Charles Talbot on how the Blob is stifling democracy in Britain and turning the state against itself.

In Episode 83 of the Sceptic, guest host Michael Murphy speaks to Charles Talbot, author of the new Cambridge Circus Research report ‘Breaking the Blob’, about how a sprawling ecosystem of activist charities, quangos and captured institutions exerts a powerful chokehold on British political life, undermines government policy and leaves Britain feeling increasingly like a state at war with itself.

Read ‘Breaking the Blob’ here.

Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

00:00 Intro

00:00:47 Charles Talbot on the Blob

00:03:35 The Blob's Left-Wing Bias

00:05:16 A State at War with Itself

00:07:41 Why Government Funds Its Own Opponents

00:10:17 How the Blob Kills Policies it Doesn't Like

00:14:15 The Rwanda Scheme

00:16:17 Can Any Policy Survive the Blob?

00:18:19 Laws That Must Change

00:20:20 The Funnel Model & Weak Regulation

00:24:37 Charity vs Political Activism

00:27:12 Should Government Track Undermining Spending?

00:29:11 The Media’s Role in Aiding the Blob

00:36:08 What a Serious Government Must Do

00:39:05 Radical Reforms

00:42:29 Conspiracy or Ideological Alignment?

00:45:52 Future Work from Cambridge Circus Research

00:52:15 Where to Find the Report