The moment the aggressively inoffensive jazzy theme music of The Rest Is Politics kicked in I wanted to listen to anything else in the world. I wanted to listen to a teenage Londoner rap about stabbing people. I wanted to listen to a depressed Norwegian man scream about burning churches. I wanted to listen to the howls of the damned.
Christ, this sounds even worse than I imagined it. What really annoys me is the similarity of their title to Holland and Sandbrook's incomparable The Rest is History podcast. The success of it should clearly worry us - are there that many Centrist Dads in the country???
Good review. I listen to the podcast sometimes and there are some good anecdotes and it's pleasant banter but, yeah, mostly follows the dynamic you mentioned.
Campbell's a great diarist but I find him tedious on policy. Pretty bigoted towards Tories/public school boys too.
Rory is actually interesting at times, like you say with his middle east walking. He's pretty radical when he's on his 'seeing like a state' scepticism and when promoting Give Directly and on defense policy. Then he has this really wet side of him that's sceptical of market solutions and deregulation, and where he sees prisons as more about reform than I incapacitating violent crims . Really puzzling and unfortunate!!
People like the idea of following politics, not following politics. The podcast you describe is modeled on a popular sports radio setup — really, it's the same show (Sports Jock is really going at that Sports Nerd!) Why expect more?
Alastair & Rory fill the shoes the interwebz cobbled first (afaik) for Sam Harris: they’re a stupid peeps’ idea of smart ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
An increasingly clown world populated by certifiable clowns and a massive audience of their smug gullible marks 🤪 Sensible folk that managed to not yet forget how to use the faculty of reason... well, feels like these are on precipitous decline, in red-hot zone preceding extinction. Now, this is an extinction rebellion I’d willingly undersign.
The notion that Rory Stewart was ever a Conservative is laughable. That goes for many in the present parliamentary "conservative" party. Stewart and Campbell are divided by nothing thicker than a fag paper.
In general it's true that they're much closer aligned than the marketing would have you believe, but it's certainly not fair to call Stewart aggressively pro-EU, considering he was for a while the most vocal supporter of the May deal (a position which time has basically vindicated, and one which obvviously Campbell was vehemently opposed to).
I'm probably the only one of your subscribers who actually loves the podcast, so my opinion may have to be discounted, but I really recommend the Iraq episodes of this week. Plenty of actual disagreement, and literally the first time I heard Rory Stewart saying "fuck" and "shit" on air.
Had been bracing for the inevitable edgy ‘no really, you shouldn’t like the Rest is Politics’ post. It’s essentially just two likeable and informed people having a chat isn’t it? But because that doesn’t make for very discerning criticism you have to show them deviating from their ‘disagreeing agreeably’ mission statement as though it’s some sort of fantastic gotcha, and advancing the predictable and unfair claim that AC uses it to whitewash his history with Iraq. Smacks a bit of someone who’s spent a lot of time convinced their field wasn’t very interesting to the masses, but now discovers that it is, only not when they themselves are the one promoting it.
Tim Chapman’s favourite podcast
Christ, this sounds even worse than I imagined it. What really annoys me is the similarity of their title to Holland and Sandbrook's incomparable The Rest is History podcast. The success of it should clearly worry us - are there that many Centrist Dads in the country???
Good review. I listen to the podcast sometimes and there are some good anecdotes and it's pleasant banter but, yeah, mostly follows the dynamic you mentioned.
Campbell's a great diarist but I find him tedious on policy. Pretty bigoted towards Tories/public school boys too.
Rory is actually interesting at times, like you say with his middle east walking. He's pretty radical when he's on his 'seeing like a state' scepticism and when promoting Give Directly and on defense policy. Then he has this really wet side of him that's sceptical of market solutions and deregulation, and where he sees prisons as more about reform than I incapacitating violent crims . Really puzzling and unfortunate!!
People like the idea of following politics, not following politics. The podcast you describe is modeled on a popular sports radio setup — really, it's the same show (Sports Jock is really going at that Sports Nerd!) Why expect more?
Alastair & Rory fill the shoes the interwebz cobbled first (afaik) for Sam Harris: they’re a stupid peeps’ idea of smart ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
An increasingly clown world populated by certifiable clowns and a massive audience of their smug gullible marks 🤪 Sensible folk that managed to not yet forget how to use the faculty of reason... well, feels like these are on precipitous decline, in red-hot zone preceding extinction. Now, this is an extinction rebellion I’d willingly undersign.
Sour!
I have the feeling you were going to put the boot in, regardless. Such fun?
The notion that Rory Stewart was ever a Conservative is laughable. That goes for many in the present parliamentary "conservative" party. Stewart and Campbell are divided by nothing thicker than a fag paper.
J’adore
In general it's true that they're much closer aligned than the marketing would have you believe, but it's certainly not fair to call Stewart aggressively pro-EU, considering he was for a while the most vocal supporter of the May deal (a position which time has basically vindicated, and one which obvviously Campbell was vehemently opposed to).
That wasn't very nice, Ben. :D
I take it this sort of thing is for British People who are the equivalent of Americans who are really into The West Wing?
I think the intro music may be the same tune as the Jeeves and Wooster theme music, just the bass line.
I'm probably the only one of your subscribers who actually loves the podcast, so my opinion may have to be discounted, but I really recommend the Iraq episodes of this week. Plenty of actual disagreement, and literally the first time I heard Rory Stewart saying "fuck" and "shit" on air.
I find London Calling far more entertaining with the genuine differences between the presenters enlightening.
Had been bracing for the inevitable edgy ‘no really, you shouldn’t like the Rest is Politics’ post. It’s essentially just two likeable and informed people having a chat isn’t it? But because that doesn’t make for very discerning criticism you have to show them deviating from their ‘disagreeing agreeably’ mission statement as though it’s some sort of fantastic gotcha, and advancing the predictable and unfair claim that AC uses it to whitewash his history with Iraq. Smacks a bit of someone who’s spent a lot of time convinced their field wasn’t very interesting to the masses, but now discovers that it is, only not when they themselves are the one promoting it.
You must have rocks of steel to have resisted titling it 'Give it a rest'