The Problem with the UN Security Council | "The fact is, Britain is a declining power." | Questions

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  • čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
  • Should Labour create an anti-corruption department if it wins the next election? How great a threat does AI pose to elections in 2024? Is soft power as important as Britain thinks it is?
    Listen to Rory and Alastair answer all these questions and more in this week's Question Time.
    TRIP Plus:
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    Just head to therestispolitics.com to sign up.
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    Email:
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    00:00 Intro
    00:30 Political resolutions
    02:25 Football re-locations
    08:25 School inspections
    09:55 Irish president on migration
    11:06 The murder of christians in Nigeria
    14:26 UN Security Council
    20:30 2024
    24:50 Japan's economy
    27:35 Russian influence
    30:25 Conservative legacy
    32:48 Good news

Komentáře • 442

  • @humblegamertube
    @humblegamertube Před 5 měsíci +22

    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.

  • @dondouglass6415
    @dondouglass6415 Před 5 měsíci +7

    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.. 😢

  • @murrayeldred3563
    @murrayeldred3563 Před 5 měsíci +53

    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.

    • @DylanSargesson
      @DylanSargesson Před 5 měsíci +2

      Where is that?

    • @murrayeldred3563
      @murrayeldred3563 Před 5 měsíci +12

      Central Asia. One of the Stans.😮

    • @JelMain
      @JelMain Před 5 měsíci +2

      @@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.

    • @pritapp788
      @pritapp788 Před 5 měsíci +2

      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.

    • @justgeneric2876
      @justgeneric2876 Před 5 měsíci +2

      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

  • @Matthew-bu7fg
    @Matthew-bu7fg Před 5 měsíci +11

    The only thing more tangled than Rory's earphones is Lee Anderson's political leanings

  • @Josh-iw3md
    @Josh-iw3md Před 5 měsíci +37

    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

  • @ianlawrie919
    @ianlawrie919 Před 5 měsíci +12

    I am always placed on a cloud of optimism after listening to The Rest is Politics 😃👍👏👌

  • @lynnehayward7309
    @lynnehayward7309 Před 5 měsíci +21

    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.

    • @seastnanseastnan7765
      @seastnanseastnan7765 Před 5 měsíci +7

      HR is NOT - and never will be - your friend!

    • @brubeker12
      @brubeker12 Před 5 měsíci

      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

  • @blehoo1
    @blehoo1 Před 5 měsíci +3

    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!

  • @bernadettesheehy5463
    @bernadettesheehy5463 Před 5 měsíci +5

    Rory ,please bring us hope !

  • @kevinmcguire1049
    @kevinmcguire1049 Před 5 měsíci +22

    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.

    • @joelomax
      @joelomax Před 5 měsíci

      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.

    • @tomemery7890
      @tomemery7890 Před 5 měsíci +1

      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.

    • @rickatatastan2695
      @rickatatastan2695 Před 5 měsíci

      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.

    • @GorgeDawes
      @GorgeDawes Před 5 měsíci

      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?

    • @buzzukfiftythree
      @buzzukfiftythree Před 5 měsíci

      @@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?

  • @LegendMahad
    @LegendMahad Před 5 měsíci +6

    Perfect guys thanks 😊

  • @tamoa5652
    @tamoa5652 Před 5 měsíci +4

    Great Podcast as always. And agree completely, gossip and leaks from permanent secretaries is inappropriate and counterproductive to the integrity of the fco.

  • @James-sh4zf
    @James-sh4zf Před 5 měsíci +12

    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!

  • @davidmccabe4041
    @davidmccabe4041 Před 4 měsíci

    Thank you for your generous comments on our presidents comments on immigrants arriving in Ireland. David McCabe Dublin oap!

  • @alst4817
    @alst4817 Před 5 měsíci +3

    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

  • @Pollllz
    @Pollllz Před 5 měsíci +14

    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.

  • @mikeakachorlton
    @mikeakachorlton Před 5 měsíci +9

    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...

    • @DJWESG1
      @DJWESG1 Před 5 měsíci

      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'.

  • @dsjwhite
    @dsjwhite Před 5 měsíci +4

    You guys are wonderful, thank you.

  • @suecole7338
    @suecole7338 Před 5 měsíci +6

    Great podcast. Thank you.

  • @skylineuk1485
    @skylineuk1485 Před 5 měsíci +7

    These are great discussions.

  • @tman8015
    @tman8015 Před 5 měsíci +13

    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?

    • @Thomas_basiv
      @Thomas_basiv Před 5 měsíci +2

      They did one with Ed Davey

    • @JelMain
      @JelMain Před 5 měsíci +4

      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.

    • @tman8015
      @tman8015 Před 5 měsíci +2

      @@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.

    • @JelMain
      @JelMain Před 5 měsíci

      @@tman8015 They're even more witless. Just give us a break.

  • @gordonbruce373
    @gordonbruce373 Před 5 měsíci

    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!!

  • @jonathaneffemey944
    @jonathaneffemey944 Před 5 měsíci

    Thanks for posting

  • @IAmTheOnlyLucas
    @IAmTheOnlyLucas Před 5 měsíci +8

    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.

    • @EllenRCox
      @EllenRCox Před 5 měsíci +1

      Thanks for the recommendation!

    • @uxb1112
      @uxb1112 Před 5 měsíci +1

      ​@@EllenRCox I believe you have missed the point. The writer seems to be being ironic

  • @heshamhallak3894
    @heshamhallak3894 Před 5 měsíci +7

    Thank you for your time and efforts guys

  • @dxrobins
    @dxrobins Před 5 měsíci +21

    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.

    • @JelMain
      @JelMain Před 5 měsíci +2

      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.

    • @DJWESG1
      @DJWESG1 Před 5 měsíci

      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.

    • @susannehartl3067
      @susannehartl3067 Před 5 měsíci +1

      🎯

  • @Tom_murray89
    @Tom_murray89 Před 5 měsíci +12

    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

    • @dreamcrusher112
      @dreamcrusher112 Před 5 měsíci

      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.

    • @hisdadjames4876
      @hisdadjames4876 Před 5 měsíci

      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.

    • @dreamcrusher112
      @dreamcrusher112 Před 5 měsíci

      @@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.

    • @hisdadjames4876
      @hisdadjames4876 Před 5 měsíci

      @@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.

    • @dreamcrusher112
      @dreamcrusher112 Před 5 měsíci

      @@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.

  • @halfamo2422
    @halfamo2422 Před 5 měsíci +3

    Dear Rory, it's vacuous, what can I say, but where's the stripy jumper from please?!

  • @kamitsu2352
    @kamitsu2352 Před 5 měsíci +11

    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.

    • @petergaskin1811
      @petergaskin1811 Před 5 měsíci +2

      I saw that they were either using, or thinking of using, SERCO to help them with their recruiting problems.
      Sic transit gloria Britanniae.

    • @williamdiffin28
      @williamdiffin28 Před 4 měsíci

      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.

  • @andypickett1
    @andypickett1 Před 5 měsíci +2

    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!

  • @steveknight878
    @steveknight878 Před 4 měsíci

    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.

  • @Phil....
    @Phil.... Před 5 měsíci

    Love the Q&As 👍

  • @benjaminblakemore9704
    @benjaminblakemore9704 Před 5 měsíci +2

    The media crew who manage "the rest is politics" need to give the boys Rory and Alistair some decent YAMAHA headphones 🎧 👌

  • @michaelowen8518
    @michaelowen8518 Před 5 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @stevenhoward3358
    @stevenhoward3358 Před 5 měsíci +8

    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.

    • @annettekearney9798
      @annettekearney9798 Před 5 měsíci +2

      Honestly that was beyond shocking.

    • @stevenhoward3358
      @stevenhoward3358 Před 5 měsíci +1

      and after watching DDN speak on the issue of funding and staffing of that channel, it suddenly becomes crystal clear.

  • @wallacetf
    @wallacetf Před 5 měsíci

    Rory back at it again with a jumper of note

  • @leonseymore263
    @leonseymore263 Před měsícem

    You did well .... the trick was to end positively

  • @Matthew-bu7fg
    @Matthew-bu7fg Před 5 měsíci +2

    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)

  • @leighgoodwin1726
    @leighgoodwin1726 Před 5 měsíci +2

    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.

    • @chrisburrow2884
      @chrisburrow2884 Před 5 měsíci

      It may have escaped your notice, but there is a staffing crisis in education due to pay being crap

  • @wellardsmith3629
    @wellardsmith3629 Před 5 měsíci +3

    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.

  • @gkelly34
    @gkelly34 Před 5 měsíci

    I shouldn’t have found your bad memory discussion funny, but I almost PMSL 🤣

  • @davidnorton7437
    @davidnorton7437 Před 5 měsíci +8

    Years and years of moral decline have finished us.

  • @andrewsmith-jf6ou
    @andrewsmith-jf6ou Před 5 měsíci +2

    Add please the positive things that have happened in astronomy for your Positive Pod cast !

  • @TheGibbsy13
    @TheGibbsy13 Před 5 měsíci

    Rory Stewart … we demand you get back into politics . You are our only hope 🙏

  • @billfromgermany
    @billfromgermany Před 5 měsíci

    If politicians slag off „the blob“ is it surprising that senior civil servants respond?

  • @chipbutty1971
    @chipbutty1971 Před 5 měsíci +3

    The doom-laden face that Alistair Campbell pulled was priceless. Ribbing aside, great podcast 👍

    • @DJWESG1
      @DJWESG1 Před 5 měsíci

      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.

    • @uxb1112
      @uxb1112 Před 5 měsíci

      ​@@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.

  • @playingFTSE
    @playingFTSE Před 5 měsíci

    Rory - what order are your books in the background? It looks a bit chaotic!

  • @adifferentwayuk3335
    @adifferentwayuk3335 Před 5 měsíci +1

    Come back Rory!!

  • @HieronymousCheese
    @HieronymousCheese Před 5 měsíci

    I want to hear more from Half Woman, Half Mince Pie. Sounds like a perfect partner!!!

  • @AB-zl4nh
    @AB-zl4nh Před 5 měsíci +5

    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.

    • @uxb1112
      @uxb1112 Před 5 měsíci

      You truly have just no idea. I would keep quiet in future if I were you

  • @berosmith9041
    @berosmith9041 Před 5 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @ourwetdogs5232
    @ourwetdogs5232 Před 5 měsíci +1

    Always leaves me with food for thought which is in itself an achievement - keep up the good work guys 😎

  • @rodericde876
    @rodericde876 Před 5 měsíci +4

    The trouble with Sunak doing what he believes in is that he only believes in lining his own nest.

  • @elspethgibson7625
    @elspethgibson7625 Před 5 měsíci +2

    Good news story is Uraguay's transition to a non fossil economy.

  • @trevorgent14
    @trevorgent14 Před 5 měsíci

    Good news plus partners….yay! Yes please

  • @willhovell9019
    @willhovell9019 Před 4 měsíci

    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.

  • @SkeletonDrums1
    @SkeletonDrums1 Před 5 měsíci +1

    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.

    • @merlestayne1171
      @merlestayne1171 Před 5 měsíci

      Thank you both for upholding decent values. Without this approach politics is finished. Really support you both and send love and blessings.

  • @ecaeas4439
    @ecaeas4439 Před 5 měsíci +6

    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.

    • @uxb1112
      @uxb1112 Před 5 měsíci +3

      Your sideways swipe at "Great" Britain as usual fails to comprehend the "Great" is geographical

  • @jasonbarnes4488
    @jasonbarnes4488 Před 5 měsíci +1

    You should interview with Peter Zeihan about geopolitics

  • @LesOubliesQuebec
    @LesOubliesQuebec Před 5 měsíci +3

    We need to hold platform/medias accountable for Deepfake usage

  • @eddycurrant1380
    @eddycurrant1380 Před 5 měsíci +5

    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

    • @seamuspadraigsanders431
      @seamuspadraigsanders431 Před 5 měsíci

      In what sense future predictions under brexit Britain are sterling, Labour and remain next year is judged to be one of the biggest disaster in economic history undoing Brexit gains and turning back multiple positive economic forecasts by worldwide experts.

  • @jimb9063
    @jimb9063 Před 5 měsíci +3

    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.

  • @makutarix1769
    @makutarix1769 Před 5 měsíci +8

    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!

    • @stuartwray6175
      @stuartwray6175 Před 5 měsíci +8

      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.

  • @Yossarian_Lives73
    @Yossarian_Lives73 Před 5 měsíci

    Never forget Rory’saTory! Happy with austerity, toxic environment for legal asylum seekers.

  • @Blackcomanche
    @Blackcomanche Před 5 měsíci

    Do Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell have anything to say on Mr. Bates v. Post Office?

  • @skylineuk1485
    @skylineuk1485 Před 5 měsíci +1

    Swapping shirts in Belfast, what could have gone wrong with that lol.

  • @Logic78600
    @Logic78600 Před 5 měsíci +4

    Best podcast going around
    Rory is a superstar 🎉

    • @annettekearney9798
      @annettekearney9798 Před 5 měsíci

      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).

    • @Aan_allein
      @Aan_allein Před 5 měsíci

      @@annettekearney9798 We are still the party of middle England and we will be back Anette :)

  • @georgestone8099
    @georgestone8099 Před 5 měsíci +2

    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?

    • @shauntempley9757
      @shauntempley9757 Před 5 měsíci

      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.

  • @docastrov9013
    @docastrov9013 Před 5 měsíci

    Material relating to David Kelly hasn't been released. Still secret. I wonder why?

  • @bevenden68
    @bevenden68 Před 5 měsíci

    Hey Alistair. Fancy meeting for coffee outside the Hague sometime?

  • @carrigadaashcroft
    @carrigadaashcroft Před 5 měsíci +1

    Why has Alistair Campbells head gone blue green?

  • @tamaliaalisjahbana6849
    @tamaliaalisjahbana6849 Před 4 měsíci

    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.

  • @s6352
    @s6352 Před 5 měsíci +2

    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 ‼️

  • @brianlamont2482
    @brianlamont2482 Před 5 měsíci

    3:48 is one of the most mental ideas I have ever heard

  • @elinstar6034
    @elinstar6034 Před 5 měsíci

    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

  • @stevenwilliamson6236
    @stevenwilliamson6236 Před 5 dny

    Rushdie wrote that he remembered making jokes about what would happen if China invaded India when they were at war. Then he talked to his uncles or whoever and they said there were no such jokes.

  • @JB-tn6ty
    @JB-tn6ty Před 5 měsíci +3

    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.

  • @johnmichaelcule8423
    @johnmichaelcule8423 Před 5 měsíci

    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.

  • @mikerandall995
    @mikerandall995 Před 4 měsíci

    What do you think of private secretaires

  • @benjaminblakemore9704
    @benjaminblakemore9704 Před 5 měsíci +2

    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 🇳🇿 😄

    • @DJWESG1
      @DJWESG1 Před 5 měsíci

      I don't think thats a thing.

    • @edwardjons8684
      @edwardjons8684 Před 5 měsíci

      There isn’t much science behind our understanding of body language - not worth reading much into it.

  • @janpetersen7440
    @janpetersen7440 Před 5 měsíci +12

    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.

    • @geoffwright9570
      @geoffwright9570 Před 5 měsíci +3

      Why Britain can't just be satisfied with being an independent country that still has some standing in the modern world

    • @ecaeas4439
      @ecaeas4439 Před 5 měsíci

      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?

    • @janpetersen7440
      @janpetersen7440 Před 5 měsíci +8

      @@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.

    • @geoffwright9570
      @geoffwright9570 Před 5 měsíci

      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.

    • @janpetersen7440
      @janpetersen7440 Před 5 měsíci +6

      @@geoffwright9570 Then it was stupid to opt out of the EU trade union.

  • @margaretmcnamee6411
    @margaretmcnamee6411 Před 5 měsíci +7

    Here in the USA we feel doomed and it relates to the polls that show Trump winning

    • @DJWESG1
      @DJWESG1 Před 5 měsíci +1

      That generation will soon be gone, and all that will be left will be their children apologising for their parents actions.

  • @jonathanellwood
    @jonathanellwood Před 5 měsíci

    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.

  • @davidwright8432
    @davidwright8432 Před 4 měsíci

    New Year's resolution for party leaders? Tell the truth; don't equivocate and dodge responsibility. Chance of this happening? Zero.

  • @matthewnewberry7275
    @matthewnewberry7275 Před 5 měsíci +1

    The UK could give up it's security council position but it is not the UK's to give away.

  • @Mortarion6666
    @Mortarion6666 Před 5 měsíci

    can't stop laughing at the intro 😂😂😂

  • @davecap2641
    @davecap2641 Před 5 měsíci +1

    Should the UN be more democratic and remove the veto.

  • @enawilson3210
    @enawilson3210 Před 5 měsíci +2

    I think the world is at a tipping point of no return.far to many players coming forward with desive policy .

  • @juliangreaves4727
    @juliangreaves4727 Před 5 měsíci

    Dear Rory, will you please untangle your earphone cables 😊

  • @huwzebediahthomas9193
    @huwzebediahthomas9193 Před 5 měsíci

    MK Dons - Wimbledon Concrete Cows FC.

  • @PaulMcCormack1968
    @PaulMcCormack1968 Před 5 měsíci

    Regarding the request for Good News - maybe an interview with Adam Dorr from RethinkX?

  • @NikoHL
    @NikoHL Před 5 měsíci

    We're DooooMED...😂😂

  • @davesy6969
    @davesy6969 Před 5 měsíci

    We want xmas jumpers!
    We want xmas jumpers!

  • @stevenlynas8930
    @stevenlynas8930 Před 5 měsíci +2

    A couple of tories having a chat . How cosy!

  • @Vientianelover
    @Vientianelover Před 5 měsíci +1

    France and Russia are also declining powers.

  • @bjrnhjjakobsen2174
    @bjrnhjjakobsen2174 Před 5 měsíci +4

    The destiny of the Inca empire comes into mind when thinking about the UK.

  • @kellyvaters1689
    @kellyvaters1689 Před 5 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @simonspeechley2859
    @simonspeechley2859 Před 5 měsíci +1

    Could you reform HoL by selecting 100 crossbenchers by robust expert only basis plus 88 elected peers (only from remaining peers) using the constituencies of former EP with same electoral method, electors known as Advisors to King, recognising that upper house is supposedly at the patronage of the Sovereign. Plus whole UK seat for a Lord Protector charged with safeguarding the constitution. A monarch called Charles should have his own LP.

    • @nadiasawicki4108
      @nadiasawicki4108 Před 5 měsíci

      I thought Charles was the Lord Protector he has the title of defender of the faith.

    • @simonspeechley2859
      @simonspeechley2859 Před 5 měsíci

      @@nadiasawicki4108 I am referring to Oliver! the guy who had no 1’s head removed. I assume you must be American since you don’t seem to instinctually remember British history.

  • @missma7882
    @missma7882 Před 5 měsíci +1

    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. .

  • @Yossarian_Lives73
    @Yossarian_Lives73 Před 5 měsíci

    Yeah memory, dossiers, Dr Kelly, understandable. Only an entire region destabilised for decades, not a biggie.