Yes I enjoy the podcasts, do not agree with everything but at least it's a reasonable discussion. To me and I am now a pensioner but feel the quality of politicians is at an all time low, the post office scandal, the blood scandal is shameful just don't understand why they cannot do the right thing.
An interviewer should immediately remind the audience that the politician has swerved the question. We could have a score displayed at the end of how many questions were directly answered.
I wonder if I could create an AI model which analyzes interview and generate a scorecard... I'll get on it... eventually maybe, anyone else interested?
@@gdwe1831 If politicians ever answered truthfully, nobody would ever vote for ANY political party. That is because the truth about most subjects is the problems are caused by the voters themselves and if politicians actually solved the problem most of the voters would be hurt. Take Brexit. The UK's economic problems have been caused by the voters being too stupid and the solutions would be way too painful for the voters to stomach.
@@gregorybiestek3431While it’s certainly true that plenty of problems are voter-driven, the politicians are far from innocent. You used Brexit as an example. Yes, in my view as well as yours’ people were fools for voting for it, but plenty only did so because politicians told them it would be a good idea, or that it would be a consequence-free way to snub the government.And the media didn’t hold them to account for those lies either, just gave them a platform on which to shout them louder.
@@tayetrotman Yes, your point about politicians is valid, but there have ALWAYS been such people. The difference is when voters have ANY critical thinking skills, they are not effective. As an observer from across the pond, it seems that the UK has the same proportion, about 20% of your population that is like the ones we have in the USA. Low awareness of the facts, extremely nationalistic, & highly xenophobic. They are angered by their lack of economic well-being so they believe that their betterment can only happen if they can demonize minorities, immigrants, the homeless, etc. They are quick to agree with any cultural war statements & will back any populist politician. The phrase 'Stupid is as stupid does" comes to mind.
There was a Yes Minister episode where Jim Hacker explains to Bernard that the way to do an interview is to ignore the questions, say "what the question really is" or "what the people really want to know is" and recite your prepared statement. At the time, people thought Yes Minister was satire...
I'm a bit more serious. I'm not voting because I expect a competent candidate somewhere. Like Diogenes, it's the fruitless search for an honest man. As far as I'm concerned, a low tuirn-out indicates complete dissatisfaction with the establishment "if it was good enough for my peasant serf ancestor, it's good enough for me" blah-blah, generations of voting as your father did must stop. They're not loyal to anything other than themselves.
@@JelMain Completely agree, it is the thing that irks me the most. People voting for labour just because tory bad is awful logic and a massive let off for labour, likewise the other way round.
The vast majority of people under 40 aren't getting news/media via newspapers. Newspapers are mostly right-wing, but media as a whole, including social-media, television, etc. is largely centre-left. I'm not sure why there's such focus on newspapers, when they're becoming increasingly irrelevant.
I disagree, there is a lot of social media that is far right, you can generally tell as they often push conspiracy theories which drag people in that would normally never support the far right into doing just that.
Ignorance for political convenience. From memory close to 60% of all news media consumption in the UK is from the BBC - yet every election we’re told it’s not that liberal/progressive policies and people are unpopular or ill thought out that causes lost elections, it’s because the thick-as-mince public has been bamboozled, brainwashed and/or radicalised by dastardly media moguls.
I'm not sure social media is centre left. That's not how I would describe the people who own it and it presents different things to different people based on its algorithms of what it believes they want to hear and potentially how the operators want to influence people. If you are seeing centre-left is that because you are a little further left?
Yes, living in NYC I want Politics to be BORING again - only enjoyed as sport by geeks. Sensible & responsible Americans are freaked out & exhausted as Trump still looms.
I went to vote earlier in the local elections, I was the 60th person to vote this was in the evening and there are about 1,000 people eligible per polling station, turn out of the less than 10% the officer said in the polling station, worse than normal, our area is a close battle between Lib Dems and Labour in terms of the council. The officer said 'people don't seem to think local election matter, MP's are higher ranking than councillors, but councillors actually do a lot the affect people's everyday lives more so in many ways than MP's do, so it's important people vote'.
After hearing both Rory's Irish accent and his pronunciation of 'Cillian', I'm beginning to understand why he was never sent on a diplomatic mission to Ireland...
That's a poor attitude. There will still be somebody deciding things that affect you, choose one of them. It doesn't have to be Labour or Conservatives. Choose an independent if their campaign leaflet sounds good, it's better than not voting. The reason for Brexit was because some voters started supporting UKIP, which in turn got the Tories scared and they tried to ape UKIP a bit in rhetoric and submitted, catastrophically, to the Leave referendum. Envisage one of the big two parties feeling the need to adopt the policies of the Greens, Lib Dems or independents if they got a significant chunk of the vote due to good policies, then we can influence the country's politics for the better. Not bothering to vote is never going to help. It's 10 or 20 minutes out of your day; have a gentle stroll to the local polling station, get a smile and a polite request for your name and ID, mark the ballot paper and it's done. It can't hurt!
@@danyoutube7491 We are currently living abroad so voting in the UK would be possible, but a little more complicated. I think the voting system itself also puts people off. I would prefer a form of Proportional Representation. I am personally very disillusioned since Brexit. I don't think the UK has yet woken up to the scale of the self inflicted disaster that Brexit has caused to the British economy, our reputation and our future. Anyway, thank you for your thoughtful and thought invoking reply.
@@grantwallace1882 I would certainly welcome PR too, there's a lot to improve about our political system. The House of Lords needs a revamp as well. Thank you in turn for your own response :)
I think possibly my favourite thing about the "That's not the question we should be asking here, the REAL question is..." cop out answer is that it's been around for so long, it's actually got it's own wee scene in Yes Prime Minister from back in the 80s from when Bernard talks to the press
Peter Bone had a standing invitation to appear on Newsnight with his celebrated catchphrase of 'not what I'm hearing on the doorstep'. In fact, it occurred to me that he must be possessed of superpowers that he could be so often on his feet in the Commons chamber, while simultaneously camped out on the doorsteps of his Wellingborough constituency. The great moment of revelation came to me when he failed his recall petition and I coined the title for his future memoirs ... 'What I never heard on the doorstep'.
As we found out, Mr Bone spent most of his time on and off the doorstep of his mistress, while constantly referring to his wife in the House of Commons.
Can you talk about Nuclear Power? Why are we not investing in such efficient reliable energy? Why are environmentalists classically against it? It would be amazing for reducing our CO2 production, increasing our energy security and increase the reliability of our energy sector.
We are, there are multiple new reactors under construction which are expected to be finished in the 2030s. This was announced in 2022 by Johnson. Additionally, a British company is leading the charge in scaling down both fission and fusion power to allow the technology to be used on a smaller and more versatile scale, there even talks with ESA to use the this during the Artemis programme. And lastly, the UK and EU are leaders in the world on cooperating with developing fusion reactors.
And the U.K. is? What an absolute joke statement. I advise you to visit India during an election, like I have twice and you’ll see a real democracy in action. You realise, due to its size and geography, you get 2 months to vote in India, not a few hour window like in the U.K. just cause you don’t like the result, doesn’t mean mean it’s not the greatest democracy in the planet. After years of the West and its own people putting it down, it has someone that is increasing national pride, which if you look at its rich diversity through culture, language, food, music, dress, dance, theatre, religion, faith, sport, science, maths, human endeavour etc etc, etc it should have always had. iIt’s given the world so much, and yet people only ever took from it. Now it’s rising up, people don’t like it, understandably.
Great show. My daughter told me about this channel. Never really liked Aliastar Campbell but now he is out the Westminster bubble his commentary is highly informative and insightful. Great balance in views.
I wanted to vote today and organised my proxy vote as I will be out of the country today. When my proxy tried to vote on my behalf with ID and documents he was - eventually told proxy votes only apply for the general election- I’m struggling to see why. This is a form of voter suppression. 😢
We've been using voter ID in another part of the "UK" for the past TWENTY years.....nothing new. The ID card is free. it is not voter suppression. Not enough tin foil in the world for that hat you are keen to wear. Btw...nothing to do with fraud...The voting numbers since ID was introduced show that was a myth.
@@DylanSargesson my son was told it was only for the GE. The staff at the polling station had to call an office to get this information as they did not know about this either. No where was I asked to specify which election I was requesting proxy vote and postal vote not recommended - still voter suppression in my view.
The question about Congo and Rwanda was clearly rhetorical. It seems that he didn't know about the ongoing conflict between these two countries and that is why he was so confused. The fact that he didn't know about it is appalling given that they want to send people to a country that is at war with one of its neighbours.
For the lady who enquired about the French position on the asylum seekers trying to get to the UK on small boats, you should have mentioned that after Brexit, France suggested that the UK process asylum seekers in an outpost in Calais. The proposal was turned down by the UK. As usual blaming the French for everything is a UK national hobby especially prevalent in the rag newspapers and I dislike seeing no pushback from journalists, commentators, or politicians. The people who voted for Brexit were drip fed poison for years and years, and nobody cared.
What will the right-wing do? Whatever it takes to win, regardless. No limits, no morals, no regrets. These Tories now are very right-wing dominated, and regular Conservatives left or were booted out. Only a massive defeat can shake them from this trance and bring them to their senses, if they don't change their party dies. Even a left-winger like me acknowledges this isn't good for democracy.
I wish the media (not just newspapers and right-wing outlets) would point out that these aren't your grandfathers (or even fathers) Conservatives - like you say, 'regular' Conservatives were all evicted for not voting for Johnson's 'oven-ready' Brexit deal (which turned out to be half-baked). There was basically a coup in the Tory party, whilst they were in government, but nobody wants to discuss it.
Respectfully to Alistair, if he's asking where George Galloway is since that election, he's not paying attention. Galloway has made multiple speeches in commons already and was head to head with Susanna Reid on GMB the other day.
Many years ago when Premier Colin Barnett and Treasurer Mike Nahan where in office here in Western Australia there was review of a post-release prison program serving part of Perth. They halved the budget from AUD$50M over three years after finding the program made no difference in reoffending rates. I don't know if the funding stayed in that ministry or if they reviewed any other programs to see which were effective.
There's something rather surreal about "The Rest Is Politics" being preceded by an advert for the computer game "War Thunder", which is also being presented in German.
What the listener asking about performance related pay for footballers does not understand is that what is reported is a base salary. At the top clubs all players get bonuses for performance and extra for every game they play. Goalkeepers and defenders for clean sheets. Strikers for goals. Midfielders for assists and goals. You can take the amount seen on places like Spotrac for a player and virtually double it to get their true salary.
Don't not vote. Go in and spoil your paper if you can't bring yourself to vote for any of them, but at least prove that you care by turning up at the polling station. My son always votes for whoever he thinks will come second. MPs in marginal seats campaign on behalf of their constituents.
I don’t live in London but I’d certainly be voting Khan if I did. The alternative Tory candidate is just awful. How can anyone seriously think of supporting her?
Right and left doesn’t really capture it...Both are lost in flakey shibboleths. Right wing is not Conservative anymore….left wing is not socialist and set upon progressive culture issues. Bloody confusing.
12:25 turnout will be low because so many people feel unrepresented. People are sick of the Tories and Labour are going to win by default, but Starmer is not loved either.
In my younger years I was an avid reader of the Telegraph & bought the Sunday Times & Telegraph though never a tory voterbI enjoyed their journalism and articles. However the Telegraph now is unreadable. I just wish I could justify the cost of the online FT.
"Is Left-Leaning Media Too 'Worthy'?" .... The right tends to think everyone is as venal as they are and the left tends to think no one is as virtuous as them. I read the online Guardian every day. The piety, virtue signalling and self-righteousness of the columnists is comical and repellent.
I think this is why a lot of people would describe themselves as a “centrist”. Both sides of the debate are kind of repellant in their own way. I’m still waiting for a UK politician who can explain the benefits of left wing policies, without coming across like a vicar or saint.
@@col.hertford9855 caring about social justice doesnt make you a vicar or a saint. The young will always be left wing cos they care about the biggest problems facing us.
The Guardian isn't left leaning, it's liberal. There was a chance of a genuinely left leaning government a few years ago and the Guardian did everything in their power to character assassinate the leader.
The right-wing media are allowed to get away with it because as you mentioned Cameron and May cancelled Levirson2 it is a shame Labour dropped it as well😢 the right wing print press won't do Labour any favours what so ever. I do hope they change their mind, If Labour is fortunate to win the next general election.
A bit rich of two men who were involved in the illegal invasion of Iraq and are currently not standing up for Palestinians to critize Modi for anti-Muslim sentiment. The BJP have voted in favour of Palestine in every recent UN forum.
If the turnout is low, I'd contend that it would be out of a poorness of choice and calibre of the participating parties. I personally feel uninspired and unengaged with what's out there and feel that whoever is in power after 4th July will be out of their depth and will be yet another National disappointment.
And it should not be profit making. Just the facts & context. We are giving platforms to disruptive narcissistic lunatics on the left & right for clicks.
I do understand why young people are apathetic about politics and vote less than us older ones. I can observe through my lifetime the benefits that Labour governments have brought to our nation, but the difference between the two main parties is less now, especially under Starmer. I still want a Labour government though, because to have 5 more years of incompetent government (which is what the Tories have become) is unbearable.
I would be in favour of compulsory voting as in Australia together with a reformed Second Chamber, the abolition of the Honours System and something radical done about lobbying. Then, in the afternoon, world peace.
Thuringia voted massively for Hitler. The Protestant petty bourgeois in the east of Germany were the first which supported Hitler. It’s no surprise they fascist again. Adenauer wasn’t particularly keen to unify Germany because he feared it. He drew the curtains when travelling to Berlin by train. Bad memories.
States in the former East Germany have not, by and large, benefitted as much as the west of the country from reunification. It is, therefore, not surprising that states like Thuringia see AFD as an option. Fascism is growing right across Europe (with a few exceptions) and that is exceptionally worrying. The problem is that we don’t teach political history sufficiently well.
Where's George Galloway gone? I get lots of recommendations for him on RU-vid, the last of which was a clip of him on Good Morning Britain where Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid tried to put the boot in Corbyn-style with ridiculous questions about Saddam Hussain which GG soundly rebutted. That was on Novara Media to which I am subscribed in addition to TRIP.
I wonder if you could interest young people in politics if they were given the vote for local elections at 16. It is local authorities who hold the purse strings for youth services so young people could see a direct outcome from their vote. I can imagine that this would spark their interest (and improve youth services as a great by-product).
Have you noticed how much we hear about REFORM, who won 2 giving them a total of 2 vs what we hear about the GREENS who won 74, giving them a total of 181. Why do we hear so much about reform -- or nigel farage, who has failed to become an MP every time he's tried it. Who decides what is 'public interest' and what is not?
Politiics is supposed to be "dull as dishwaster". We don't want ridiculous antics and nonsense acting out. We just need good systems , good admin, good bureaucrats, a well supported civil service.
Voter from India! voted for the SP (socialists), i agree that modis India has become ever increasingly authoritarian. He has attacked democratic institutions of the nation and the free press has vanished from mainstream television, but it would be insincere to compare it to saudi arabia! we have a very rich and deep-rooted democratic tradition, we are a federal country and we are hyperdiverse so it isn't right to paint the entire country in a single brush stroke! As far as discrimination is considered it isn't restricted to a narrow religious/sectarian divide, it is far more complicated and i would say that most outsiders use an exotic/orientalist lens through which they oversimplify the situation at hand. Institutional discrimination towards minorities isnt the real problem, rather its the larger narrative being spread that has infiltrated the masses and undermined the countries age old secular traditions that is the larger issue! there has been a fundamental change brought to the fabric of society using social media based propoganda! I would recommend you bring on someone like RC Guha to discuss the indian elections
Your narrative feeds into the very backwards and negative impressions that Westerners like to paint of India. I’m from the U.K. born and bred 3rd generation via East Africa, but have kept my Indian roots alive through music, language, religion,, diet, values and many, many other aspects, all of which I am very grateful for. I have national pride in India, however, I rarely see that pride in my fellow colleagues and workmates based in India. They seem genuinely surprised that I’m an Indophile and they very rarely speak of their traditions, festivals, or culture, even though I enthuse about it. It’s not wrong to have that nationalistic pride if your country has forgotten it due to being invaded over and over and then your politicians not promoting that richness and diversity of culture that you talk about. Be proud of your country, it’s an amazing place, like no other.
@@sarangistudent8614 I'm sorry to tell you that what you are calling tradition/culture isn't universally applicable on a country as hyper diverse as india! You haven't understood the point I'm making! This grievance of india losing its culture and traditions due to some generational trauma of being invaded is a myth and is created by the upper castes in their quest for ever increasing hegemony! The vast majority of indians who are not upper castes and are bahujans are the real people from whom upper castes have stolen their identities, customs and traditions! I am from a backward caste and despite being from the 1% of my community who always grew up in upper caste dominated surroundings realised how fundamentally different my values and upbringing was! The main faultline in india isn't the clash of civilisations that the hindutva right wants to propagate nor the economic division that the liberals of Congress want to propagate! It is the fault line of caste that is the fundamental issue! How can you living in Britain for generations make a judgement on weather I have pride in my country or not! But what I do know is that inculcating pride in the people of a nation isn't at the expense of the democratic institutions and traditions! I am all for the BJP spreading its cultural message despite my ideological opposition to it until it maintains the vibrant democracy that india had been since 1947!
Trust. A much over abused word by politicians. How many of them say ' The truth is ' like what they are about to say is absolutely right and any other answer is wrong
If Labour intend to pursue policies that will actually be beneficial to the majority of the electorate then it will not manage a second term without serious press reform!!!
They could achieve a lot with such a huge majority ie voting reform to ranked voting, improve press regulation so gb news lbc etc need balance and cant have political presenters. Regulate water companies. Fix the nhs. But I am less than hopeful.
Talking of political cliches, I was wondering if "[I am doing X]...because its the right thing to do" would come up This was constantly wheeled out to avoid engaging with substance by Blair, and was also adopted heavily by Cameron. Sunak seems to use it ad nauseam too.
Omg the academy thing is ridiculous. Not only does it disadvantage the academy kids but in the linked schools their high profile pushes other kids down.
All this irrelevant whinging about rightwing legacy media is tiresome and off-putting, and the main reason why I might stop listening to Rory and Alistair. They need to take the genuine talking points expressed by the right more seriously and stop using "right wing" as a way to dismiss anyone who doesn't agree with them as if they are all just bigoted morons. AC is particularly culpable for this but RS is not innocent of it either. I like Rory and Alistair, but this is a major weakness of their podcast, and makes me reconsider whether it's worth spending my time listening to them. Anyone who witnessed AC dismissing Douglas Murray of all people as a "right wing non-entity" before pathetically flouncing out of Piers Morgan's show, rather than answer his talking points, will have seen just how much of a problem this is.
If you cannot see the harm RW media has inflicted upon, and continues to inflict on this country then your powers of logical reasoning are sadly lacking...
Votes for Kennedy leading to a grotesque President you say? Not a word for the Democrats' shift to the right that would enable such a result. How about a discussion on the validity of the voting system that excludes left leaning voters in such a 'baked in' way.
Your average voter knows that unless you live in a marginal then at most elections, almost half of voters are wasting their time, in some constituencies more than half the votes are wasted. Most people are sick of the system where voters are divided into winners and losers, we want a system where we get to choose our representatives and those elected reflects the pattern of voting of all the electorate, not just those who lucked out to come out top.
Election turnout: It will seem very petty but at almost 70 years of age and having only ever missed voting in one local or national election I decided not to vote today. Why? Because of the voter identification requirements. I dont have a passport or driving licence, bus pass etc & just can't be bothered jumping through hoops to apply for a voter identification card.
I don't think Rory Stewart is right about France being a "safe country". This would be relevant if UK were still part of the Dublin Agreement or had an equivalent deal post Brexit but we aren't and we haven't. Another Brexit benefit.
Yep, if you are fleeing a violent country then France may still seem potentially violent as the French police are routinely heavily armed and I don't believe there are any official statistics published about their usage. Also, for refugees from certain countries their second language may be English or French and that may determine where they want to claim asylum.
I am not a cyber warrior in modi's camp by any means. Or not even remotely right wing. But the British media painting modi as a Muslim hating authoritarian who just polarizes the country is just appalling. Politics in India was very bad, corrupt and undemocratic before he came along. Nobody would speak about development or talk about a vision. He cleaned up the system single handedly. Made systems and processes efficient across the board. National security, trade, exports, foreign relations, the political system everything has dramatically improved. He galvanized a billion people into having a common vision and think of development rather than fighting over petty issues. From the outside, u guys have zilch idea about how undemocratic politics used to be before he came along. If a politician has a son or daughter, it used to be inevitable that they'd take over the mantle and modi has brought professionalism in this. And his own party is completely merit based. He picks chief ministers and cabinet ministers purely based on merit and not populism, which was the only way it used to happen earlier. Yes the otherization of minority communities is a thing. But on the ground, on the things that matter, everyone gets the same benefits, same vision and I can confidently say a level playing field. Every Indian family knew how politics was played out earlier with the intention of consolidation of minority votes, that is being removed now. That moniker of India being 'not China' is extremely myopic and ignorant and relies on secondary or tertiary information. The other parties don't have a plank to stand on, and they drum up the polarization aspect. Modi's vision is delivering holistic development which the other parties could never do when they had the chance. They're visionless and leader less and have to rely on inciting fear about shrinking democratic space or idea of India or polarization. It's just not the impression of people on the ground. I've not read enough history to know how this authoritarian tendency increases over time in a leader, but I'll be keenly watching this one out. But this is by far the best option the country has right now, so much so that another viable option just cannot emerge. Please be informed better
Rory, generally speaking, is apolitical during these podcasts. Alistair hopelessly all pro Labour anti-Tory bashing. Spoils a great concept in my opinion.
When it comes to commonly used terms/phrases by the current crop of politicians, I dislike the term "difficult decisions". I have no idea what it means. I think it means "we got that decision entirely wrong", but they cannot say this. The phrase I dislike opens with "(Well, what) I would say (is)....". I have no idea whether the politician is saying/thinking something or not.
Annoyin phrases - since Brexit the Tories justify *everything* as "the right thing to do* as some kind of moral imperative in lieu of any evidence or logic or rationale.... 🤬🤬🤬
Interesting as always that Rory didn't actually answer the "who would you vote for?" question. I can almost understand why he'd keep his actual vote in London Mayoralty confidential, but why would it be the same when dealing in the hypothetical of foreign elections you can't vote in.
Interesting brief discussion on the impact of brain injury from heading in football. Australia and the US are way ahead on this in their football codes. Soccer/football need to seriously get on to this, from the human impact level and the medico-legal side. Lots of lawsuits emerging.
Cheers gents. Made me smile concerning how boring, worthy, or racy things are seen. In a former life and time, there seemed to be a rough consensus with fellow history and politics students that while Gladstone was more sensible and policies more preferable, Dizzy was far more interesting and fun, and the one who you'd prefer going for a pint with. Do you go with your head or your heart?
I voted in my local election this morning and I'll never miss a vote again because I can't stand blaming myself for something like Brexit. My vote may not count in FPTP but it's all I can do.
The media bias is interesting, good example is we know who drank a tin of gin and tonic on a train, but less easily recall who watched porn in the chamber of the House of Commons…
So now, to allegedly fix a problem of ‘voter fraud’ that effectively never existed in the first place, we must take photo ID with us in order to vote. This will for sure reduce voter turnout, as well being yet another bureaucratic requirement out of the many that are strangling life.
@KaffeeKitteh Russian interference in elections is to do with disinformation concerning the issues at stake (and who said what etc). It has precisely nothing to do with fake voters being allegedly able to vote.
As a Left leaning Centrist, I have a lot sympathy for both the views espoused by Rory and Alastair… That said, I feel that Alastair is being disingenuous in blaming the ownership of the Right Wing press for overdue influence in public perception. In my view [and, hey, who am I to judge?] much of the public make their political assessments on the basis of views they adopted in their 20s - which may reflect the situation 10-50 years ago… What we need is a push toward a politically aware/literate electorate. Not something any party is likely to promulgate as a policy that want to implement in their manifesto…. No one is going to win power by telling the electorate they’re stupid… But it needs to be addressed - and will benefit Labour and progressives generally. The Tories benefit from a stupid electorate. Labour from an emotionally caring electorate. The electorate as a whole doesn’t benefit from either as default attitude. Pragmatic politics is about forming judgements based on priorities. Let’s try to arrive at a public perception which is capable of making such judgements… God knows how we achieve this… Education? Suggestions welcome…
For starters......Learn to listen to people you probably disagree with, at least 3 times as often as those you agree with. Do not be afraid to at least seek out another point of view. Anyone confident in their own point of view will have no problem listening to a different one. What is there to fear? We learn nothing from only hearing what we already believe.
Alastair complains about hearing; "on the doorstep" fae politicians. Every week he's done a hands up poll at some dinner party of aw his pals and donors. Gies peace mate. You're ay doing the same
