#54 When the party's over - the decline of conservatism w/ Andy Beckett
Added 2019-07-21 18:20:27 +0000 UTCAndy Beckett joins me to explain why he believes, despite being in power on both sides of the Atlantic, conservatism is in decline and how conservative ideology is proving itself unable to adjust to the challenges of the 21st century. The interview was prompted by Andy's long-read in the Guardian,
‘A zombie party’: the deepening crisis of conservatism':
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/28/a-zombie-party-the-deepening-crisis-of-conservatism
Comments
Yes, I think that's a very good point - I was saying something similar to a friend the other day who had also listened to the show. Certainly a missed opportunity to discuss the alt-right. Hopefully, that will be addressed in a future show.
Politics Theory Other
2019-07-30 11:32:16 +0000 UTCThis was interesting. It's certainly true that it's useful to highlight the ideological shortcomings of the current right and the problems they have building a support base. But on reflection, I thought it was unfortunate that the discussion didn't address more explicitly the role of the alt-right. Here we have ideas quite different from both Thatcherism and the more centrist Hague and early Cameron. If you read Telegraph columnists, the 2017 election debacle made them all too aware of the need for new political thinking, and the alt-right is the main source of it. So you see attempts to wage US-style culture wars - as with the relentless attacks on trans people in the last two years, which has had some success.
Colin Wilson
2019-07-30 11:26:01 +0000 UTCThanks Jane! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Politics Theory Other
2019-07-23 13:31:58 +0000 UTCOh my lord!!! What an exhilarating listen!!! This broadcast (?!) will go down in history as the moment when the tide turned. The nicest and healthiest form of iconoclasm (which I don't always feel terribly comfortable with). Please make it public early in the event that Priti Patel is made Home Secretary and Esther McInveigh is put back in charge of killing vulnerable people this week so as to give the Left a 'Stand firm in your tracks' message (otherwise please don't in case the Tories get their moment of doubt and pain, which might lead to vote-gaining realignment adjustments, a week early). Thank you so much, Alex. You've made an old person very happy.
Jane Pickering
2019-07-21 22:54:21 +0000 UTC
