Thinking Class

<p>Join John Gillam and his guests in reclaiming the space to think out loud and learn to pay attention to what matters. Including guests like David Starkey, Peter Hitchens, Roy Baumeister, Nigel Biggar, Ed West, David Goodhart, Eric Kaufmann, Paul Embery, Frank Furedi, Carl Trueman, Connor Tomlinson, Harrison Pitt, Neema Parvini, Robert Tombs, Bijan Omrani, Mark Vernon, Philip Pilkington and Alan Macfarlane.</p>

#100 - Philip Cunliffe - Britain's Future Now Globalisation Is Dead: Demographics, Identity And The National Interest

Philip Cunliffe is Associate Professor of International Relations at the UCL, where he researches and teaches on the topics of international order, multinational military intervention, and conflict management. He has 20 years of academic experience, having previously worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Kent and a Temporary Lecturer at the UK’s Joint Services Command and Staff College. He obtained his PhD in War Studies from King’s College London. He has also worked as a contribut...

10-31
01:14:53

#099 - Paul Embery - Why Diversity Is Britain's Greatest Challenge & How The Labour Party Is Punishing Britain

Paul Embery is a firefighter, trade union activist, writer and broadcaster. Paul has been a member of the Labour party since 1994 and active in the wider labour movement for most of his adult life. He has served on the executive council of the Fire Brigades Union and as the national organiser of Trade Unionists Against the EU. Paul has written extensively about working-class politics and culture, including for UnHerd, The Huffington Post, The Spectator, Spiked and Compact. His first book is ...

10-25
01:02:08

#98 - Lord Nigel Biggar - The Case Against Britain Paying Reparations For Its Role In The Transatlantic Slave Trade

Lord Nigel Biggar is Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Pusey House, Oxford. He holds a B.A. in Modern History from Oxford and a PhD in Christian Theology and Ethics from the University of Chicago. In 2021, he was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for 'services to higher education'. Nigel is the author of several acclaimed works, including Reparations: Slavery and the Tyranny of Guilt, Colonialism: A ...

10-10
01:05:30

#97 - Andreas Svanlund - Why The 'Energy Transition' Is Dead

Andreas Svanlund is Chief Commercial Officer at Safe Clean, a Norwegian hydrocarbons company. Formerly an officer in the Norwegian Armed Forces, Andreas later joined the defence industry as a business developer with a focus on NATO and Europol special forces. He has also supplied combat uniforms and equipment to the Norwegian military, working closely with national counter-terrorism and organised crime units. In this episode, Andreas and I think out loud about the critical importance of energ...

10-03
54:37

#096 - Dominic Frisby - The Secret History Of Gold: The Best, Worst & Bravest Of Humanity

Dominic Frisby is a financial writer, broadcaster, and comedian. Dominic is the author of Life After the State, Bitcoin: The Future of Money, and Daylight Robbery: How Tax Shaped Our Past and Will Change Our Future. He contributes regularly to financial publications such as Money Week and has performed stand-up comedy both in the UK and internationally. In this episode, Dominic and I think out loud about the history of gold, humanity's relationship with it, the history of gold rushes, why "go...

09-26
54:44

#095 - David Shipley - Rediscovering The Rod Of Justice: The Radical Changes Britain's Justice System Needs

David Shipley is a writer, campaigner, has worked as a consultant prison inspector, and is the author of the Substack Shipley Writes. David's work has appeared in The Spectator, The Sunday Times and The Telegraph. In this episode, David and I think out loud about his remarkable life journey: from a career in corporate finance to serving time in prison for fraud, and ultimately becoming a leading advocate for prison reform, how the prison system has morally decayed, why this decline ref...

09-19
01:08:58

#094 - Lorenzo Warby - Crushing Dissent: How The Rise Of The 'Unaccountable Class' Ruined Everything

Lorenzo Warby, is a writer of the Substack Lorenzo from Oz and a regular contributor to Helen Dale’s Not on Your Team, but Always Fair, a Substack-recommended publication. In this episode, Lorenzo and I think out loud about the idea of institutional capture, how Western institutions have been overtaken by fashionable ideologies, and how this has led to the rise of unaccountable classes within bureaucracies. We discuss how these unaccountable elites influence policy and norms across both polit...

09-12
01:01:09

#093 - George Owers - Britain's 350-Year Culture War: The Birth Of Party Politics

George Owers is an editor, writer, and author of the newly released The Rage of Party: How Whig Versus Tory Made Modern Britain. In this episode, George and I think out loud about the origins of party politics in Britain, tracing how the Whigs and Tories emerged out of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, how the Whigs’ eventual dominance led to the creation of many of Britain’s most enduring institutions, shaping political life up to the present day, how the parties’ contrasting relationships ...

09-05
01:04:15

#092 - Mark Vernon - Living Life More Deeply: Why William Blake Matters Now More Than Ever

Mark Vernon is a psychotherapist, writer, a former Anglican priest, the host of the YouTube channel Plato's Podcasts and the author of the Substack A Golden String with Mark Vernon. Mark holds a PhD in Ancient Greek philosophy as well as degrees in theology and physics. He is the author of A Secret History of Christianity, Jesus: The Last Inkling and the Evolution of Consciousness, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey, Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps, and most recent...

08-29
01:01:32

#091 - Reverend Fergus Butler-Gallie - Christianity’s Contradictions: Faith, Power and the Survival of the Church

Reverend Fergus Butler-Gallie is a writer, priest, and current Vicar of Charlbury in Oxfordshire. Educated at Oxford and Cambridge, he has ministered in parishes in Liverpool and Central London, and spent time living and working in the Czech Republic and South Africa. Fergus is the author of Touching Cloth—a Times and Mail on Sunday Book of the Year—as well as Priests de la Résistance! (a Spectator Book of the Year) and, most recently, Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings tha...

08-22
53:45

#090 - Nathan Pinkoski - On The Moral Fragmentation Of The West & What Comes Next

Nathan Pinkoski is a senior fellow at the Centre for Renewing America. He has written for First Things, Compact, Perspectives on Political Science, and The Claremont Review of Books. His forthcoming book, Actually Existing Post-Liberalism, explores the transformation of the West since 1989 and is due to be published by Basic Books. He is also translating Éric Zemmour’s bestseller The Suicide of the French into English for Encounter Books. In this episode, Nathan and I think out loud about Nat...

08-08
01:14:46

#089 - Compilation - Saving Britain's Boys, Families And Its Nations

This is a compilation episode about the state of boys and families in Britain, the ideological crusades that have undermined them, why the loss of faith and hyper-liberalism are to blame for this, and what may be required to save our individual and collective souls. You can expect to hear from Ed Davies of the Centre for Social Justice, Lois McClatchie Miller from the Alliance for Defending Freedom, Connor Tomlinson of Courage Media, Neema Parvini a.k.a. Academic Agent, the philosophers Carl ...

08-01
01:21:59

#088 - Momus Najmi - Losing Its Way: 'Britain Needs A 21st Century Reformation & Restoration'

Momus Najmi is a writer, cultural commentator and history enthusiast. He is the author of the Substack, "The World Of Momus" and owner of the popular YouTube channel of the same name. In this episode, Momus and I think out loud about the manifold economic, societal and cultural issues experienced in Britain today, whether the monarchy needs to be reformed, including the need for a change in personnel, why the 2029 election will not see a credible government form, why each one of us should foc...

07-25
01:11:28

#087 - Fr. Benedict Kiely - Why The Media Is Silent On The Global Persecution Of Christians & Erasure Of Their Faith

Father Benedict Kiely is a priest of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the founder of nasarean.org, a charity that supports and advocates for persecuted Christians across the Middle East and beyond, offering practical aid to displaced families and small businesses. In this conversation, Father Benedict and I think out loud about the persecution of Christians in the middle East and Nigeria, the day-to-day struggles faced by Christians in predominantly Muslim countrie...

07-18
59:23

#086 - Tom Jones - The 'Yookay': We Are Witnessing The Birth Of A New Country

Tom Jones is a writer and a councillor for Scotton and Lower Wensleydale, North Yorkshire. He is the author of the Substack, The Potemkin Village Idiot and has written for The Spectator, The Critic, Conservative, Home, CapX, UnHerd and The Guardian. In this conversation, Tom and I think out loud about the dramatic shift in British political discourse since 2024, why public trust in institutions is at an all-time low, and what it means to say Britain is now operating under an “anarcho-tyranny”...

07-11
57:01

#085 - Ryszard Legutko - The Strange Alliance: How Western Liberals United With Communists After The Cold War

Ryszard Legutko is a Polish scientist and politician, professor of philosophy, publicist, author of over twenty books on socio-political topics, translator and commentator of Plato’s works. He specializes in political and social philosophy, ancient philosophy and the history of philosophy. Ryszard has served as a member of the European Parliament since 2009 and is Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament. In this conversation, Ryszard and I think...

07-04
55:37

#084 - Mark Walsh - Why Western Man Is Under Attack: On Nature, Masculinity And Nation

Mark Walsh is a teacher of embodiment, trauma, education, and resilience. He is the author of Embodiment: Working with the Body in Training and Coaching and Embodied Meditation. Mark also hosts the Embodiment Podcast, which has been downloaded over two million times, and was the founder of the Embodiment Conference, which brought together over 1,000 teachers and half a million participants. In this conversation, Mark and I think out loud about the importance of embodiment, connection, a...

06-27
59:20

#083 - Ed Davies - Britain's Crises: Lost Boys, Broken Families & A Nation Out Of Work

Ed Davies is Policy Director of the Centre of Social Justice. A veteran of health policy, he has a storied career as a journalist, editor, and policy wonk and has worked for several UK government cabinet ministers during his career. His work has focused on the role of relationships in making us truly happy and healthy. In this conversation, Ed and I think out loud about the issues surrounding family dynamics and breakdown in the UK, the alarming statistics regarding family structures, the ris...

06-20
01:06:23

#082 - Philip Pilkington - A Post-Mortem: The Death Of Liberalism (& The Rise Of A New World Order)

Philip Pilkington is a macroeconomist and investment professional. He is the author of a book on economic theory, The Reformation in Economics and his most recent book is The Collapse Of Global Liberalism: And The Emergence Of A Post-Liberal World Order. Philip also runs the Macrocosm substack. Philip regularly writes for a variety of outlets, including Unherd, The Spectator, The Telegraph, The New York Post, Moneyweek, First Things, American Affairs, The Critic, and Postliberal Order. He is ...

06-13
51:32

#081 - Lois McLatchie Miller - The Unspoken Truth About Abortion

Lois McLatchie-Miller is a Senior Legal Communications Officer for the Alliance For Defending Freedom International. Lois is a writer, speaker, and thinker on issues of bioethics, faith, family and freedom. In this conversation, Lois and I think out loud about abortion, how prevalent it is and how it became so prevalent, the methods used, changing cultural perceptions, why the emotional impacts on women are so high, how men can think about it, the political landscape surrounding abortion, ho...

06-06
01:01:30

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