On power, values and class.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

British professor Matt Goodwin joins us to talk about his recent new book Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics published earlier this year with Penguin. Matt has argued that a new elite has come to dominate public life, leading institutions and the cultural industries in Britain and across the wider Western world, and that they are fixated with issues that divide them from the larger public – to whom they are bitter and hostile.

 

We talk about elites, old and new, as well as ideas about elites stemming back to Daniel Bell and Christopher Lasch, and how these elites are shaping the future of politics.

 

Matt also gives us a breakdown of the most recent local elections from the UK, what has happened with the Scottish National Party since the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon, why Keir Starmer’s Labour party will likely win the next election, and why the Tories are - contrary to their ruthless reputation - failing to adapt to the new political landscape.

 

Readings:

National Swing Man, the British electorate’s new-old tribe, Bagehot, The Economist

A decade of SNP one-party rule left Scotland in a state, Matthew Goodwin, The Times

Sunak’s Tories have lost the Red Wall – and are destined for oblivion, Matthew Goodwin, The Telegraph

The New Elite is in complete denial, Matthew Goodwin, spiked