Another great conversation. I have found these conversations to of great value to helping me to better understand the world we live in. John, you are to be commended for the quality of the speakers you engage in these conversations. Great work once again.
Love it! The scotch that Niall knocked back at 8:00 minutes looks like it really kicked in at around 59:00 minutes. Too funny! I bet he's a hoot at parties. Plus he's absolutely brilliant in explaining the world with an historical perspective.
100% more of an economist than this guy is an historian. Anyone who reads his work on Kissinger, Bengal, WW1 or pretty much anything is going to end up having no idea what actually happened during those events.
@@JenkinsOwen It's interesting, because Ferguson could actually be described similarly: "A journalist who used to be a serious economic historian" Early on in his intellectual career, he wrote serious and probing eco-historical studies of the Hamburg business enterprises, world-bankers, etc. All of which were taken seriously by historians and other academics. Then he became a populist "intellectual", more concerned about appeasing the prejudices of the Right, involved in insidious culture wars debates. Stripped of it's pretence to expertise and highfalutin verbosity, not much of what he says now is indistinguishable from the moanings of IDW-types
No! It isn’t that our schools “aren’t” teaching our kids about “socialism”. It’s that the teachers, the school system actually romanticize socialism and communism. I agree that the unions are a huge problem but there is something far more nefarious at work these days and it’s all connected!
Chidi Akara but...but... isn’t socialist revolution a romantic tale, it’s the story of the victory of the underdog. Maybe the route to that victory and it’s results are not up for romanticism so that bit isn’t really part of the folk law.
Chris Bishop workers should have the right to advocate for their interests I don’t think that is the problem. Both the left, center and the right leaning population are workers and should show solidarity.
two brilliant men conducting thoughtful, human discourse.....I was somewhat amused by the effects of the "medicinal" scotch on Ferguson as time went on...all the while finding myself hoping the interview ended before he did.
Your work is greatly appreciated. This was no exception. Wanted to also say the video production is excellent, though I might be biased on this point. Cheers sir.
Why? Both are great, but there are hundreds of fantastic historians past and present. Many philosophers and even a few newspapermen are right on as well. Niall is a favorite of mine, too!
Very good, however i disagree on two points. Firstly, Brexit was about sovereignty first and foremost and immigration was a part of that as we could not even have a say in our own borders. Mostly we were fed up with paying to be pushed around and told what to do. Secondly, populism (or democracy as i prefer to call it) is a response to the radical left. Blair allowed it to take the wheel, and was much more of a radical lefty than he was ever given credit for. Society wants to be around the middle somewhere, and when things start going too far right (as in the 80's and early 90's) we seek to swing it back, and now things have gone so far left we are seeking a swing towards the right and back to the middle. However, we do not have a proper conservative party anymore, especially not under Bozo who looked like a good idea but is making a hash of everything he touches.
I love these real conversations. I bought Civilization a few years back. A great read. Something missed from this conversation is why the West has this trust historically bred into it's system. It is to do with Christianity. Maybe less of the religious side and more of the deeper wisdom of it. I think that as this deeper Christianity has subsided, so has the increase in darkness come across the institutions and populations, whom institutions are made up of. This issue of darkness v light is borderless. One cannot have pure people in society yet corrupt institutions. They are symbiotic. This is the case right down to the individual. What corruption or darkness resides in us, reflects into society and effectively bounces around endlessly. As the generations are replaced without those deeper principles, so the bar is lowered. We can rise out of this, but not without pain and sacrifice. We are going to have to build up an appetite for sacrifice again. We have to become noble.
@@awuma Some of the new generation may change for the better later on, but i am not so optimistic about the overall trend for the foreseeable future. The West is becoming less free and generally has very poor leaders. The moral standards have been falling, narcissism increasing and the general level of education has also been falling sharply. A rotten tree cannot bear good fruit in other words. Something has to change at the roots, or we might say, in the hearts of people and how people change their value systems. We are also very divided on so many fronts. We are in confusing and chaotic times. I'm in New Zealand and of course we had our worst mass shooting ever. Now the only thing our politicians can think of is gun control. The low hanging fruit in other words.
Two points that you need to incorporate in your thinking at the most basic of levels. A lack of actual and true leadership(true competence in your chosen endeavor), which I define as subordinating one's own goals and desires and promote and drive the "courage" to stick one's neck out for the good of the populace at large; and grasping the fact that culturally, at least in The U.S., has embraced by virtually the people in general the arrogance and self-absorbance of only they and their ambitions matter. A complete lack of civil awareness and concern.
No deal Brexit is completely viable on the table. They buy less from us than we buy from them which is a good negotiation position to be in. Any tariffs wouldn’t last long anyway before the EU came to their senses.
Uses all the terminology of a remainder. Divorce. crash out. No deal isn’t a option. Says he’s leaver. When it looks like fish smells like a fist it’s morally a remainder
Could the "lack of trust in institutions" be party attributable to the mass immigration and multi-culturalism that has been found to degrade general trust in the community? That makes sense to me. Any transformation as monumental as is happening now, regardless of the good intentions of those who started it, is going to have huge effects on the social capital available.
FINALLY! someone said it. The whole World seems to have forgetten that, just because we live in "civilized" times does not mean that our neighbors are civil and hold civil intentions. My favorite part of this talk - the crowds face at qbout the 1:30:00 mark after they realize Chinas imperialist goals. I think characterizing what is coming as a "cold" war is pre-emptive and naive. I am not advocating for war, but to anyone that is really paying any attention - China (its also not just China) already knows the outcome if they sit and negotiate... Its for this same reason that they abuse the WTO. Frankly - western cultures walk around with our heads in the clouds thinking that best intentions will win the day. What I cant clearly decide is - if our own leaders have intentionally guided us down this path or of they had no choice. Either way - our western governmemts are loaded with naive scholars who would rather ignore the threat, or gladly take a payoff to subvert the national interest.
We respond to the mateship, egalitarian values when it comes to defending our nation. Why is the protection of fundamentally australian values not leveraged or discussed? An existential threat to the country matters most when it seeks to snuff out the best parts of Aus!
Quite insightful. Perhaps the main feature of the Leninist system is that it involves the total suppression of anything which might theoretically challenge the Party, thus any association (e.g. union, sports, hobbies, academic interests) must be under total Party control. This means no independent civil society, only the Party under "democratic centralism" (i.e. Central Committee, under the Politburo, itself under the General Secretary or Chairman). Religion by its nature posits an authority above the Party, so it's a no-no.
A free ranging, deeply probing discussion about the West, the internal pressures it faces and it's position in the world. This video is continued evidence that the future for meaningful civic discussion is less about centralised news networks and more about motivated citizens coming together. Congratulations again John Anderson. Your contributions, initiative and speaker selections are first-class.
Could the "lack of trust in institutions" be party attributable to the mass immigration and multi-culturalism that has been found to degrade general trust in the community? That makes sense to me. Any transformation as monumental as is happening now, regardless of the good intentions of those who started it, is going to have huge effects on the social capital available.
@@damienroberts934 i really dont think it is mass migration. Because we may look at the number today and say it's a mass migration but thats just because of modes of transport and ease of communication technology which made advertising of some countries more efficient thru movies and culture influence. Migration has always been a part of the human story more so in the west than the east as the west has been a lot more efficient at absorbing these new cultures and textile them in the social fabric much better than the east. For example we tend to look at china as a homogenous land but it is not, it really is the dominant Han chinese imposing their view and will on others ethnicities. They took over tibet and jailing uygurs in concentration camps to be indocrinated and forced to leave their traditional religion ( islam ) which at the end will blow back in their face. However with all the problems with migration on the west ghettoisation of some parts of town. Fundamental islam's rise in europe their a tremendous amount of bright young multi ethnic young people who cherish and support open debate and expression and just general openess and that is a total break with the culture of their parents which is one of firmness and dissent suppression to maintain control. Racism slows that integration but unltimately that integration will succeed. However the issue in the west is the invome inequality which fuels this polarization and rupture of dialogue that reverberates through society. We now have two camps that almost stopped talking to each as if they speak two different language and thats where the danger is.
@@tpicard88 Understand all that, however, many European nations and those in the Anglosphere are on track to transform white majorities into minorities... this causes great stress and anxiety on the part of white majorities - which is perfectly justified. That would absolutely eat away at the trust the majority has in political institutions since to even broach that subject is forbidden and tantamount to "racism". It is great that minorities in Western nations are assimilating - though I would question the success of that - the real point is fundamental for the majority population however. Minority populations in Western countries are blind (more likely indifferent due to their own self-interest) to the fear, confusion and anger (all rational) of the majority population attending the demographic changes seen everywhere. The fact that a white person cannot talk openly and without fear about this fundamental issue destroys trust and creates resentment. Multi-culturalism and the suppression of speech in relation to this historically unprecedented transformation is a major cause of this "lack of trust in the integrity of western institutions". It makes perfect sense.
@@damienroberts934 i agree that we are at a stage where the politically correct agenda is causing self censorship in certain demographics no doubt about that i still really stress the fact that the deindistrualization caused by globalization is the root cauze of the anti immigrant sentiment. This can be shown clearly in the difference between the usa and Europe. Like in the generals the muslims of the usa have integrated very well that is partly due that the divition in the usa is on the lines of color so the middle eastern when they came most americans didnt see them as a threat so racism was low until 2001 of course. However in europe the divisions are along cultural lines so it was if your are not from the main cultural identity you are the other and that triggered all kinda problems. I refer to this wonderful video above where Niall said people from wales and poles dont look any different. But yet again the core of the issue is we are censoring white population with this pc speech agenda pushed mainly tbh by the white elites
There needs to be better education of history and enlightenment values. They just get a few bad bits of the empire days (ignoring the achievements that also went along with it) and, as others have said, self-loath and loath everybody else with it.
@@bassbuckmaster we are in a metaphorical 1920s Germany right now, it’s only a matter of time before the rubber band snaps back in the opposite direction. Let’s just hope not as violently as it did then.
He is, sadly he is a conservative and the left will never acknowledge him, and the right will never accept him since he left his white wife and married a black woman from a muslim country.
Bad Xerge the “right” doesn’t exist, the referendum was on stopping the insanity of left and their total denial that Islam is not compatible with western free secular cultures, reading the Biography of Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq was the best thing I have done, and studying the Reliance of the Traveller Sharia Law Compendium, is shocking. It has nothing to do with skin colour, it is purely ideological. And the catastrophe of trying to have totally opposing thoughts occupy the same space. Ayan Hisri Ali is a legend of a woman, and isn’t embraced by feminists... and why? Because she speaks inside truth about the barbarity of Islam; and she is therefore by PC logic, a white supremacist and an islamaphobe. The West needs to be honest and blunt.
@@onetwo6064 your diatribe while understandable is just feeding into the narrative of the culture war. There is no 'them' there is only us. It is important to talk and listen. Be careful what you say because there is a danger you are being played and you can become nothing more than a pawn in a giant chess game. I do hear what you are saying about intolerance but to use intolerant language to articulate your ideas makes you no different from those you criticize.
I find it a bit... naff. A weak pun. Democracies always were and are in danger of becoming "emocracies". Plato would argue, and did argue, that a democracy IS an emocracy by default, and that only through application of stern laws and/or elite governance it doesn't devolve into mob rule, so nothing new there. "Demos" is not a word that has very positive connotations in greek. Basically it's somewhere between "people" and just "mob".
"I'm the angriest, therefore I'm the most justified in my beliefs..." I can't think of a concept more antithetical to the ideals of western liberalism as I understand it.
Interesting that they mentioned trust. Francis Fukuyama wrote a whole book on this quite a few years ago, as Niall rightly mentioned. Fukuyama claims that China is a relatively "low-trust culture," and this may hinder its firms in their quest to become global. He also claims that the Chinese are, at core, highly individualistic - which flies in the face of what most business books tell you. And, from my experience, I agree with him. High churn rate of staff, unwillingness to spend extended periods of time in faraway lands, low loyalty to any company, family pressure to stay close to parents, low empathy (which makes it hard to create world-class brands) - just some of the realities.
I’m a middle class voter in the US. Live on the left coast. I have a college education. Christian. Relatively conservative. Didn’t vote for trump last time. WILL be voting for him this time. Why? Because despite his brashness and New York rude manners, he actually does exactly what he says he will do. He’s worked hard in the last three years. He’s bringing jobs back to US that had been shipped off to China. We were all told those old days were over. He fought back against that narrative and supports us. I have come to really love him as a president though I’d like to see a return to good manners-but the issue is that the left is completely hypocritical and are more interested in keeping power for themselves and lying to voters than actually doing anything at all to help American people.
Women are at a point where their being in the workforce, is affecting the workplace. Women joined a man's world of work, and women adjusted to men's rules of civil discourse. Now, Women's rules of Feelings and especially the hyper sensitivity to Other people's feelings is destroying civil discourse. The separation of the sexes in work, is ancient. This elbow to elbow with very different views of work, is a problem we Must face. Pointing fingers and trying to destroy each other, is deadly. Hope to hell we figure it out!
I’ve been calling it “the feminization of America”. It has not been good for society. Men and women are different...and bring different qualities to the dance. We need to figure out the proper balance of male and female contributions to the world.
SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI . To be in agreement, is most pleasing. I have spent a while thinking about the subject. Now, I have one person, who does not want to hang me for my conclusions. Thank you.
I disagree. Women have always worked. Whether paid or unpaid. Look at the Women's Guilds of Europe. The surname 'Baxter' means female brewer. The sign for a pub was a broom. I disagree with the broad brush view that all women i. have a hypersensitivity to others' feelings and ii. that it is destroying civil discourse - look at the football hooligans of England, they are male and have a hypersensitivity to other men singing songs supporting an opposing team. You seem to be saying that civil discourse then, is male, and only male, discourse. that civil i.e. civic - to be a good citizen, of the marketplace, to live in a city, is male. You are setting the lines as women not being capable of, indeed as being toxic to, being a good citizen - not to go into a common place in the city. Ergo, women are not citizens, and do not deserve to be part of civilized society. I totally agree that men and women are different, by the way. I do not agree that women should be shut out of civic business and open, civilised society.
Julie Moss . I am 80. I spent 50 years reading about Women's work, as apart of my studying economics on a micro level. I felt it had more to do with History then The Wars fought. My conclusions were, as I stated. No argument from me will win your mind, and contrary feelings. I hope One day you have your own Business, and get to test out your own ideas. Your real problem right now, is you do not see how men think, or interact. Your comments have made me see this as your real difference with me. It is a balance in your thinking you do need, to find the way we all need right now. Our species have every sort of bloody mindedness. I give you the world! ; - )
An astute response. Yet worryingly we are on a discourse that we will see Mr Biden in the White House. I cannot see him running this trade war with China, neither can I see him continuing a military policy the same as Trumps. The people's virus, Mr Trump entered the Whitehouse, its somewhat sad to see him being driven out of the Whitehouse by a virus and Obamas lap dog. Sadly he went to the printing press before he left too... Doing even more long term damage. We can only hope that the polls are wrong again. Spoken from a man of the United Kingdom.
The progression of these episodes to a live audience is a nice touch. It adds the necessity of the interviewee to be light on their feet, at least in theory.
20:10 I'd like to point out for a second that it was the bank trading highly dubious derivative securities that cause a part of the crash, not merely the bank's hyperleverage.
Yep, he got that wrong. It was also Clinton partly repealing Glass-Steagall in the late 90s that opened the door for collapse of the American banks. Ferguson's something of a fixation on populism and populist movements being the root cause of all global ills gets him into silly territory at times.
Another great conversation, John. Your show has become one of my favorites on the web (or anywhere else, for that matter). The conversations apply to a great extend to Europe as well as Australia. Thank you, and also thanks to Niall.
I am very glad I decided to listen to this talk , in it`s entirety . Thank you John , you are obviously a great loss to the decision making of our country .
Strongly Greek Orthodox, although suppressed for much longer. Even more than in Poland, the Russian Church supports the ruling clique. The Church in Poland is likely to follow the Irish pattern.
1:30:00 Nialls' answer in terms of our complacency towards the threat from China should be mandatory viewing for both major political parties. Certainly for the Sam Dastyaris of our country.
elaborate on this "threat from China" plz. does china claim a territorial dispute with australia or does china try to force its ideology onto australia?
@@sushilover5367 The Confucius Institute is designed to promote the views and policies of the PRC. Darwin Port and NSW Electricity Grid Purchase. Key Australian assets. The attempted purchase of Kidman and Cubby stations. Huawei 5G network with data collection capacity. A Military Base in the South China Seas in a key international shipping lane. Sam Dastyari! No direct claim has been made but then again they don't have to spell out their intent.
@@sushilover5367 Actually the Lowry institute report that includes transcripts and comments from ASIO regarding the undue influence the Confucius Institute is having at not just La Trobe University but all academic institutions. The United Kingdom abandoned colonisation mid last century recognising the error of its ways. Australia granted PNG independence more than thirty years ago. Two of the most successful economies of the world Singapore and (until recently) Hong Kong are ex - British colonies. Not bad! By the way, do you have a bill of sale copy for Tibet? Our Federal Government describes Huawei as just a bit more than a "telecom equipment provider" Why would that be? And in terms of our relationship with the United States, they are, and continue to be one of the leading lights of democracy in our world. Their military bases are placed by way of treaty with their host country. If China can achieve the same, no problem and no double standard.
@@gslim7337 awww, so u've decided to trust some report from ur elites instead of paying a visit and taking a close look for urself on that "serious threat"? hmmmm, when was the last time that ur elites lied to u? wmd in iraq? middle-class prosperity in globalization? rofl, u gullible stupid fuck tibet became a part of china long before the white colonists even found oceania and americas. all u non-indigenous ppl, get the fuck out of canada, usa, australia, and new zealand, and then u can tell the chinese what to do about tibet, alright, u double standard bitch south china sea, another topic u picked up in ur tele, lol. seriously, read a book, educate urself on the history before opening ur retarded hole
Good interview but Niall towards the end was under the influence :); not that it made the message weaker but more entertaining like a pub conversation. By the way, not only Brexit is as difficult as a divorce but far more complicated because it entails divorcing 27 wives.
Love the definition of terms - bless Niall. Great discussion. Love Niall's comments re my heroes 'Shakespeare' and Thomas Sowell. So grateful for John.
Impressed. A very powerful dicussion on the diverse subjects that helps me greatly to understand what's happening outsides of our somewhat a tight barrier of language. Ferguson's cases here are the most unwelcomed things for the left-inclined mass media in Japan today
May I ask, what country your from? Or do you know who John Anderson is but you never knew he had a RU-vid channel? Because John Anderson is a former Australian politician who was the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and leader of the National Party from 1999 to 2005.
NiallFerguson, has just sounded a clarion call for Australia to take a hard long look at its security situation vis-a-vi China. The next one hundred years looks perilous especially given that one million ethnic Chinese already call Australia home.
What an absolute privilege it was to be able to be part of this online. Quite exceptional, even by the already very high standards of this series of programmes. Time just flew by. Thanks to Professor Niall Ferguson for the great insights and to John for hosting and placing this online for us to enjoy and benefit from. Interesting that there are 110 down arrows at time of writing this. I can only assume that the real world insights shared in this session are not in accordance with the indoctrination received by those who did not appreciate them. For me that simply reinforces the importance keeping these going.
Interesting to revisit this 4 years later - I wonder if Niall would even bother doing this same talk again in Australia now that it has been so clearly demonstrated the majority of Australians will not only accept but welcome virtually any level of tyrannical control.
The decline in trust/faith - the final nail in the coffin may be the move from cash to digital because that can be manipulated/restricted at the press of a button. Not only that but negative interest rates will in effect then become taxation by the back door unless you spend
It's incredibly refreshing and REASSURING (especially to an anxious fool like me) that Niall comes across as so calm and unworried..... Murry, Rubin, Peterson, Shapiro, Rogan, I value them all, but Ferguson is the only one I can listen to and not feel hopelessly frightened.
@Nobby Barnes , that certainly escalated quickly. You publicly accused a stranger of being a cult member and foot soldier of genocidal hate based upon a comment that vaguely indicated my political leanings. That strikes me as prejudiced and intolerant... It doesn't matter what your politics are, if you start with the assumption that everyone who disagrees with you is maximally bad you will absolutely create for yourself a world in which everyone who disagrees with you IS maximally bad, and you will live your life feeling like a rat in a world full of snakes.
His one on Civilization , The West and The Rest , The Cash Nexus , The Ascent of Money , I've read lots of his books , funnily enough I'm on the political left , I do not agree with his free market outlook , well not entirely , but I find his books most interesting . I've read books written by his wife too Ayaan Hirsi Ali , again she is more on the right of politics than myself, but I like to read authors from a wide perspective.
Leaving the EU with a no-deal would by no means be a disaster - it would neutralize the current 'negotiation-power-bias' which is in favour of the EU, which is partly responsible for the current deadlock. The transitional period is set to be until 31 December 2020 - with the option of it being extended by 1-2 years, should it be necessary.
Very interesting conversation. Your thoughts about Brexit and the Scottish Independence referrenda were insightful. As a Scot who is committed to the Union what has been habitually missed is that many of us voted remain to avoid the prospect of another damaging independence vote. That was a primary concern for many of us and very few political commentators picked up on this. Unfortunately this has been used as a justification for the difference between Scotland and the rest of the Union, which may or may not be true on the issue of Europe, but the reality is far more nuanced. Many of my independence minded friends voted for Brexit. Their argument being why would we replace London with Brussels and Strasbourg?
Thank you John Anderson for opening up the dialog to discuss the amounting issues impacting western values and culture. The issues discussed here are issues that I've thought about and are concerned about, yet it's never openly discussed in the media or pollies. I'm greatful for all your hard work producing these talks! :) Sincerely a younger Aussie. (I hope things will change for the best soon)
Good discussion, but all of our academics can't seem to anticipate the consequences of bad behaviour while the bad behaviour is actually happening. They always seem to have discussions centered around crises that have already occurred. Its a little lazy, don't you think?
So, if people with EU Passports who originate from Lithuania or Germany come to South Wales to work, visit or to holiday is that bad? If it is, WHY is it bad? We can make rules to prevent anybody from mooching on the public purse. We should make rules to prevent citizens born in the UK from mooching. People think it's bad because they have likely never gone anywhere out of Britain but I bet those people who go to Spain or Portugal for holidays or to France or Germany or Holland for work don't think that sort of thing is bad. The UK population is an amalgam of native Celts, Irish, Anglo-saxon, German, French, Huguenot and immigrants from the four corners of the onetime empire. So tell me why is immigration such a terrible, awful thing to contemplate. The USA has benefited from immigration in many, many ways. Citizenship in the EU does not automatically mean UK citizenship can be conferred.
The population of Scotland is projected to continue increasing until around mid-2033, peaking at 5.53 million. It is then projected to fall by 0.6% to 5.49 million by mid-2045. The projections show Scotland's population falling below the mid-2020 baseline by around 2050.
Peter Hitchens with John Anderson- Sat right there going on and on abour he was so exasperated by the way people no lingwr seem to debate, differ, exchange differing ideas without letting uncivility seep in, and, no one gives reasons why they differ; also, he commented that nowadays, peple retaliate hy simply [trashing] tje individual who contradicts. THEN, as the chat comes over the peak, Donald Trump's name came up and the first thing he said was uncinplumentary WITHOUT saying WHAT he opposed, AND did so in a sruly, slightly mocking tone of voice. FURTHERMORE, John Anderson brought in the name of Jordan Peterson, and righr away Hitchens spoke in dismissive terms, in that same surly disapproving voice, discounring Dr Petersons message saying it was "PSYCHOBABBLE," and he wenr so far as to ADMIT he sounded jealous if Peterson bt his remarks, but ...glah blah blah." I say, " blah blah blah, BECAUSE IT WAS THEN I concluded Mr Hitchens' problem was he blatamrly cant even behave in the way he was so critical of just minutes before! ALSO, he complained openly- "no one will listen to me....(and), he would never fill lecture halls like Petetson does for his psycho-babble.,.PEOPLE ARE DRAWN TO JORDAN PETETSON for TWO REASONS: HE HAS CHARISMA ans GENTILITY, and his message is wholesome, simple, and effective. Hitchens may draw more listeners if he'd soften his stuffy demeanor and culrivate some warmth and charisma
Well, one party state has became one person state in fact and this person does not appreciate the universal value as we respect. WE DO NOT HAVE COMMON LANGUAGE!😅
