Thinking Class
Thinking Class is a weekly long-form interview podcast about history, culture, civilisation, and the moral and political challenges facing England, Britain and the West. Expect depth and clarity over headlines and hot-takes.
Hosted by John Gillam, the show features serious conversations with historians, academics, and thinkers including David Starkey, Peter Hitchens, Roy Baumeister, Lord Nigel Biggar, Eric Kaufmann, Robert Tombs, Alan Macfarlane, Lord Jonathan Sumption, David Goodhart, Lionel Shriver, Paul Embery and others.
Episodes
119 episodes
#120 - Lord Nigel Biggar & Tirthankar Roy - What the British Empire Actually Did to India
For decades, the British Empire in India has been reduced to a simple moral claim: that it was an extractive, exploitative system which left only damage behind.But is that really the full story?In this episode of Thinking Clas...
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1:05:07
#119 - John Waters - Ireland's Moral Revolution And The Crisis Of Authority
John Waters is an Irish journalist, author, and columnist known for his work with Hot Press, The Irish Times, and The Irish Independent. He has written on social and political issues, specialising in father's rights a...
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1:06:19
#118 - Michael Reiners - Did England Quietly Disappear? Constitutional Change and the Future of the United Kingdom
Michael Reiners is a writer, lawyer, and architectural historian. Michael is the founder of the Reiners Project, which publishes essays, draft legislation and commentary on English constitutional law...
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1:04:09
#117 - Lord Nigel Biggar - The New Dark Age: How Britain's Institutions Became Afraid Of The Truth
Lord Nigel Biggar is an Anglican priest, theologian, and moral philosopher, a member of the House of Lords, and Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford. His most recent books are The New Dark Age: Why Liberals...
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58:50
#116 - Lionel Shriver - A Better Life? Immigration, Demography, and Belonging In The West
Lionel Shriver is a novelist and columnist at The Spectator, and the author of We Need to Talk About Kevin, Mania, and A Better Life among many other books.Lionel Shriver returns to Thinking Class to discuss mass immigration in the West—...
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1:02:00
#115 - Lord Jonathan Sumption - Can Democracy Survive the Britain We’re Becoming?
Lord Jonathan Sumption is a British judge and historian, who served as a Supreme Court Justice from 2012 – 2018. He is the author of The Challenges of Democracy And The Rule Of Law, the Sunday ...
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58:02
#114 - Dr Carrie Gress - How Feminism Became the West’s New Moral Authority
Dr Carrie Gress has a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of America and is the editor at the online women’s magazine Theology of Ho...
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1:00:20
#113 - Bijan Omrani & Alka Sehgal-Cuthbert - Britain’s Cultural Inheritance Is Being Squandered And We’re Living With the Consequences
Dr. Bijan Omrani is a classicist, historian, and Oxford-educated barrister. His research explores questions of religious history and cultural identity, spanning from ancient Roman Greece to Afghanistan and the Silk Road. He has taught Classics ...
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1:07:31
#112 - Firas Modad - Britain Is Losing Control At Home and Abroad: Demographics, Sovereignty, And Power
Firas Modad is an analyst and political economist focused on the Middle East and global geopolitics. He runs his own consultancy, Modad Geopolitics, helping companies and investors understand the ...
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1:21:30
#111 - Prof. Azar Gat - Why Ethnicity Is Inescapably Political And Nationalism Endures: Lessons For Britain & The West
Professor Azar Gat, one of the world’s leading scholars of nationalism, war, and political identity.Professor Gat is Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University and the author of several major works on conflict and political order, ...
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1:07:27
#110 - Renaud Camus - “The Disaster”: The Great Replacement, Elite Failure, And The Crisis Of The West
Renaud Camus, writer, painter, photographer, was born in 1946. He is now the author of more than one hundred and sixty works. His works are marked by the question of meaning and the fight against the industrialisation of man and the massacre of...
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53:54
#109 - William Clouston - Why British Politics Is A Case Study In Governing Against The National Interest
William Clouston is the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the United Kingdom and a member of the advisory board for Restore Britain. In ...
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1:11:01
#108 - Prof. Eric Kaufmann & Dr Paul Morland - Demographic Timebomb 2060: The English & British Are Headed For Minority Status & Why It Matters
Eric Kaufmann is Professor of Politics at The University of Buckingham and Director of the Centre for Heterodox Social Science. He directs Buckingham’s new MA in the Politics of Cultural Conflict and PhD in Cultural Politics as well as its open...
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1:05:23
#107 - Stephen Balogh - The State Of Democracy: Why Voters In Britain & Western Europe Are So Unhappy With Politics
Stephen Balogh is the Chairperson for the Social Democratic Party. Stephen is also active in non-profit and public policy organisations that promote the flourishing of society through the thoughtful application...
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1:04:01
#106 - Driss Ghali - France’s Identity Crisis: Violence, Islamism & The Risk Of Social Fracture
Driss Ghali is a political author and speaker. Driss was born in Morocco and educated in Europe. He graduated from prestigious French universities and spent a lot of time in a corporate career focused on high-tech companies. Driss is an intelle...
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1:20:22
#105 - Neema Parvini - Why Politics Is Like Pro-Wrestling And Democracy Is An Illusion
Neema Parvini is the author of nine books including Applied Elite Theory, The Prophets of Doom, The Populist Del...
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1:06:36
#104 - Alexander Chula - What A Small African Country & Its Dictator Can Teach Us About Western Civilisation
Alexander Chula is a medical doctor and writer working in London. His first book, Goodbye. Dr Banda was published 2023.In this episode, Alexander and I think out loud about what an African dictator can teach the West about itself, how m...
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1:22:59
#103 - Martin Sellner - Remigration & European Identity
Martin Sellner is an Austrian activist, author and political organiser and his "goal is to save the identity and soul of [his] nation & Europe". He is author of several books in the German language, one of which, "Regime Change From The Rig...
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1:10:00
#102 - David Betz - Tribes At War: The Sectarian Battle For Britain's Future & Its Grim Reality
David Betz is Professor of War in the Department of War Studies at King's College London where he heads the MA War Studies programme. He is a...
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1:20:43
#101 - Nina Power - Beyond Deportations: The Restoration Of Britain's Soul
Nina Power is a philosopher, writer, and author of books including What Do Men Want?: Masculinity and Its Discontents. Nina runs philosophy courses with Verdurin and is also the author of the Subst...
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1:15:32
#100 - Philip Cunliffe - Britain After Globalism: 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 experi...
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1:14:53
#099 - Paul Embery - Why Diversity Is Britain's Greatest Challenge
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 ...
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1:02:08
#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...
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1:05:30
#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 ...
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54:37
#096 - Dominic Frisby - Gold, Power, And The State: What Honest Money Reveals About Civilisation
Dominic Frisby is a financial writer, broadcaster, and comedian. He 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 wri...
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54:44