First time I have watched this... I not only find it fascinating but I really like the on-screen relationship between Alastair and Rory... 😊 Huzzah!! If only real life politics could be like this.. 😢
Guys- you keep me sane in an increasingly insane world. Thank you. Please both join with Keir in the forthcoming Labour government as Home and Foreign Secretaries. Let us also have David Miliband back as chancellor. The dream team!
Just reflecting on Rory's words about AI and 'blackening politicians' names', and I genuinely miss the days when political criticism was based on policy and not personality.
I just wrote an email to the British Embassy today about more use of 'soft power' where I live where the UK has virtually 0 influence. Real backwater for the FCO. As a local businessman said to me about the British Embassy- why don't they just close the Embassy and run it remotely.
@@murrayeldred3563 And that's the same issue from the other end. Nobody in Parliament has any weight. I think I put us back at the top table at least three times, maybe five, and each time some intellectual featherweight fs it up.
It's hard for countries like Britain to get into soft power when entire centuries of nation's history are based around doing just the opposite: using hard power in the form of navy and military to control others, or institutions controlled by the west like the IMF, or the protection of the US. Japan and Australia for example have had decades to work out how to deploy soft power while the UK was still flexing its muscles and trying to figure out how it could continue to strong-arm others (Argentina, Spain, Irak and more). Those negotiation skills won't be learnt overnight.
What they need is promoting chambers of commerce. If businessman wanna set them up support them. Same with embassy’s. I tried to set one up in a prosperous Asian city the population and economic size of London that had no uk embassy or chamber of commerce but English business. They weren’t interested
Can you please put the date in the episode title? These are often uploaded late or before the podcast version and it's difficult to tell which episode is which
Re school inspections; "HMI" still sends shivers down the spine. Thankfully replaced as a concept because as said, it only leads to a focus on the "tail" and not the rest of the "dog". Full marks (!) to whoever wrote in telling of not giving notice - getting 9/10 for teaching!!
The same applies re CQC. I retired from primary care as a nurse. It's like "lost in translation" talking to assessor. Happened twice, I'd say something, then it would be reported twisted and nothing like what I said. I did 11 hour days so she asked me what I did in my break. I said I had an unpaid hour, and I often needed a speed nap so had bought a car with privacy glass. That I'd drive to a leafy glade local nature park and crash out on back seat with a rug. The report came back that I was unprofessional sleeping in the carpark where patients could see me with feet on the dashboard! My manager had a meeting about it. I'd worked there 16 years and lead nurse, though by then I was the only remaining nurse. There could be several other examples of this twisted reporting.
HR should be disbanded and I used to be in HR its full of inexperienced people never been at the sharp end of any enterprise . Save some money disband ALL HR
Great Podcast as always. And agree completely, gossip and leaks from permanent secretaries is inappropriate and counterproductive to the integrity of the fco.
It’s common when a new CEO takes over they go through the business and identify any key issues and get the bad news out because if they don’t in 12 months it belongs to them. Starmer needs to do the same thing as I am sure there are many issues from successive Tory governments that have been buried. Starmer has talked about investigating COVID financial mismanagement and the other is Brexit and the true cost to the UK. Those costs need to include all the additional spend on leaving the EU, costs of the Bank of England supporting the pound and lost taxes and GDP etc. While it appears nobody wants to campaign on Brexit, it will continue to have a profound impact on the UK economy that means taxes are higher than they need to be, funding of public services is always under pressure and just the general malaise in UK plc. Without such analysis and public discussion we will never get to the point about a grown up fact based discussion about improving our relationship with the EU that could unleash economic growth that allows the country to prosper rather than the current rubbish of taking about ‘taking back control’, ‘controlling our boarders’, ‘Parliamentary Sovereignty’ that been shown to be meaningless slogans that not even the people saying them believe but are used to appease the right wing of the Tory party and sell newspapers.
Could you explain why those three "slogans," as you put it, are not factually based? I am a brexit sympathiser but genuinely want to understand the truth of the situation.
Money is but one facet of life. Your thinking is limited. Freedom, independence, self-governance and democracy are things people have died for and for good reason. I will not be governed by foreigners who I haven't voted for.
Sell newspapers? I don't think anybody's writing to sell newspapers. Newspapers have morphed into loss-making propaganda devices: they are no longer legitimate businesses. You may not have noticed, but newspapers get deposited in workplaces at a loss. Ever wonder where that copy of The Sun came from at work? Who bought it? Answer: Nobody bought it.
Ah, so you’ll be wanting to pull out of NATO then? Can’t have our troops being commanded by foreigners now, can we? And where does that WTO get off, telling us how to trade, hmm?
@@tomemery7890What absolute nonsense! We were never governed by the EU and our membership gave us far more freedoms than we now have post-Brexit. Only 13% of our legislation over the past 50 years related to EU legislation. As for democracy, how can it be democratic that UK governments are formed by parties who usually have a minority of the overall votes?
Gents, can I recommend interviewing the ex city trader and inequality campaigner Gary Stevenson? Would be very interesting as a counter point to the Mark Carney interview which was excellent
Just had this thought as the episode ended, I've been enjoying this podcast so much since discovering it but, especially in the run up to the election, could you get some voices from outside of the Tory and Labour parties involved? Such as the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, not every episode obviously but for more broad coverage of political views?
Get out of the party frame of mind. It's crap. If you have to form a coalition, decide to make the best you can, which starts by clearing out the dross. Pick some candidates who have something to offer - and if necessary, clear out the selection committees likewise.
@@JelMain totally agree with all you said. That could sort so many problems and the short term thinking politicians make with stuff like the NHS. I just mean so much of this podcast is focused on Labour and the Tories, it would be good to hear more about other parties but I do understand why as they are the 2 main parties.
Alister and Rory are great this podcast is also great on the subject of ofsted when I was a student governor at a local adult college in Southend on sea the term of my governorship was spent mostly preparing for an ofsted inspection
Teachers nowadays are completely burnt out by the constant prep for Ofsted and none beyond senior leadership care anymore, simply no bandwith left when you can never predict what will be decided.
Though it needs to be done cleverly and with some sensitivity, we must surely protect the idea of independent and transparent scrutiny of our schools. In the long run, measurement, comparison and competition improve educational standards…just as much as rated and judgemental exams and ratings do for the students themselves. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, due to the natural stress of judgemental ‘exams’ and one tragic suicide of a head who perceived her rating as a personal failure.
@@hisdadjames4876 schools aren’t compared in Finland, and any assessment of schools is used internally. Thatcher brought in league tables as a way to disempower educators and punish inner city comprehensives for lacking funding. Come and see modern GCSE papers and see how nonsensical they are. The history exam has about 18 different question structures to answer across 4 entirely different topics.
@@dreamcrusher112 No system is perfect, but in the absence of measurement and differentiated evaluation you only have subjectivity, usually seen through a lens of self interest. Thats a breeding ground for sugar-coated failure, mediocrity and confusion. In the main, I also believe that parents like the transparency of league tables and ofsted reports….which they try to interpret with wisdom. If that were not the case, no-one would fuss over them, the media wouldnt publish them and one or other of the multiple governments post-Thatcher would have trashed them. Of course, that public and parental preference is temporarily diminished when such differentiation has tragic consequences for the tiny proportion of students and teachers who can’t face it. That, imo, is what we are seeing right now.
@@hisdadjames4876 You are clearly far detached from reality on the ground. Same as the ministers continuing to justify a system that’s out of date while we are outperformed by countries who let schools get on with teaching.
30:18 What is being described sounds very similar to the Blair response after the whole 'Whoops no weapons of mass destruction after all' outcome to the invasion of Iraq, Alistair. Can't remember who was pumping that message at the time...
I think even Campbell understands or is beginning to understand that theor centrist position was a very extreme position in many respects. As defined by tariq Ali in his book 'the extreme center'.
No, Rory! Rish Sunak only cares about personal enrichment, so if he strives for that with the time that he has left he'll dow whatever he can to maximise the amount of personal wealth he can pilfer away from the UK purse!
I was a teacher for a few years some time ago (maths, human biology, computing, photography) and saw what happened during inspections. Those teachers who knew how the inspections happened spent a lot of time changing their lesson plans etc. so as to make the classes that they were going to be observed in appear as good as possible, and to tick all the required boxes. What the inspectors saw was nothing like normal lessons. It seemed to be largely a waste of time and resources. Once all the inspections were over things reverted to normal. What actually was inspected was the ability of teachers to interpret correctly what the inspectors were looking for.
Gentlemen, just today Prof. James Ker-Lindsay has posted one of his videos examining the situation in Nigeria in great academic depth. He focused on the traditional crafts of the Christian farmer and Muslim herder communities colliding, partially due to pressures from climate change.
If you want to ensure the impartiality of the Civil Service you probably ought to advocate that politicians stop shitting all over them and using them as an excuse for constantly failing to deliver.
The issue is that the Civil Service rather likes the autonomy their peers in the European Commission have, which became total in the wake of the Santer administration. The imminent conflict could have been nipped in the bud by Cameron, but he was ousted, and now, as Cummings testified before the Covid Enquiry, there is a serious lack of cooperation between the First Division (the Heads of the Civil Service) and the Cabinet. As the Head of the Cabinet Office is supposedly the Head of the Civil Service, he's become the arbiter in his own case, and Cummings, having seen what someone competent can do (me? Ye Gods and little apples!) decided that as Boris had trashed whoever passed for competent, they needed someone else, and then discovered there was nobody. The logical solution was to fire everyone, and then resign themselves. This would have been two years or more back. Instead, we got Truss and Sunak, and the mandarins think they've won, because the technocracy is just another Civil Service in all but name. Although there's an element of truth in what you say, apply Tony Benn's 5 Questions and you'll see the Civil Service has been way out of line for far too long. They ceased to be impartial under Gordon Brown. Nobody in their right mind (Rory, for example) wants to play this lethal pass-the-parcel.
Failing to deliver?? They helped the torys impose austerity that delivered hundreds of thousands of excess deaths. Back in te day wed call them bootlickers.
With regard to Offsted, they've been used to run down schools with unnecessary criticism for years while the Dept. for Ed. have had no positive impact for our countries' children. If only Offgem and Offwat were so rigorous!
Sadly we are a declining power. I saw online today multiple articles saying the navy doesn't have enough manpower to staff our ships, and so were getting rid of a lot of our ships (including recently refurbished ones coming straight out of taxpayers money). And just look at politics, do PMs still have international weight (outside of being pm) when their changing every other year? nope. I hope maybe something can be done after the next election about it, but I'm keeping my expectations realistic.
We're not a declining power; we're an ex-power. And there's nothing sad about being an ex-power, when being a power was about nothing but commanding more power of theft, violence, enslavement, mass destruction and mass murder than all other countries.
I am glad you guys are keeping up standards after I watched JHB interview Dr Mustafa Barghouti on Talk TV, atrocious and disrespectful, and well, amateur hour. I wonder what OFCOM will make of it.
also please do a good news episode! Especially in the way you were speaking towards the end of the episode. We always see things like AI as the overarching future evil whereas it'd be good to reflect on its many positives too (amongst other things)
Two books you and listeners may be interested in - Leadership: Lessons from a life in diplomacy (by the Simon McDonald you mentioned); and The Impossible Office, a history of the office of PM by Anthony Sneldon. Both have proposals for reforms to British government which are worth a read.
It's amazing how much nostalgia of empire is still holding the UK back both domestically and internationally. Germany and France have long realised their colonial days are over and that their future prosperity and international relevance lies in the EU. I have said it since before 2016, I have declared controversially in my classes, and I will claim it once again. The imperial past is dead, our future is European!
France has long realised its colonial days are over?: French troops withdrew from Niger in December 2023. Earlier in the year they withdrew from Burkina Faso, and Mali in 2022. France led the push for regime change in Libya 2011. France had a tumultuous 2023, with strikes, riots and protests.
I like the postive outlook of Rory Stewart, one has to have hope. Campbell is so cynical. I too suffer from bipolar condition, but Campbell allows his condition to seep into his judgement and general outlook.
The 2024 EU parliamentary elections are very important. If the Right & Far Right MEPs get a large minority of the votes, it will harm Ukraine and green new deal investment.
Doom laden is probably apt. He did work for Tony, and Tony was informed by another Tony, that Tony was engaged in a debate with a guy called ulrich beck who wrote a book called 'the risk society' in 1986, the second Tony, Anthony Giddens (the two tonys) translated that book and did the early work on the first Tony's (Tony blair) third position (the same name as the second Tony's academic paper). What's important here is Becks 'reflexive modernisation' in rhe context of thst risk society, and the idiocy of the two Tony's and their employees, who today have doom laden faces.
@@DJWESG1this Campbell creature is responsible for most of the many ills in our country through his minion Blair, let us not forget. Now He attempts to further disrupt the political process with portents of doom and gloom, parting the views of the uniparty and the lords of Davos. Let us also not forget that it was the Campbells who sold out Scotland in the days of the pretenders.
Well done again gents. Some interesting football ideas Alastair, probably best that you "can't quite recall"(!) I imagine giving Belfast a top flight club after the Good Friday Agreement seemed a great idea, and after Wimbledon moved anyway it might have been the better option.
Couple of things on the discussion about what Sunak and Starmer should do in 2024: (1) Sunak SHOULD raise the IHT threshold to something like £2-3m; not principally because of electioneering- though this would be a powerful move, in my view, and force Starmer into the John Smith anti-aspiration 1992 role - but because it’s the right thing to do. Unless you do not consider personal incentives to work, defer retirement and save for the benefit of themselves and family to be a generally positive factor in wealth creation and economic prosperity - which Starmer seems to have no view on. (2) Starmer needs to be a LOT braver and more open with his vision, values and policies, not “just a bit more” as Alistair suggests. He’s a plank. The only tangible ‘change’ that I can fathom is that he wants to tax education, so reducing inter generational social mobility, destroying some of the better schools in the country, increasing the stripping on state schools, and inevitably pushing less advantaged kids out of the better non-fee paying schools. All so he can bung around £1bn at most to striking teachers.
Journalism needs to be independent! Politics won’t matter if the public doesn’t have reliable information. Don’t but trash tabloids and support real newspapers like BYLINE NEWS ‼️
Basically, Mr Campbell, we, in the West, need to start thinking outside the American influence circle! The US is in decline, the only thing we can hope for is that Europe can survive that without too much loss of life. We need to start now to preserve our democracies.
On the point of an aging global population. I've been pondering what this means for pensions and investments, how can the system sustain it's self when the productive part of the involved parties is getting smaller and smaller.
Why do we need to give up our UN security council seat, to use more soft power? Can do that, and keep our seat. Properly shows how many utter idiots we have in government, when they're suggesting stuff like this. Why would we purposely give up such a useful instrument on the world stage?
The UK can never turn to soft power. It has made too many enemies, and too many rivals to do it itself. The only out it has, is to focus on the Commonwealth, which includes defending it, and listening to those nations input on issues. Because, all the world's soft power houses come from that group, and nowhere else.
Thanks for that positive spin effort Rory, although I now feel even more doom-laden than I did before. I feel that momentum has yet to veer from populism 😢 Still, KBO
The UN Security Council needs a built in review every twenty-five years or so to ensure that the countries with veto power are actually the Big Cheeses in the world. But it would have to actually be reasonable not a 'fix'. It would have to be able to remove declining powers from the inner circle... And can you imagine the US and China (let alone Russia) allowing that to be put into place. I agree with Rory that we need a permanent anti-corruption organisation with no political bias. Good luck achieving that.
Not so many years ago, Great Britain ruled over large parts of the world's countries and cultures. Today, Little Britain is governed by the very different cultures they previously ruled over. A declining power house - for sure.
How are we "ruled" by the different cultures we previously ruled over? Are you one of those closet racists who claims london isn't an English city anymore and the like?
@@geoffwright9570 Brexit UK's biggest problem is probably the phrase 'independent'. There are no countries today that are independent. Everyone is deeply dependent on each other in a globalized world.
We are a trading country and as long as we have time right goods to trade with that other countries will need then yes we are in a world economy and not alone in it.
A Lot of importance attached to being a permanent UN security council member for the Uk's clout by a lot of people. Does it actually matter to most people in this country though, besides listing it as a reason why we're still relevant on the global stage? We've been a power in decline for a long time. That was inevitable given we stopped being an empire. There is a lot of influential countries today that don't have a permanent seat. If other members feel we no longer deserve a place given economic, reputational, military decline, then that's fair enough. I think we've lost sight of the importance of a lot of the things about how "great" a country is which don't immediately count towards giving is something to tout about how other countries see us or what clubs we're a part of. Poverty, living standards, the economy, the military, inequality, crime stats are all things this country is not doing well on at the moment.
Guys... Is Alistair a left hand person? I noticed that he looks up to the right when remembering things, where most people including Rory look up and to the left when remembering....? So interesting the science behind body language 😂😂😂❤❤ love ya boys, kind regards from New Zealand 🇳🇿 😄
In Alistair Cooke's fabulous "America" he did an episode on the UN and made a comment that has stuck with me since the 1970s. In the episode he tells us that, in his opinion, the U.N was born "dead by design" mainly because of veto powers. All these years on, it's been demonstrated time and again that it is a boondoggle of the first order. Members are reluctant to pay their dues and the charitable/social arms are totally ineffective. I suppose we have to keep it, warts and all because it's the only forum where the major powers can talk to one another. How does structural reform come about in organizations like this? We all know the horrible answer.
Far be it from me to suggest that the Tories are done forever, but the Tories are done for at least the next generation;the field of Conservative candidates are going to be such a motley crew of single-issue, hyperreactionary misfits that their next three leaders will be look right towards the Speaker without getting a whiff of #10's interior. The distaste of many voters towards all that's happened will linger for a very long time and any further Conservative candidates moving forward will need to be squeaky clean personally to have a chance. As it stands, the Conservative party to be best to write off the next two elections and work on a) building its warchest for election #3 and b) finding someone who actually cares more about Britain and its people than the interests of corporate overlords.
When Chris Patten visited Indonesia he suggested that we should get a seat in the Security Council as we could represent Muslims all over the world. He did not think that it might also meanBritain giving up its seat for the EU.
The UK remains a much more influential power on the world stage than France. If Europe is to lose one of its seats it will loose both. And the idea that the EU could be given seat is a total non-starter. Africa, South Asia and South America should all have representation as permanent members of the Security Council. If one country is to repeat Western Europe, why wouldn’t it be the UK?
If politicians put as much effort into running a country instead of playing popularist game we might be a better country instead of this brokem country full of politicans who have their own imterest first and the country second. .
Yeah Rory, son of a career Civil Servant has a problem with Civil Servants trying to act within the law in the light of the tremendous pressure put on them by "his" previous party. Great. It says everything about his world view.
Great question about Japan. However, neither of them had anything in their locker to answer it. I am three months into watchng on a weekly basis. They re very comfortable in the personality of westminster politics and have the skill to bring everything back to their pet topics.
For all the people who do not understand where politics comes from: It comes from debating societies, these people are schooled and skilled in avoiding the truth of a question to further their agenda, it’s quite simple. They therefore, in political life, have no compunction with prevarication, half truths, deceit, condescendence and utter contempt for the public who they see as dull witted sheep. The truth has no matter and honour is a thing of the past. Wake up people.
Teachers don’t object to scrutiny by external inspection. It is the nature of that inspection and the fact that a school is regarded as failing overall if just one of the criteria out of many is not met. It must be far less of a ‘blunt instrument’ and it isn’t necessary to give an overall grading. The current regime represents a real potential threat to the health and safety of the teachers, most of whom do an excellent job.
What on earth would be the right thing to Sunak? Does he have any political compass? Genuine question. What does he stand for? Starmer is getting pushed on this, but as far as I know, Sunak wasn’t. Cameron wasn’t. The wider point seems to me to be that Labour leaders that win power must have passed this test. Not sure Tory leaders have to
Quick Short term solution to the house of lords problem. 1) Immediately abolish all hereditary peers and bishops from the lords. 2)Cut the number of lifetime peers to 3rd of current number by 3) Calculating a vote share achieved by each political party across the last 3 general elections combined. 4)Based on 2 and 3 above each party gets to nominate a number of peers from the current life peers to sit for the next 10 years in a cut down/ pseudo PR based chamber. The rest are pensioned off (on a means tested basis) Then have 10 years to decide on the upper chamber constitution in the future
First time I have watched this... I not only find it fascinating but I really like the on-screen relationship between Alastair and Rory... 😊 Huzzah!! If only real life politics could be like this.. 😢
I am always placed on a cloud of optimism after listening to The Rest is Politics 😃👍👏👌
Guys- you keep me sane in an increasingly insane world. Thank you. Please both join with Keir in the forthcoming Labour government as Home and Foreign Secretaries. Let us also have David Miliband back as chancellor. The dream team!
Just reflecting on Rory's words about AI and 'blackening politicians' names', and I genuinely miss the days when political criticism was based on policy and not personality.
When was that, exactly?
@@FRM101 Roughly 1215
Rory ,please bring us hope !
I just wrote an email to the British Embassy today about more use of 'soft power' where I live where the UK has virtually 0 influence. Real backwater for the FCO. As a local businessman said to me about the British Embassy- why don't they just close the Embassy and run it remotely.
Where is that?
Central Asia. One of the Stans.😮
@@murrayeldred3563 And that's the same issue from the other end. Nobody in Parliament has any weight. I think I put us back at the top table at least three times, maybe five, and each time some intellectual featherweight fs it up.
It's hard for countries like Britain to get into soft power when entire centuries of nation's history are based around doing just the opposite: using hard power in the form of navy and military to control others, or institutions controlled by the west like the IMF, or the protection of the US. Japan and Australia for example have had decades to work out how to deploy soft power while the UK was still flexing its muscles and trying to figure out how it could continue to strong-arm others (Argentina, Spain, Irak and more). Those negotiation skills won't be learnt overnight.
What they need is promoting chambers of commerce. If businessman wanna set them up support them. Same with embassy’s. I tried to set one up in a prosperous Asian city the population and economic size of London that had no uk embassy or chamber of commerce but English business. They weren’t interested
Can you please put the date in the episode title? These are often uploaded late or before the podcast version and it's difficult to tell which episode is which
Re school inspections; "HMI" still sends shivers down the spine. Thankfully replaced as a concept because as said, it only leads to a focus on the "tail" and not the rest of the "dog". Full marks (!) to whoever wrote in telling of not giving notice - getting 9/10 for teaching!!
The same applies re CQC. I retired from primary care as a nurse. It's like "lost in translation" talking to assessor. Happened twice, I'd say something, then it would be reported twisted and nothing like what I said. I did 11 hour days so she asked me what I did in my break. I said I had an unpaid hour, and I often needed a speed nap so had bought a car with privacy glass. That I'd drive to a leafy glade local nature park and crash out on back seat with a rug. The report came back that I was unprofessional sleeping in the carpark where patients could see me with feet on the dashboard!
My manager had a meeting about it. I'd worked there 16 years and lead nurse, though by then I was the only remaining nurse.
There could be several other examples of this twisted reporting.
HR is NOT - and never will be - your friend!
HR should be disbanded and I used to be in HR its full of inexperienced people never been at the sharp end of any enterprise . Save some money disband ALL HR
Perfect guys thanks 😊
Great Podcast as always. And agree completely, gossip and leaks from permanent secretaries is inappropriate and counterproductive to the integrity of the fco.
I love your podcast, you’re both such great sources of information. TRIP is one of my favourites. You give me hope in dark times.
You guys are wonderful, thank you.
The only thing more tangled than Rory's earphones is Lee Anderson's political leanings
😅😅😅
Great podcast. Thank you.
It’s common when a new CEO takes over they go through the business and identify any key issues and get the bad news out because if they don’t in 12 months it belongs to them. Starmer needs to do the same thing as I am sure there are many issues from successive Tory governments that have been buried. Starmer has talked about investigating COVID financial mismanagement and the other is Brexit and the true cost to the UK. Those costs need to include all the additional spend on leaving the EU, costs of the Bank of England supporting the pound and lost taxes and GDP etc. While it appears nobody wants to campaign on Brexit, it will continue to have a profound impact on the UK economy that means taxes are higher than they need to be, funding of public services is always under pressure and just the general malaise in UK plc. Without such analysis and public discussion we will never get to the point about a grown up fact based discussion about improving our relationship with the EU that could unleash economic growth that allows the country to prosper rather than the current rubbish of taking about ‘taking back control’, ‘controlling our boarders’, ‘Parliamentary Sovereignty’ that been shown to be meaningless slogans that not even the people saying them believe but are used to appease the right wing of the Tory party and sell newspapers.
Could you explain why those three "slogans," as you put it, are not factually based? I am a brexit sympathiser but genuinely want to understand the truth of the situation.
Money is but one facet of life. Your thinking is limited. Freedom, independence, self-governance and democracy are things people have died for and for good reason. I will not be governed by foreigners who I haven't voted for.
Sell newspapers? I don't think anybody's writing to sell newspapers. Newspapers have morphed into loss-making propaganda devices: they are no longer legitimate businesses. You may not have noticed, but newspapers get deposited in workplaces at a loss. Ever wonder where that copy of The Sun came from at work? Who bought it? Answer: Nobody bought it.
Ah, so you’ll be wanting to pull out of NATO then? Can’t have our troops being commanded by foreigners now, can we? And where does that WTO get off, telling us how to trade, hmm?
@@tomemery7890What absolute nonsense! We were never governed by the EU and our membership gave us far more freedoms than we now have post-Brexit. Only 13% of our legislation over the past 50 years related to EU legislation. As for democracy, how can it be democratic that UK governments are formed by parties who usually have a minority of the overall votes?
These are great discussions.
Thank you for your generous comments on our presidents comments on immigrants arriving in Ireland. David McCabe Dublin oap!
Gents, can I recommend interviewing the ex city trader and inequality campaigner Gary Stevenson? Would be very interesting as a counter point to the Mark Carney interview which was excellent
Just had this thought as the episode ended, I've been enjoying this podcast so much since discovering it but, especially in the run up to the election, could you get some voices from outside of the Tory and Labour parties involved? Such as the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, not every episode obviously but for more broad coverage of political views?
They did one with Ed Davey
Get out of the party frame of mind. It's crap. If you have to form a coalition, decide to make the best you can, which starts by clearing out the dross. Pick some candidates who have something to offer - and if necessary, clear out the selection committees likewise.
@@JelMain totally agree with all you said. That could sort so many problems and the short term thinking politicians make with stuff like the NHS. I just mean so much of this podcast is focused on Labour and the Tories, it would be good to hear more about other parties but I do understand why as they are the 2 main parties.
@@tman8015 They're even more witless. Just give us a break.
Alister and Rory are great this podcast is also great on the subject of ofsted when I was a student governor at a local adult college in Southend on sea the term of my governorship was spent mostly preparing for an ofsted inspection
Teachers nowadays are completely burnt out by the constant prep for Ofsted and none beyond senior leadership care anymore, simply no bandwith left when you can never predict what will be decided.
Though it needs to be done cleverly and with some sensitivity, we must surely protect the idea of independent and transparent scrutiny of our schools. In the long run, measurement, comparison and competition improve educational standards…just as much as rated and judgemental exams and ratings do for the students themselves. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, due to the natural stress of judgemental ‘exams’ and one tragic suicide of a head who perceived her rating as a personal failure.
@@hisdadjames4876 schools aren’t compared in Finland, and any assessment of schools is used internally. Thatcher brought in league tables as a way to disempower educators and punish inner city comprehensives for lacking funding. Come and see modern GCSE papers and see how nonsensical they are. The history exam has about 18 different question structures to answer across 4 entirely different topics.
@@dreamcrusher112 No system is perfect, but in the absence of measurement and differentiated evaluation you only have subjectivity, usually seen through a lens of self interest. Thats a breeding ground for sugar-coated failure, mediocrity and confusion.
In the main, I also believe that parents like the transparency of league tables and ofsted reports….which they try to interpret with wisdom. If that were not the case, no-one would fuss over them, the media wouldnt publish them and one or other of the multiple governments post-Thatcher would have trashed them.
Of course, that public and parental preference is temporarily diminished when such differentiation has tragic consequences for the tiny proportion of students and teachers who can’t face it. That, imo, is what we are seeing right now.
@@hisdadjames4876 You are clearly far detached from reality on the ground. Same as the ministers continuing to justify a system that’s out of date while we are outperformed by countries who let schools get on with teaching.
30:18 What is being described sounds very similar to the Blair response after the whole 'Whoops no weapons of mass destruction after all' outcome to the invasion of Iraq, Alistair. Can't remember who was pumping that message at the time...
I think even Campbell understands or is beginning to understand that theor centrist position was a very extreme position in many respects. As defined by tariq Ali in his book 'the extreme center'.
No, Rory! Rish Sunak only cares about personal enrichment, so if he strives for that with the time that he has left he'll dow whatever he can to maximise the amount of personal wealth he can pilfer away from the UK purse!
Rory Stewart … we demand you get back into politics . You are our only hope 🙏
I was a teacher for a few years some time ago (maths, human biology, computing, photography) and saw what happened during inspections. Those teachers who knew how the inspections happened spent a lot of time changing their lesson plans etc. so as to make the classes that they were going to be observed in appear as good as possible, and to tick all the required boxes. What the inspectors saw was nothing like normal lessons. It seemed to be largely a waste of time and resources. Once all the inspections were over things reverted to normal. What actually was inspected was the ability of teachers to interpret correctly what the inspectors were looking for.
Gentlemen, just today Prof. James Ker-Lindsay has posted one of his videos examining the situation in Nigeria in great academic depth. He focused on the traditional crafts of the Christian farmer and Muslim herder communities colliding, partially due to pressures from climate change.
Thanks for the recommendation!
@@EllenRCox I believe you have missed the point. The writer seems to be being ironic
If you want to ensure the impartiality of the Civil Service you probably ought to advocate that politicians stop shitting all over them and using them as an excuse for constantly failing to deliver.
The issue is that the Civil Service rather likes the autonomy their peers in the European Commission have, which became total in the wake of the Santer administration. The imminent conflict could have been nipped in the bud by Cameron, but he was ousted, and now, as Cummings testified before the Covid Enquiry, there is a serious lack of cooperation between the First Division (the Heads of the Civil Service) and the Cabinet. As the Head of the Cabinet Office is supposedly the Head of the Civil Service, he's become the arbiter in his own case, and Cummings, having seen what someone competent can do (me? Ye Gods and little apples!) decided that as Boris had trashed whoever passed for competent, they needed someone else, and then discovered there was nobody. The logical solution was to fire everyone, and then resign themselves. This would have been two years or more back. Instead, we got Truss and Sunak, and the mandarins think they've won, because the technocracy is just another Civil Service in all but name.
Although there's an element of truth in what you say, apply Tony Benn's 5 Questions and you'll see the Civil Service has been way out of line for far too long. They ceased to be impartial under Gordon Brown. Nobody in their right mind (Rory, for example) wants to play this lethal pass-the-parcel.
Failing to deliver?? They helped the torys impose austerity that delivered hundreds of thousands of excess deaths.
Back in te day wed call them bootlickers.
🎯
Thanks for posting
Thank you for your time and efforts guys
With regard to Offsted, they've been used to run down schools with unnecessary criticism for years while the Dept. for Ed. have had no positive impact for our countries' children. If only Offgem and Offwat were so rigorous!
Dear Rory, it's vacuous, what can I say, but where's the stripy jumper from please?!
Sadly we are a declining power. I saw online today multiple articles saying the navy doesn't have enough manpower to staff our ships, and so were getting rid of a lot of our ships (including recently refurbished ones coming straight out of taxpayers money). And just look at politics, do PMs still have international weight (outside of being pm) when their changing every other year? nope. I hope maybe something can be done after the next election about it, but I'm keeping my expectations realistic.
I saw that they were either using, or thinking of using, SERCO to help them with their recruiting problems.
Sic transit gloria Britanniae.
We're not a declining power; we're an ex-power. And there's nothing sad about being an ex-power, when being a power was about nothing but commanding more power of theft, violence, enslavement, mass destruction and mass murder than all other countries.
Never forget Rory’saTory! Happy with austerity, toxic environment for legal asylum seekers.
I am glad you guys are keeping up standards after I watched JHB interview Dr Mustafa Barghouti on Talk TV, atrocious and disrespectful, and well, amateur hour. I wonder what OFCOM will make of it.
Honestly that was beyond shocking.
and after watching DDN speak on the issue of funding and staffing of that channel, it suddenly becomes crystal clear.
You did well .... the trick was to end positively
The media crew who manage "the rest is politics" need to give the boys Rory and Alistair some decent YAMAHA headphones 🎧 👌
also please do a good news episode! Especially in the way you were speaking towards the end of the episode. We always see things like AI as the overarching future evil whereas it'd be good to reflect on its many positives too (amongst other things)
We need to hold platform/medias accountable for Deepfake usage
Add please the positive things that have happened in astronomy for your Positive Pod cast !
If politicians slag off „the blob“ is it surprising that senior civil servants respond?
Two books you and listeners may be interested in - Leadership: Lessons from a life in diplomacy (by the Simon McDonald you mentioned); and The Impossible Office, a history of the office of PM by Anthony Sneldon. Both have proposals for reforms to British government which are worth a read.
Rory back at it again with a jumper of note
It's amazing how much nostalgia of empire is still holding the UK back both domestically and internationally.
Germany and France have long realised their colonial days are over and that their future prosperity and international relevance lies in the EU.
I have said it since before 2016, I have declared controversially in my classes, and I will claim it once again. The imperial past is dead, our future is European!
France has long realised its colonial days are over?: French troops withdrew from Niger in December 2023. Earlier in the year they withdrew from Burkina Faso, and Mali in 2022. France led the push for regime change in Libya 2011.
France had a tumultuous 2023, with strikes, riots and protests.
One of the best things said is at 29-30min.
I and friends have never gotten over talking about brexit and it's dreadful impact it has on us.
I like the postive outlook of Rory Stewart, one has to have hope. Campbell is so cynical. I too suffer from bipolar condition, but Campbell allows his condition to seep into his judgement and general outlook.
The 2024 EU parliamentary elections are very important. If the Right & Far Right MEPs get a large minority of the votes, it will harm Ukraine and green new deal investment.
You truly have just no idea. I would keep quiet in future if I were you
Love the Q&As 👍
I want to hear more from Half Woman, Half Mince Pie. Sounds like a perfect partner!!!
The doom-laden face that Alistair Campbell pulled was priceless. Ribbing aside, great podcast 👍
Doom laden is probably apt. He did work for Tony, and Tony was informed by another Tony, that Tony was engaged in a debate with a guy called ulrich beck who wrote a book called 'the risk society' in 1986, the second Tony, Anthony Giddens (the two tonys) translated that book and did the early work on the first Tony's (Tony blair) third position (the same name as the second Tony's academic paper).
What's important here is Becks 'reflexive modernisation' in rhe context of thst risk society, and the idiocy of the two Tony's and their employees, who today have doom laden faces.
@@DJWESG1this Campbell creature is responsible for most of the many ills in our country through his minion Blair, let us not forget. Now He attempts to further disrupt the political process with portents of doom and gloom, parting the views of the uniparty and the lords of Davos. Let us also not forget that it was the Campbells who sold out Scotland in the days of the pretenders.
Well done again gents.
Some interesting football ideas Alastair, probably best that you "can't quite recall"(!) I imagine giving Belfast a top flight club after the Good Friday Agreement seemed a great idea, and after Wimbledon moved anyway it might have been the better option.
Couple of things on the discussion about what Sunak and Starmer should do in 2024: (1) Sunak SHOULD raise the IHT threshold to something like £2-3m; not principally because of electioneering- though this would be a powerful move, in my view, and force Starmer into the John Smith anti-aspiration 1992 role - but because it’s the right thing to do. Unless you do not consider personal incentives to work, defer retirement and save for the benefit of themselves and family to be a generally positive factor in wealth creation and economic prosperity - which Starmer seems to have no view on. (2) Starmer needs to be a LOT braver and more open with his vision, values and policies, not “just a bit more” as Alistair suggests. He’s a plank. The only tangible ‘change’ that I can fathom is that he wants to tax education, so reducing inter generational social mobility, destroying some of the better schools in the country, increasing the stripping on state schools, and inevitably pushing less advantaged kids out of the better non-fee paying schools. All so he can bung around £1bn at most to striking teachers.
It may have escaped your notice, but there is a staffing crisis in education due to pay being crap
Journalism needs to be independent! Politics won’t matter if the public doesn’t have reliable information. Don’t but trash tabloids and support real newspapers like BYLINE NEWS ‼️
Basically, Mr Campbell, we, in the West, need to start thinking outside the American influence circle! The US is in decline, the only thing we can hope for is that Europe can survive that without too much loss of life. We need to start now to preserve our democracies.
Come back Rory!!
Material relating to David Kelly hasn't been released. Still secret. I wonder why?
You should interview with Peter Zeihan about geopolitics
Do Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell have anything to say on Mr. Bates v. Post Office?
On the point of an aging global population. I've been pondering what this means for pensions and investments, how can the system sustain it's self when the productive part of the involved parties is getting smaller and smaller.
Thank you both for upholding decent values. Without this approach politics is finished. Really support you both and send love and blessings.
Good news plus partners….yay! Yes please
Why do we need to give up our UN security council seat, to use more soft power? Can do that, and keep our seat. Properly shows how many utter idiots we have in government, when they're suggesting stuff like this. Why would we purposely give up such a useful instrument on the world stage?
The UK can never turn to soft power. It has made too many enemies, and too many rivals to do it itself.
The only out it has, is to focus on the Commonwealth, which includes defending it, and listening to those nations input on issues.
Because, all the world's soft power houses come from that group, and nowhere else.
Good news story is Uraguay's transition to a non fossil economy.
Rory - what order are your books in the background? It looks a bit chaotic!
Best podcast going around
Rory is a superstar 🎉
He can’t face up to how the Tory party are now though -still is an apologist for them, esp his friend sunak ( who’s as bad as Johnson imho).
@@annettekearney9798 We are still the party of middle England and we will be back Anette :)
Years and years of moral decline have finished us.
When was the UK moral?
3:48 is one of the most mental ideas I have ever heard
Thanks for that positive spin effort Rory, although I now feel even more doom-laden than I did before. I feel that momentum has yet to veer from populism 😢 Still, KBO
The UN Security Council needs a built in review every twenty-five years or so to ensure that the countries with veto power are actually the Big Cheeses in the world. But it would have to actually be reasonable not a 'fix'. It would have to be able to remove declining powers from the inner circle... And can you imagine the US and China (let alone Russia) allowing that to be put into place.
I agree with Rory that we need a permanent anti-corruption organisation with no political bias. Good luck achieving that.
The UK could give up it's security council position but it is not the UK's to give away.
Should the UN be more democratic and remove the veto.
And Ironically doctorial/anti liberal take.
Swapping shirts in Belfast, what could have gone wrong with that lol.
I think the world is at a tipping point of no return.far to many players coming forward with desive policy .
I shouldn’t have found your bad memory discussion funny, but I almost PMSL 🤣
Not so many years ago, Great Britain ruled over large parts of the world's countries and cultures. Today, Little Britain is governed by the very different cultures they previously ruled over. A declining power house - for sure.
Why Britain can't just be satisfied with being an independent country that still has some standing in the modern world
How are we "ruled" by the different cultures we previously ruled over? Are you one of those closet racists who claims london isn't an English city anymore and the like?
@@geoffwright9570 Brexit UK's biggest problem is probably the phrase 'independent'. There are no countries today that are independent. Everyone is deeply dependent on each other in a globalized world.
We are a trading country and as long as we have time right goods to trade with that other countries will need then yes we are in a world economy and not alone in it.
@@geoffwright9570 Then it was stupid to opt out of the EU trade union.
A Lot of importance attached to being a permanent UN security council member for the Uk's clout by a lot of people. Does it actually matter to most people in this country though, besides listing it as a reason why we're still relevant on the global stage? We've been a power in decline for a long time. That was inevitable given we stopped being an empire. There is a lot of influential countries today that don't have a permanent seat. If other members feel we no longer deserve a place given economic, reputational, military decline, then that's fair enough.
I think we've lost sight of the importance of a lot of the things about how "great" a country is which don't immediately count towards giving is something to tout about how other countries see us or what clubs we're a part of.
Poverty, living standards, the economy, the military, inequality, crime stats are all things this country is not doing well on at the moment.
Your sideways swipe at "Great" Britain as usual fails to comprehend the "Great" is geographical
Hey Alistair. Fancy meeting for coffee outside the Hague sometime?
The trouble with Sunak doing what he believes in is that he only believes in lining his own nest.
Guys... Is Alistair a left hand person? I noticed that he looks up to the right when remembering things, where most people including Rory look up and to the left when remembering....? So interesting the science behind body language 😂😂😂❤❤ love ya boys, kind regards from New Zealand 🇳🇿 😄
I don't think thats a thing.
There isn’t much science behind our understanding of body language - not worth reading much into it.
A couple of tories having a chat . How cosy!
New Year's resolution for party leaders? Tell the truth; don't equivocate and dodge responsibility. Chance of this happening? Zero.
In Alistair Cooke's fabulous "America" he did an episode on the UN and made a comment that has stuck with me since the 1970s. In the episode he tells us that, in his opinion, the U.N was born "dead by design" mainly because of veto powers.
All these years on, it's been demonstrated time and again that it is a boondoggle of the first order. Members are reluctant to pay their dues and the charitable/social arms are totally ineffective.
I suppose we have to keep it, warts and all because it's the only forum where the major powers can talk to one another.
How does structural reform come about in organizations like this? We all know the horrible answer.
Ofsted inspector furious that the teachers were not prepped tor the visit. How cynical is that. Sack the lot. Waste of money.
Teachers or the inspectors?
Far be it from me to suggest that the Tories are done forever, but the Tories are done for at least the next generation;the field of Conservative candidates are going to be such a motley crew of single-issue, hyperreactionary misfits that their next three leaders will be look right towards the Speaker without getting a whiff of #10's interior. The distaste of many voters towards all that's happened will linger for a very long time and any further Conservative candidates moving forward will need to be squeaky clean personally to have a chance. As it stands, the Conservative party to be best to write off the next two elections and work on a) building its warchest for election #3 and b) finding someone who actually cares more about Britain and its people than the interests of corporate overlords.
When Chris Patten visited Indonesia he suggested that we should get a seat in the Security Council as we could represent Muslims all over the world. He did not think that it might also meanBritain giving up its seat for the EU.
The UK remains a much more influential power on the world stage than France. If Europe is to lose one of its seats it will loose both. And the idea that the EU could be given seat is a total non-starter. Africa, South Asia and South America should all have representation as permanent members of the Security Council. If one country is to repeat Western Europe, why wouldn’t it be the UK?
If politicians put as much effort into running a country instead of playing popularist game we might be a better country instead of this brokem country full of politicans who have their own imterest first and the country second. .
Why has Alistair Campbells head gone blue green?
Regarding the request for Good News - maybe an interview with Adam Dorr from RethinkX?
Rory is the man to save the UK.
He ain't no Cromwell bruv
If he's the answer we need a new question.
Anyone who feels optimistic about Britain in particular and the wider world in general just isn't paying attention or is quite young and preoccupied
Yeah Rory, son of a career Civil Servant has a problem with Civil Servants trying to act within the law in the light of the tremendous pressure put on them by "his" previous party. Great. It says everything about his world view.
Great question about Japan. However, neither of them had anything in their locker to answer it. I am three months into watchng on a weekly basis. They re very comfortable in the personality of westminster politics and have the skill to bring everything back to their pet topics.
For all the people who do not understand where politics comes from:
It comes from debating societies, these people are schooled and skilled in avoiding the truth of a question to further their agenda, it’s quite simple. They therefore, in political life, have no compunction with prevarication, half truths, deceit, condescendence and utter contempt for the public who they see as dull witted sheep.
The truth has no matter and honour is a thing of the past.
Wake up people.
No colonies left to loot any more
What do you think of private secretaires
God help Uk if labour comes in. Wake up England. Try and save your country . !!! Dam it!
Teachers don’t object to scrutiny by external inspection. It is the nature of that inspection and the fact that a school is regarded as failing overall if just one of the criteria out of many is not met. It must be far less of a ‘blunt instrument’ and it isn’t necessary to give an overall grading. The current regime represents a real potential threat to the health and safety of the teachers, most of whom do an excellent job.
What on earth would be the right thing to Sunak? Does he have any political compass? Genuine question. What does he stand for? Starmer is getting pushed on this, but as far as I know, Sunak wasn’t. Cameron wasn’t. The wider point seems to me to be that Labour leaders that win power must have passed this test. Not sure Tory leaders have to
France and Russia are also declining powers.
Quick Short term solution to the house of lords problem. 1) Immediately abolish all hereditary peers and bishops from the lords. 2)Cut the number of lifetime peers to 3rd of current number by 3) Calculating a vote share achieved by each political party across the last 3 general elections combined. 4)Based on 2 and 3 above each party gets to nominate a number of peers from the current life peers to sit for the next 10 years in a cut down/ pseudo PR based chamber. The rest are pensioned off (on a means tested basis) Then have 10 years to decide on the upper chamber constitution in the future
Dear Rory, will you please untangle your earphone cables 😊