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
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England faces a civilisational predicament of historic proportions, in no small part because we have forgotten our own history; or, indeed, have been made to forget it.
Episode One of The Call of England, 'The Foundations', is out now, a documentary travelogue retracing H.V. Morton's journey 100 years ago to understand the English people, the people who made England, to find what remains of old England, and what has been lost in the emergence of a new one.
A century ago, H.V. Morton drove east out of London in search of England and he could find it everywhere.
I drove the same road and found that the country has been transformed almost beyond recognition, whether demographically, spiritually, architecturally, and in ways that few nations, indeed, perhaps none, in history have experienced.
Watch and subscribe below.
For those who want more: I interviewed the excellent Bella on Thinking Class a few weeks ago: youtu.be/WCXser1AuZs?si=CcJk…
John Gillam retweeted
Plato’s "Apology" records Socrates’ most famous declaration as he stood before the Athenian jury: "The unexamined life is not worth living." But what could he possibly have meant?
In this short clip, Dr Butterfield reflects on the enduring force of Socrates’ claim. Watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/watch?v=gXzcnZX0…
John Gillam retweeted
Happy St Crispin’s Day 🏴
We launch Project 39 again with Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3 — the St Crispin’s Day speech.
We hope you enjoy this series. Please engage with us in the comments and follow our work if you’d like to see more.
We believe that William Shakespeare must be at the heart of our culture.
Henry V - Morgan Watkins
Director of Photography - Mike Simpson
Assistant to DOP - James Hedley
Directed by Oliver Bennett and Morgan Watkins Produced by Oliver Bennett, Carolina Toczyka and Morgan Watkins
Social Media Strategy - Bonnie Poynder and Carolina Toczyka
Editor - James Hedley
John Gillam retweeted
FT comments never miss.
I don’t think I’ve read such a rational analysis of the situation we’re in for a long time.
I've been in France since 2002 and have never seen the streets so violent nor the politics so extreme. From the sacking of the supermarket on my street to the prospect of Présidente Le Pen, here's me @FT including thoughts from 2 French Nobel laureates as.ft.com/r/addcad57-0f9d-4e…
John Gillam retweeted
It's great to see the inner mechanics of @thebasecreates as the rehearse their Julius Caesar. Big things are happening!
youtu.be/sWmRJLQyYEA?is=WQVf…
This will be magnificent.
The Base presents an evening exploring Julius Caesar - the historical figure and Shakespeare’s play - on 16th November 2026 at the UnHerd Club in Westminster.
Esteemed Latin Professor David Butterfield, now Provost of Ralston College and formerly of Cambridge University, will make the case that Julius Caesar is the historical figure and the play to make sense of our time.
The evening will be an interactive exploration; a unique mixture of lecture, discussion and performance.
We bring to life extracts from Shakespeare’s play and together with Professor Butterfield, see what this moment of Roman history can teach us about power and control in the 21st century.
Tickets in bio.
John Gillam retweeted
It's relentless
Woman in her 30s 'is raped in GP surgery car park': Four men are arrested trib.al/UuBqCkd
John Gillam retweeted
I am the claimant in the Project Spire litigation, together with Rev Dr Jamie Franklin @jamiefranklin40. Story in The Times.
John Gillam retweeted
‘… expediency, as always in British politics, takes precedence over any coherent intellectual principle’
On the conference speeches of late Soviet Britain: unherd.com/2026/10/who-is-ke…
John Gillam retweeted
“When the blast of war blows in our ears;
Then imitate the action of the tiger.”
— Henry V, William Shakespeare
Please enjoy our Project 39 series.
Let us know what you think in the comments on YouTube. Your support helps us build a formidable production company dedicated to celebrating and defending the West.
#Project39 #Shakespeare #HenryV #TheBase
John Gillam retweeted
This is a segment from our longer conversation with Professor John Vervaeke.
We hope you enjoy the longer discussion. Let us know what you think in the comments. We had the thrilling opportunity to talk with Professor John Vervaeke about the ‘Meaning Crisis’, truth in performance and the history and nature of Theatre. John Vervaeke is a cognitive scientist, philosopher, and professor at the University of Toronto, best known for his groundbreaking work on wisdom, consciousness, and the meaning crisis in modern culture. He bridges neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy to explore how humans make sense of the world. His acclaimed YouTube series Awakening from the Meaning Crisis has garnered a global following, offering deep insight into ancient wisdom traditions and contemporary cognitive science. Vervaeke is a leading voice in the dialogue between science, spirituality, and the pursuit of meaning in the 21st century.
His book of ‘Awakening from the Meaning Crisis’ is now available.
John Gillam retweeted
Mass migration is an incredibly asymmetric gamble. If it goes well, you boost GDP by a few percentage points.
If it goes poorly, you end up with a permanent foreign body, constant conflict between groups, massive resource transfers, and slow reshaping of society to manage it.
John Gillam retweeted
As I keep saying, the assumption that civil war in Europe will be triggered by right-wing nationalists does not strike me as the most likely scenario.
Outrage in France after Bally Bagayoko, the far-left mayor of the country’s most infamous no-go zone Saint-Denis joined student rioters who were attacking a high school in the area.
He could be seen laughing with them, giving high fives and jumping up and down.
Bagayoko is the mayor of 150 000 people, of which around 90% are immigrants, second-generation migrants and third-generation migrants.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Das Video ist ein verkürzter Ausschnitt eines längeren Videos, in dem zu sehen ist, wie der Bürgermeister zunächst die brennende Tonne vom Gebäude wegzieht und dann den Feuerwehrleuten beim Löschen applaudiert.
Das komplette Video ist z.B. hier zu sehen:
x.com/U71pb/status/2…
John Gillam retweeted
What do they see in continental Europe that Rejoiners think we will benefit from?
Genuine question for any Rejoiners that follow me on here.
Germany is in industrial freefall. They are energy dependent. Even the Draghi said the EU was strangling growth and innovation.
What do they see??
John Gillam retweeted
Other revelations:
• At a Lahore conference, Ikram criticised the government’s silence over media attacks on judges, saying it was “giving into the right of [the] media’s freedom of speech”, according to the organisers’ report.
• The judicial guidance he helped edit tells judges to explore any “cultural way of thinking or mode of behaviour”, even if lawyers have not raised it.
• Its section on “saving face”, particularly in East Asian cultures, advises judges to “soften any negative or critical comments if possible”.
• Discussing a police officer he jailed over racist WhatsApp messages, Ikram told an American audience: “So I gave him a long prison sentence. The police were horrified by that.”
• At a British Pakistan Foundation webinar alongside Ikram, another magistrate described how his knowledge of Pakistani culture had influenced cases, including one in which “the young man was set free”.
P.S. To support my work please become a subscriber on Substack and YouTube! stevenedginton.com/p/we-need…
John Gillam retweeted
EXCLUSIVE: Tan Ikram, deputy chief magistrate, is an adviser to a Pakistani organisation that referred to “so-called ‘grooming gangs’” and called Suella Braverman’s comments about British-Pakistani gangs “reprehensible”.
My investigation reveals:
• He targeted Bradford to encourage Pakistani lawyers to become judges: “[Bradford has] lots and lots of Pakistani practitioners… I specifically went there to reach out to that particular group of lawyers.”
• He is listed as an adviser to the British Pakistan Foundation, which attacked Braverman over her grooming-gang comments and condemned the “collective punishment of the Palestinians” following October 7. Ikram spared three women punishment for a terrorism offence involving paraglider images.
• Grooming gang survivor Fiona Goddard called his association with the foundation “deeply concerning”, asking: “Why is a senior judge connected to such a partisan group?”
• He helped organise a meeting between judges and senior imams at the Old Bailey.
• He sits on the Judicial Appointments Commission and has helped edit the guidance judges use on race and cultural differences.
• He said he used his ethnicity as “a bit of an advantage” in his legal career. He also said his mother “today doesn’t really speak English”, despite coming to Britain in the early 1960s.
I’ve examined his speeches, interviews, links to Pakistani and Muslim groups and rulings.
Read the full investigation:
stevenedginton.com/p/we-need…
John Gillam retweeted
Admissions for our Shakespeare course are closing very soon.
Please get in touch if you’d like to join the course and join us in the flesh for a fantastic weekend.
thebasecreates.co.uk/the-aca…
The Base
#acting #shakespeare #excellence