I really liked Rory's 2-part documentary on the history of Afghanistan. Government has never made the most of his knowledge. This show has become required viewing.

@jonhelmer8591

4 ай бұрын

Check out The Rest is History, it's another Gary Lineker show.

@songspell4559

4 ай бұрын

and inaccurate

These guys are brilliant. I have spent much of my life staying out of political discussion due to the sheer hatred of the insincerity of it and yet I find myself watching their debates from end to end. In this new tragic era of echo chambers, fake news and cancel culture, it's refreshing to have two intelligent people discuss pretty much every and any topic, intelligently, rationally, in a measured and respectful way. I might even one day find myself returning to voting. Perhaps the day Rory decides to tell us who he think is actual worth voting for lol. "Hello my name is Rory and I'm a recovering Conservative. I've been Tory-free for four and a half years now but every day is still a struggle". You've earned that pin buddy, keep on going.

@johnmckiernan2176

2 ай бұрын

I'm a leftwinger, and I like Rory...for his integrity and honesty and his ability to learn from his pre-politics life. He is literally too professional for contemporary politics. Alastair? I'll be polite and say that I admired his willingness to talk about mental health and wellness. He has never been elected to anything, though. I would prefer a...you know, actual proof of working democracy in the left-leaning chair.

My week isn’t complete without the Rest is politics

Thank you chaps for your continued rational, intelligent, impartial and clear digest of events. Rory’s knowledge and explanations are as brilliant and useful as they are enjoyable. I find this podcast genuinely very useful in helping me make sense of world events.

@allisterwhitehead

4 ай бұрын

Impartial? Hmm. You'd never know after watching their many posts the president of the USA was senile. You'd certainly never know that Britain is illegally imprisoning a journalist who legally released images of America's illegal military activities. Of course, the list goes on and on and on. Indeed, democracy and a free press can go hang as far as these two are concerned but you'd never know it from their demeanour. It comes to something when Britain has to rely on the unlikely duo of David Davis and Jeremy Corbyn to join forces in a last ditch bid to save a free British press. Not that you'd know that listening to Rory and Alastair, or any of the other established media, who are happy to sit in a foreign governments pocket. "Make sense of world events"? I think not. It's far simpler than they'd have you believe.

@inter-linked

4 ай бұрын

Impartial…that was funny!

Thank you for the podcast. Can you please put book recommendations in the description. Thanks again!

Nothing brings me peace like seeing a new ep is posted. I love you both

I've started talking like Rory since listening to so many of these shows

@philipmulville8218

4 ай бұрын

😂

@RayZappa

3 ай бұрын

very good

Great conversation guys, informative & thought provoking as always….

You two are my absolute favourites for bringing current, and wider events to your viewers, and I thank you for that. I would love to know how you find time to read all the books you talk about in your podcast.

This show should be part of a Performance Improvement Plan for current MPs.

@simonwells2213

4 ай бұрын

I wonder how many MPs have this as compulsory listening to help tem keepnet to date and to have a balanced view or the current zeitgeist?

Thanks for posting

Very enjoyable, informative and educational. Thank you, both.

I can't believe you made me wait until the end to hear the answer to the tile: well worth it though. Always love turning in.

Rory is a one of the most knowledgeable, thoughtful people on the planet and (sorry) the only reason I listen to AC. I do wish he would come back to UK politics he is so needed.

I learn so much here! Thank you to both 😊❤

Thank you for the great podcast.

Just brilliant as ever. Interesting, informative, open, not a hint of dogma and fun

Many thanks, gentlemen.

just ordered "the house divided"..thnx dudes1!!!!

Rory Stewart literally fizzles with intelligence. And he appears to run almost entirely on coffee ☕️.

I misread this as a reference to Sonny and Cher.

Love how Rory can deliver his "very good" without moving his lips at 13:00.

@thomasmillin2155

4 ай бұрын

Masterclass

@philipmulville8218

4 ай бұрын

😂

@eloiseripley

4 ай бұрын

witf

Two things. Mr Campbell. Thank you for your governments dedication to Northern Ireland. I have grown up through it and appreciate all that you made possible. (and we all miss Mo). Rory. If you had become PM who would have made up your ideal cabinet?

Such an educational podcast! On voting, has there been any discussion on the conflict of voting for your preferred party vs your preferred MP and local issues? Does this conflict occur in other countries?

@sunseeker9581

4 ай бұрын

Yes it does. Next.

@sunseeker9581

4 ай бұрын

Yes it does. Thats the difference between parliamentary and presidential elections. But lets be honest most people have no idea what their MP stands for as local news doesnt really cover that.

Great conversation as ever: thanks both!

Lovely way to spend 37 minutes of time, listening to these two shoot the breeze of international politics. These podcasts should be in schools.

@tmarritt

4 ай бұрын

Watching a half hour of this followed by a 20 min class discussion would have been a much better use of time than the time i spent staring out of the window not learning french 😂.

@darrena2625

4 ай бұрын

Quite sure the class would engage too, non ? 🤪 @@tmarritt

great debates

Great content again gentlemen. I do have a question on Alistair's book cover. Why is Bezos on there twice ?

Brilliant podcast but as usual, the title didn't represent the main discussion point.

@Thomas_basiv

4 ай бұрын

What was the main point?

Thanks Both... a really useful reminder of how little the consequences of brexit are discussed... the actual consequences... on businesses... imigration... would be great to explore... from both sides. I may be missing abundant reporting on this but I think you raise the point that the consequences... with some good faith analysis... .are just not discussed.... Odd given we don't often have a referremdum.

Thumbs up 👍

Any chance of a discussion about conscription, as it's back in the headlines?

Rory was right saying much love at the start of the podcast - as he meant it - now Alastair wants to say it but can't bring himself to say he loves a friend

Two related questions I would like to see answered are: What would it take for you to change your political allegiances? and Would you ever vote tactically, and if so, how would you feel about it, and would you keep that you had to yourself?

Alistair. Perhaps you should turn the heating on. !!

Whats funny about the port talbot steel issue is I bet 80+% of the workers probably voted for brexit over immigration

@tisFrancesfault

4 ай бұрын

Tbf, it's only tangentially an issue of Brexit. British steel has been in a state of collapse for half a century. It's biggest problem is that Governments don't properly address it, instead, they just bail it out every decade. The long term view would be to decide if domestic steel is strategically important and worth sustaining, even at a loss, in which case it should just be nationalised, or we allow it to fold as an unprofitable enterprise.

@elzonn

4 ай бұрын

@@tisFrancesfault the long term plan should of been re training people into different sectors. Not getting pay rises and everything else. How can workers there on average be on 30% more than the same job elsewhere? In a company not posting profits in the UK. They're lucky they kept some of the jobs vs none.

@elzonn

4 ай бұрын

@@tisFrancesfault totally agree!!

@BitTwisted1

4 ай бұрын

I worked on a project where we purchased millions of pounds of profile cut sheet steel off these guys. The first deliveries were delivered unmarked, so we couldn't easily check against the drawings, we matched a few sheets and they were back to front so we returned the first few lorries, this took days. The issues were supposedly corrected and redelivered a few days later, half was still wrong so we accepted half the delivery because we had welders waiting. All the future deliveries has stuff which needed returning, most we fixed because it was expedient. Their quality control was woeful and their management didn't appear to give a feck. The next orders were purchased from Holland, it was cheaper and delivered on time and correct first time. I worked on another project for another company, British Steel supplied a huge amount of roofing materials, again the first three or four lorry loads were returned because it was not even close to the drawings. They were purchased by Tata because they were a failing company and therefore cheap. Tata is acutely that there is oversupply of steel in the world market and like many take overs he could take out the competition and form a de-facto monopoly, I'm amazed he took so long closing them down. Europe is a protectionist market actively working against those importing materials which compete with those manufactured inside Europe, like speciality steel. Deals could be made but they are low on the British governments agenda. There are no conservative votes to be won spending time saving the steel industry.

@nickjung7394

4 ай бұрын

The steel issue is nothing to do with Brexit but everything to do with foreign ownership that owes no loyalty to the UK!

More history lessons from Rory pls

I have lived my whole life in a secular country. And I will always stand by secularism. Although an aethiest, I am of Indian origin so I admit there's likely to be bias here. But I think a proper analysis of Modi and Hindu nationalism can only be done keeping the ludicrously complex history of the subcontinent in mind. And that is that the Islamic Sultanates and Empires were the British Empire to the Indian subcontinet before there was a British Empire in India. To Hindus in India there is as much symbolism as tearing down an Islamic palace as there would be in tearing down a British one. Hindu nationalists do need to put the past behind and accept that Muslims in India are as Indian as Hindu and Jain and Sikh and Bhuddist Indians. You can't undo 2000 years of intermingling. But I still think the context of Islamic Rule is something that can't be left behind when talking Indian politics.

Wow! You may be interested to know that an ad that came up whilst watching you was fundraising "to rebuild Israel"

So wise, so very wise.

I saw the thumbnail for this episode and misread it as "foreign policy knowledge CAP"

Rory..true warrior savant....

I don't know if it is because of Modi's country of origin that he gets a free pass, but I get the impression you guys are far too lenient with his frankly deranged politics. Imagine if some leader in Europe wanted to cosplay as some crusader by knocking down minority temples and rebuilding old Christian churches? That would rightly provoke outrage yet for some reason because the person in question is Indian there is a "it's a foreign country, they do things differently there" attitude.

@pan-demics8015

4 ай бұрын

@@nem2966 Yh don't get me started on the wannabe Sultan Erdogan...

Bit reductive to say Yazeed represents the Sunni side. Sunnis maintain that Ali and Hussain were better than their opponents. The Sunni case is that Shia veneration of them goes way too far.

Look at young Rory in the thumbnail, Handsome lad

@JohnCl

4 ай бұрын

Rory always reminds me of Wallace from Wallace and Gromit… it’s that wide mouth toothy grin.

Rory...with your constant ruffling and preening of your hair are you trying to emulate Boris's style? Or is it an Eton thing?

Have SDP leader William Coulston on please. He’d give your audience a viewpoint you don’t represent much: culturally centre right, but economically centre left. He’d have something to say about Port Talbot for sure…

@dandonovan11

3 ай бұрын

Agree on this one. A very popular politics often overlooked but should nonetheless be heard and scrutinised.

Is Rory going for the Boris look with the roughed up hair.

@philipmulville8218

4 ай бұрын

Dishevelled chic. 😂

Everybody is unpopular in France!

Anyone else looking for Granny Dryden's Cat?

What is pedaltery?

I love the way you guys put things across in a clear measured way. Especially in view of your political divides. However I don’t feel that having serving ministers in the debate is helpful as they clearly have their own selling points to put across and it changes the platform. I understand that that we love politics and how it develops but I can’t help feeling that if you get a serving politician on the show it just becomes subjective. Your experience and objective views are wonderful but to be honest if I want to hear the selling points of in time politicians ( which for the most I find evasive and car salesman like) I prefer Jo Coburn to hold them to account.

Sunni and Shia..........I thought they split up in the '80s............intelligent conversation always needs a pratt to lighten the mood

Rory, you also need to mention the Declaration of 1 January 2022, showing co-operation between India and Pakistan. The situation's schizoid, populism and reality.

33:13 I wish _this_ is what experts would talk about. To suggest that it all comes down to endlessly arguing over the legitimacy of long-ago leaders, lost in the mists of time, offering two branches in a path that came back together soon enough, is very trivial and an insulting parody of Islamic culture.

Sometimes what the people want isn't what's right or in their own self-interest. Thus while I agree that populism is as Rory defines it, as one of the people, I don't think we should be let off the hook by the reckless and manipulative cynicism of the populist politician. The people also have to take some responsibility for their choices.

I'm finding this episode interesting. waiting for AC to mention Brexit got to 12 mins so far without mention.

Ultimately, a clerical issue 😂 For some reason I hear Jeff Ross's voice when saying that 😂

Who will be the candidates that Rory and Alistair have on their election ballots. Surely this matters, I imagine that there are some Conservatives that Rory would not vote for and likewise some in Labour that Alistair would rather avoid voting for.

Dear rory and alistair, why couldn't the government convert the port tablot steel works into producing nato shells until the war is over?

Tbf they could keep a lot of industry alive in the UK by infrastructure building. Houses, rail, trams etc

I must have missed something, I wasn't aware we had a choice in voting this time.

13:30 : Macron: The French Government has bestowed Modi with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. Dont know how much Macron had to do with this. Does this mean that the French think "Liberté, Égalite, Fraternité" is only for the French? Or does the entire First World think it's only for the First World?

Rory’s not in government, because he’s so bloody bright he scares the crap out of most of his colleagues. Discuss ?

How any foreign policy could be conceived during Iraq and Afghanistan without basic Islamic knowledge is shocking

@paulheydarian1281

4 ай бұрын

It's because they're viewed as less than. Northwest Europeans like to pretend Western Civilization began with the Ancient Greeks. They conveniently forget about Places like Iraq (Mesopotamia), the Levant (Syria and Palestine), Egypt, and the Phoenicians, who were the greatest seafarers of the ancient Mediterranean. The Greeks interacted with all of these cultures for centuries before the Persian Super Power appeared on the world stage.

All those Iraqis that died in the illegal war Alastair - were they Sunni or Shia ?

Did they find the Rama temple under 😅 or is it another Sulomon temple under Jerusalem

I got to admit I don't understand people who are die hard voters for one party. I've for all three over the year. I think I'm the exception though.

Imagine day after election day Rory going ‘- I was so vexed by it all that I ended up voting for UKIP.’ 😂

@JelMain

4 ай бұрын

Not possible. He's nobody's sockpuppet.

when two groups turn against each other over religion or any other thing, it is done to divide and conquer over resources, wealth and power.....wouldn't bother going in to the details of the devision.

Can someone explain the positive correlation between affiliation with tory party and unkempt hair.

Starmer's inability to commit to anything potentially controversial is worrying. I am afraid his first action as PM will be to return from a visit to Putin saying "I have in my hand a piece of paper".

So how is the Hindu minority doing in Pakistan then? How about the Christians? Is there such a thing ans Hinduphobia or Christianphobia?

The discussion on India was quite shallow. The "why" questions to the events were not looked into.

Gandhi means Smith, in passing.

Watching these two gentlemen talk about populism puts me in mind of a couple of dinosaurs scratching their heads over what all these mammals are up to.

@davederhamwatson

4 ай бұрын

When establishment liberals discuss populism there is a tendency for them to use that term as code for anti-democratic forces, quite rightly in some cases (Jan 6 etc). However, I would prefer that all anti-democratic tendencies, political leaders, political groupings etc are discussed on the merits without favour. Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” speech for example was, in my opinion, profoundly anti-democratic, as was the dithering and outrage amongst liberals over the Brexit referendum. So many of my liberal friends and family seem blind to this distinction, and freely indulge in their version of liberal populism. We need thought leaders that value democracy more than their own politics.

I don't think people realise how terrible it would be for the current establishment to actually win. And for current problems to continue, you are basically encouraging serious civil conflict.

That moment when Rory says "I will just give listeners a little background" 🙈🙈

@philipmulville8218

4 ай бұрын

Yes, indeed - time to actively listen. Brilliant bloke.

@lesblakeman

4 ай бұрын

He treats the listeners like they are all thick , patronising tosser

usually Scandinavian countries pick good leaders.

The more I look at UK politics the more the voters seem to look like soccer supporters. Even when the party (team) is makinga mess of it, theystill support their party (team). This is exagerrated by the FPP system.

@Thomas_basiv

4 ай бұрын

I always think this too!

so if I'm Alistair, I just think, "What woudl Tony Blair do?" and then I'm licesend to say all manner of bollocks.

Rory, can you be my 'phone a friend' for my appearance on 'Who wants to be a millionaire?'? What don't you know?!

Re. Port Talbot: Before the Brexit referendum, EU anti-dumping tarrifs on cheap foreign steel were blocked by Britain, on the instruction of the Tory government.

The Prophet appointed the Imam Ali in the same way Jesus appointed Peter

How much of the present situation in India can be traced back to a very unsatisfactory partition division? Mountbatten couldn’t wait to be shot of the problem and get back to Britain. He gave in to Jinnah’s demands without a thought for the ghastly consequences. Artificial boundaries never work ; we only have to look an Ireland and Israel .

I'm usually a fan of this podcast, but your sweeping statement- "During British rule, Hindus, Muslims, everyone lived together" is laughable. It was the British who first introduced religion in politics. There was no concept of "Hindus voting for Hindus" and "Muslims voting for Muslims". The British started Divide and Rule. They started the partition, they started the border conflict between India-Pakistan and India-China. They started most of the border conflicts we see today. How about covering the temple verdict in more detail? Are you aware that the High Court decided to divide the land for a temple and Mosque to be built? Are you aware that a new mosque is under construction? Give us the facts, not your judgement.

Rory mentioned the Mughals. I often wonder if we got our word mogul from this word of the past rulers of India.

I lived between both: Shia religion wants Iran to rule the world 🤢 Sunni the muslims wants to worship one God no matter who rules wherever they are 🤲🏻

In Saudi Arabia the weather can be Sunni or Shiite.

Rory should say he's still going to vote Tory, if just to wind up Alastair.

I live in south Devon your right most of Devon is Tory except Exeter, were i live ,wr have a Labour MP Ben Bradshaw who is stepping down at next general election Ben took if from the Tories in 1997 General Election, Luke Pollard is the only other Labour MP in Devon Plymouth Sutton, Hopefully we will get more at the next general election tackle voting is a must if we want to ouset the sitting Tory Mel Stride is one I'd love to see unseated 😊

I fully intend to tactical vote. Luckily for labour that means in my constituency its them.

Mr. Campbell thinks he "dodged a bullet". The same could not be said of generations of Gandhis. 😮

To set some facts straight on India - 1. The Mosque was built after demolition of a existing temple by Babur, an invader, This was validated by the Archeological Survey of India led by KK Muhammad. The actual land and premises was subject of a legal dispute from the late 1800s and the Supreme Court of India gave its final approval/ judgement after multiple rounds of petition before the temple was built. 2. A replacement mosque is being built in Ayodhya too. This will also benefit from all the infrastructure 3. The Gujarat riots happened after trainload of Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive. 4. There have been far fewer riots under Modi than under the Congress 5. India was never secular in a way for eg France is. Instead it has created religious ghettos allowing so called personal laws. This has oppressed Muslim women specially. There should be a single set of modern laws which was done for Hindus and other communities in the 50s by Nehru but not for Muslims. It would be good to be genuinely secular. Modi gave better divorce protection for Muslim women for eg, but hasn't yet brought everyone under modern laws.

@minimalist279

4 ай бұрын

Love the correction; these two were former decision makers, Rory, M15 background. Stridency and assertion of other cultures history can see how they arrive at the wrong decisions. 🙃

@ravindra7791

4 ай бұрын

@@minimalist279 Yep...while we all are correctly worried about fake news another danger is cherry picking facts. I know Alastair being a spin doctor is a bit of an expert in that but had more expectations from Rory. But as the old joke goes - Never let facts get in the way of a biased worldview.

I bet the kit-kat club hasn't got any real kit-kats in it.😢🍫

@paulheydarian1281

4 ай бұрын

It must have other delights...😅

@davesy6969

Ай бұрын

From Turkey?​@@paulheydarian1281

I can't tell if the little knot in Campbells earphone wire is there because he hasn't noticed it, doesn't care it's there or has done it intentionally to troll viewers with OCD...

Di Caprio has got better as he gets older imho...

@paulheydarian1281

4 ай бұрын

Like a fine wine or a smelly cheese.😅

It's alot more nuanced than that us sunnis don't side with yazid 😊

You are both very sympathetic and I always enjoy your conversations. That said, you may think about adding a third member to your show/podcast. Someone more pragmatic maybe, because you seem both too candid and not as informed on the topics you explore that you shoulld be. It is a bit like watching two kindergarten teachers chating at tea time. Very charming, very conformistic, not challenging enough, or fact checked enough. Like it, though, like tea time at Granny's.

@minimalist279

4 ай бұрын

😮😅

I like Johnson. I suspect a big chunk of your audience does. But I don't carry a card for anybody so that's not set in stone .. I'm not a political expert and am looking to you guys to educate me.