Host of Thinking Class, a long-form interview podcast about the cultural, historical, and civilisational forces shaping Britain, the Anglosphere and the West
United Kingdom
Joined November 2023
- Tweets1.1K
- Following1.1K
- Followers1.8K
- Likes33.9K
For those who want more: I interviewed the excellent Bella on Thinking Class a few weeks ago: youtu.be/WCXser1AuZs?si=CcJk…
Watch and subscribe: youtu.be/GbTU7HrQlU8
Listen and subscribe:
- Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3a6…
- Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas…
- Substack: thinkingclass.substack.com/p…
NEW — The West Has Already Become A Total State And Most People Inside Have No Idea.
@AuronMacintyre on Thinking Class:
- 'Constitutions don't make people...people make constitutions".
- 'It's not a state-run media. It's a media-run state.'
- 'We don't need the trains anymore. We don't have to put anybody in boxcars to get them to speak correctly. We can simply cut them off from everything.'
- 'Reform is impossible. You cannot fix the machine from inside the machine.'
Links in the comments.
Watch the full episode here: youtu.be/U_cXZnkU-JI
Subscribe on:
▶ YouTube: youtube.com/@ThinkingClass
✍ Substack: thinkingclass.substack.com
🎧 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/37vvzr…
🍎 Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas…
🐦 X: teapawt.net/thinkingclasses
New Thinking Class out now
It was my great pleasure to speak with R.R. Reno, editor of @firstthingsmag, on what happens when the strong gods return to a country that no longer has any gods at all.
There were many memorable passages and here's one of them.
"The first duty of the sovereign is to preserve the realm. And ultimately that purpose is because the realm has intrinsic value, not because it is conducive to greater utility for the people who happen to live there. That's why you're willing to make sacrifices to sustain the realm, to preserve the realm, to defend the realm." - R.R. Reno, Editor of @firstthingsmag on Thinking Class
It is safe to say that there are few sovereigns in Europe willing to sustain, preserve and defend the realm.
Find the links to the full episode in the comments below.
"We may have to get over our British decorum because the managerial state has weaponised it against us. We're terrified of being seen as impolite. The British state has been prosecuting the same mission since Blair came to power - a new multicultural, high immigration Britain. This is not a failure of governance. It is the system working as intended. They want a post-British, a post-Christian, and a managerial theocracy. And the question is, is will it fall apart? Will we ever be able to get the tides to turn again. Will we become a people and a civilization once studied but no longer exists? And that's the big question." — me on @NewCultureForum
Link to full panel with @missalicegrant @KiszelyPhilip and @BenBarryJones in the comments
"The Romano-British elite of the day in the fifth century invited the same people who came over and created a whole new nation here of England. We're importing lots of people who are certainly much more demographically vital, civilisationally more confident than we are. Like the Romano-British elite of the past, unless they're not careful, we may well see a demographic and cultural wave that will put all of their ideas to bed." - me on @NewCultureForum
Link to the full panel with @KiszelyPhilip @missalicegrant and @BenBarryJones in the comments
On the future of British universities:
"I don't necessarily expect a violent act of cultural vandalism to take place on behalf of the state or a monarch on the universities but the monasteries didn't close down only for that reason. They also saw their intellectual star wane. They'd become less intellectually vital. They'd also had their financial resources strained because they were prosecuting wars on behalf of the crown. And so their legitimacy was dropping even in the eyes of the communities and the economies that had built up around them. I suppose we could end up visiting the likes of Cambridge in the future as a beautiful ruin as we visit Fountains Abbey". - me on @NewCultureForum will @KiszelyPhilip
Link to full panel (with @BenBarryJones and @missalicegrant) in the comments below.
"Every new order on these islands has been built by the State identifying an enemy and prosecuting it. Elizabeth I identified the Catholics and forged four centuries of Anglo-Protestant civilisation. That order is over. A new one is being born. And we're the Catholics now." - me on @NewCultureForum with @KiszelyPhilip @BenBarryJones and @missalicegrant
Watch, listen, subscribe on:
- YouTube: youtu.be/PAJS1Hzi40c
- Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/58W…
- Substack: thinkingclass.substack.com/p…
Today I published what is, in my estimation, almost certainly the most beautiful and rousing conversation I have had on the show. And there are some strong contenders.
Stephen Blackwood (@stephenblackwd), President of @RalstonCollege, has a fascinating biography. He grew up as the eldest of ten children on a family farm in Canada and went onto build a university from nothing because he believed the existing ones could no longer be saved.
In this conversation, Stephen tells the complete story of Boethius, the Roman philosopher translated by King Alfred the Great, and it's extraordinary. To quote Plutarch as Stephen did: "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lit."
Western Civilisation may well be on life support but Stephen and the team at Ralston are performing a heroic act of renewal.
This conversation will stay with me for a long time and I know that I will call it back to mind as inspiration in my own endeavours.
Links to the full conversation in the comments.
Watch and subscribe on:
- YouTube: youtu.be/GDmXG-egvUY
- Substack: substack.com/profile/1903999…
Listen on:
- Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4Pt…
- Apple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas…
