appropriate in a democracy.
@@nigelgarrett7970 Left and Right alike have demonstrably failed to make a positive difference to people’s lives. And at the same time as offering precious little by way of opportunity they have blithely ignored people’s concerns. Ignore voters at your peril…
Not sure why but this Musk-Farage news just tipped me over into depression. Will there be even 1 responsible person to stop an outright purchasing of British politics by a wealthy oligarch.
I know I shouldn't but I'm overcome by the desire to disintegrate and disappear, or at the very least check out.
Fighting for free speech is the good democratic fight. Hating free speech is antidemocratic.
Nigel Farage.... getting into power.... is a scary thought 😭 I suppose the term "Correlation does not equal causation" comes to mind when talking about if Farage is in the pocket of the Kremlin. The fact that he recently spewed Kremlin slopaganda isn't evidence enough that he's being made to do it. 🙃
i like your use of the term : 'slopaganda'.
I don’t think too many people mind if your street in East London is populated entirely by Syrians Vlad; we’ve become used to London being this way. People are nervous about their small market towns and villages in the shires changing beyond recognition.
It’s not Reform party alone who use immigration as leverage with disengaged voters, Conservative and Labour also play the same card. The disengagement is the disconnect with what they all say and the reality (since their beloved Brexit immigration has gone up). Fauxrage leaning against the end of the bar whispering in the ear of the common man like a 1940’s black marketeer spiv is better at making the bridge. Immigration is a not the biggest issue of our time, but that doesn’t matter in the travesty theatre of our time.
When Political parties run an election campaign, can we setup a limit for all parties that can be spent, that is checked fervently by a Independent institution during the campaign, and monitored during the term. Political Parties should not win based on how much money they are supported with but upon their policies.