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.
Thinking Class
#056 - Prof. Robert Tombs - Why We Cannot Escape History: England's Past Will Define Its Future
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Professor Robert Tombs is Professor Emeritus of French History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John’s College. Robert is the author of That Sweet Enemy (2006, co-written with his wife Isabel), The English and Their History (2014), and the Sunday Times bestseller This Sovereign Isle: Britain In and Out of Europe.
In this episode, Robert and I think out loud about whether England and Britain are in decline, how England's national identity was formed, England's historical stability and contributions, why we should beware the rise of radical ideologies that seek to rewrite history, the importance of recognizing England's rich past in the current cultural and political landscapes, the complexities of the British constitution and whether we need a written constitution to safeguard ancient liberties, the cultural kinship between the Anglosphere and France, why we need to make a conscious effort to preserve cultural heritage, and much, much more.
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