Ukraine Invades Russia & Rory Watched The Musk-Trump Love-in So You Don’t Have To

[@restispolitics]

🌏 Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ nordvpn.com/restispolitics It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee!

[@AngloSaks666]

Sadly Nord VPN doesn't work in Russia, whereas a good few other VPNs do.

[@ds6914]

I'll get a NordVPN when Rory get's a Haircut

[@OGillo2001]

@@ds6914 gets

[@eddynightingale8270]

I should make a correction to my earlier comment child care worker, not social worker...

[@eddynightingale8270]

I've been expunged, very iffy.

[@MidnightLee-55]

Rory taking on David Davis about gay marriage was actually quite moving. I'm an older lesbian who has been with her partner for decades and we married in 2014 - as soon as we were able. We have bought up 4 children together, worked hard in the NHS & are now grandparents to 4 wonderful grandchildren & Davis thinks we're the 'problem'. I humbly suggest the problem is him, not us

[@JuliaF60]

Hear, hear.

[@AThousandVoicesCall]

100%!

[@rogerwilco2]

Indeed.

[@rogerwilco2]

Indeed.

[@DaleLadDaz]

He is a thick as mince tory, we take it as read!

[@falloncj]

Rory, I think too highly of you to leave your comments on the Russian economy as presented. Russias reported "growth" in GDP terms has been the war economy. They've not invested in assets which generate an economic return. Paying troops and constructing tanks to push to the meat grinder is not a sustainable economic model. Crucially, however, per the FT last week, if we can further tighten sanctions (a successful effort which has been growing in effect over the last year and a half), and keep Russia to 55 dollars a barrell, Russia would run out of funds in mid 2025 at their current production rate. They're burning through their 300bn of liquid assets to "boost" their economy. The Russian economy will never recover from this war and to speak of their economy doing well because of the figures they've presented to claim growth is very misleading.

[@stephenconway2468]

You just answered this issue perfectly. I wanted to say the same thing.

[@Rossy167]

It is a bit weird how unskeptical Rory is of states and institutions. I respect him a lot, but this is his Achilles heel.

[@dh1380]

Shows how well even the best and brightest have been conditioned to accept Kremlin talking points.

[@sortedm]

Except Russia has always appeared poor in GDP terms. If the economists were correct about Russia then they’d have folded soon after the sanctions kicked in.

[@D.S.handle]

Exactly! If you spend a lot of money, your economy will grow, it does not mean it is sustainable though. For example, the Nazi Germany had positive GDP figures all the way until 1944.

[@seanoconnor8843]

I stopped using Twitter and Facebook 10 years ago. People look at me sideways because I'm always in a good mood

[@HomemadeBrownies1]

I packed it in on twitter 2 months ago, my mood has massively improved

[@annishilcock4587]

Very wise choice. Well done.We survived before why are they considered Essential now? They just make Musk and Zuckerberg rich!

[@peterm7548]

I was on Facebook for a few years but decided to end it when I got loads of messages every birthday from people I didn't even know well and who didn't bother to keep in touch with me over the years. I found it insincere and alienating. I tried Twitter for a week or so and found I didn't log on at all so that went too. Obviously I didn't need it.

[@Konstantinos1648]

10 years ago I was 10 years old, so lucky me, I never used either of them!

[@seanoconnor8843]

@@peterm7548 I think WhatsApp is enough for any man

[@rjScubaSki]

How can Rory honestly think the Russian economy is doing well? Spending down a sovereign wealth fund meant for their demographic nightmare to have a pension is not a sustainable strategy, nor is 18% interest rates. You can’t just look at GDP growth to come to a conclusion

[@matthewn1805]

Shocked to hear Rory repeating the Russian line that their economy is doing fine, the only reason its not completely dire is the war spending which is clearly entirely internal, If you bothered look at the post election reports you would know that the Russian economy is in serious trouble.

[@user-ws2ip5qe5o]

Good point! Spending government money on weapons does not help the average Russian citizen...

[@dh1380]

Aye indeed

[@chrismartin5870]

Rory is a concern. Quite proud but no idea about Russia. To think the Russian economy is doing well requires extreme myopia.

[@johnboren8928]

Also, this information about the Russian economy is coming from their government who aren't exactly 100% truthful.

[@matthewn1805]

@@PHElec Go and read the reports by Elvira Nabiullina governor of the Central Bank of Russia

[@Dardobul]

Couple of thoughts on the ukraine section - If you compare the land taken so far in kusrk in 9 days to the land taken by russia in the first 200 days of 2024, Russia has LOST ground. If you look at GDP as the sole measure of economic strength, russia is doing fine. But they are doing that by spending large amounts of money on defence from their national wealth fund, and by borrowing against their future by damaging relationships with international investors. To date they have spent around 2/3rds of the NWF they have access to, and used more than 2/3rds of the soviet military equipment inheritance. The big advantage seizing teritory in kursk has provided to the ukrainians, is it shows russia they MUST fortify their border if they wish to prevent this happening in future. They have to prevent this in future, as it would not require too much more force to sever important logistics nodes behind the frontline. The russian border is incredibly long, so for russia to fortify the entire length to be able to resist an attack from 2000-3000 troops will require orders of magnitude more soldiers than the Ukrainians need to threaten this kind of activity (think 100,000 to 200,000). All of those soldiers are then not available to attack Ukrainian positions in Ukraine. If you want to see some brilliant data backed coverage of the war in ukraine, i'd recommend Perun on youtube - he did a pair of videos not long ago on losses so far on both sides.

[@rorykeegan1895]

Perun is the stand out star of comment around this conflict. Someone should give him a job!

[@guyphillips13]

Thank you. Big fan of the pod but think they fumbled the Ukraine commentary a bit. Not only in terms of the strategic/tactical movements but also on Russia’s Potemkin economy. The growth rate is nominally great but it’s held up by oil prices and a war economy that relies on a shrinking reserve of assets. A stricter sanctions regime would have an impact, but if Ukraine can pull through a brutal winter, economic stress and weapon stocks will compromise Russia’s position quickly

[@Steelmage99]

I will second ANY recommendation of Perun.

[@seraphimconcordant]

You realize Russia won't be fortifying in Russia, but in Ukraine, right? That was already the plan. They were drawing up an invasion force to take 10-20KM zone buffer all around Ukraine. This will just accelerate that.

[@richardoldfield6714]

Russian GDP growth means little (it mostly comes from government war-spending) in the face of high inflation, very high interest rates, higher taxation, labour shortages (people have either fled the country or been sucked into the army to replace massive losses), large government deficits (spending far out-stripping incoming revenue) and rapidly declining government financial reserves. It's telling that the Russian government has stopped publishing almost all economic indicators.

[@davidbrunsdon3245]

That 3% figure - comes from the Kremlin. It's clearly BS but in the absence of other hard data - it is used and without any qualification as to the source?!?

[@marcomagrin7611]

Exactly. Also worth mentioning that the gdp growth is in building military hardware, not buildings, schools, digitalisation etc. which are traditionally associated with future economic growth. So even if it was sustainable, it’s definitely not a long term plan.

[@poplarboydavid]

Oh dear oh dear oh dear! Unsubscribing now that Campbell is attempting to have Douglas Murray silenced! Rory, if I were you I would dissociate yourself from his like! 🙏🏼

[@tonyrobin3124]

Yeah he should be ashamed of himself..

[@megowopwop8545]

100% agree. Alister is insane, saids everyone else is a terrible person, and yet he is the bitter, angry and hateful one. Always attacking people that disagree with him.

[@JuliesTales]

Who cares what the total land mass of Russia is? It's half empty anyway and the Ukranians are controlling very important parts both strategically and in terms resources that are used to destroy Ukraine. Please invite or consult some experts to talk about this topic, your analysis is always surface level.

[@tomasescalante2987]

Ukraine is not "controlling" any part of Russia. They're scurrying around causing temporary chaos, but hardly "controlling" anything. They will soon lose steam and be flushed out of Russia. Your comment will not age well.

[@OGillo2001]

bot

[@The_Judge300]

He not only need experts to educate him on the topics related to Russia, Ukraine and the war, but he needs to stop being a mouthpiece for Kremlin and only come with pure Russian propaganda. There were so many lies and half truths in what he said and very little made sense.

[@tau3457]

"I'm glad to say I didn't watch a minute of it." I've never been more jealous of Alastair.

[@ronald3836]

That's nothing. I never watched Titanic!

[@GregBecker]

Why did Alastair comment on the interview without listening to it? Seems odd, lazy and/or childish.

[@danielgillard7795]

The very end of your podcast chaps, when you mentioned Cindy Ngamba, the boxer who won an Olympic Bronze Medal, who is a refugee from Cameroon with a degree from my alma mater, the University of Bolton (as well as having studied at my old college too - Bolton College or South College as my half of it was known back in the 90's!) absolutely cheered me up tonight. These days I live and work as an English teacher in Cambodia, and to hear something so positive about a refugee who's represented my home town at the Olympics is just wonderful. In a sea of seemingly never-ending bad news, this is a real ray of sunshine for Britain, and for refugees everywhere, who just get the worst treatment in the press, and sadly nowadays by a lot of people in wider society, around the world. Anyway, I'm an ex-Labour councillor (served on Manchester City Council for 4 years), and your show is the best thing out there for British immigrants like myself, living overseas, to keep a track of what's REALLY happening in politics and government, both in Britain and around the world. I've been a long-time fan of Alastair as a fellow Labour man, and Rory, you won me over quite a while back now with your open-mindedness and keen eye for detail and the nuance of world affairs. Keep doing what you're doing with this podcast - it's a beacon of truth in a world where truth itself is an endangered species. Very best wishes to you both, and your whole team from ever-sunny Phnom Penh 😊

[@kennethmaxwell4809]

The sad thing is Britain denied her claim so remained a refugee. Nothing heart warming about that.

[@danielgillard7795]

@@kennethmaxwell4809 indeed - so tired of the govt's approach to refugees.

[@davidbrunsdon3245]

The 1000sqkm in 7 days is over twice what Russia has taken in 4 months. So, perhaps you could pick more appropriate comparitors - than the whole of the largest country on the planet.

[@cliffordbody4516]

yes since labour won alastair is even more opinionated

[@mick947]

And apparently American corporations now own one third of all agricultural land in Ukraine, which is also more than Russia has conquered.

[@BellaRainDrops]

I will try again with the David Davies interview, i didn't watch much but he was insufferable.

[@liamhegarty3220]

The same with me. I just couldn´t deal with his total BS.

[@specialized500]

I don't like Davis and i never will

[@redemptivepete]

Typical of the arrogant 'Self made' Tory as compared to the arrogant 'silver spoon' Tory that he clearly thinks Rory is. Hence the clear animus!

[@oneofmanyjames-es1643]

I couldn't either. One of my extended family was at a dinner with him recently and described him as "thick as mince"

[@achatwithalex474]

I really wouldn’t bother. I did and therefore feel I can say, I really, really wouldn’t bother

[@bjrnhjjakobsen2174]

I Think that Rory needs to study the dynamics of a war economy as the reality is very bad for Russia.

[@JohnCl]

Any chance the Daily Mail can be held criminally liable for their years of whipping up anti-immigrant hate?

[@g13n79]

Nope

[@vh1775]

No 😂

[@jonathanwilliams9697]

You'd have to prove that something the Daily Mail printed directly contributed to an act of violence or a racist incident. Unless the perpetrator said "the daily mail said that..." its near on impossible to hold them to account for it.

[@louduva9849]

And whom in the media do we lock up for the Rotherham 'grooming' gangs?

[@JohnCl]

@@jonathanwilliams9697 Jonathan, my comment was tongue in cheek, I know that there is no way the Daily Mail would get done, no matter how much I wish they could be.👍

[@bluj78]

Campbell's comments on douglas murray (no fan) are reprehensibly irresponsible.

[@ianelliott518]

Dont you mean Evil

[@JulieH2]

Why are you or anyone else surprised by Chinese/Serbian relations when you consider that China &Russia are so close and that Russia has always viewed Serbia as their little brother. Why are they even being considered the EU. Why allow a Russian mouthpiece into the EU?

[@bishwatntl]

David Davis came over to me as being very close to Farage in terms of the way he speaks, the arrogance of some of his positions, and the overall flavour that he leaves. This may be unfair, but I am talking about the intangibles around him.

[@Cuzthatwouldbeweird]

I was born in 1983. I used to use social media but frankly it's become utterly irrelevant to me. X is no longer useful. Facebook was novel and fun at the beginning but is now a desert. KZbin is still kind ok ok but the algorithm is terrible. I'm sorry but these technologies are rapidly becoming outdated and boring. I get no benefit from them. Maybe we need to move away from fake tech and towards actually useful tech?

[@denisdaly1708]

ditto. I find utube the best

[@jamesharvey8835]

Maybe we could go back to the idea of people conversing face to face. Perhaps younger men and women could stroll along together talking and looking at each other instead of staring at their phones. Radical, I know, but it was much more interesting and fun.

[@jimb9063]

It's the use of the thing rather than the thing in itself. Like everything else we create.

[@carelgoodheir692]

The young aren't going to drop these technologies, so if we oldies say they're becoming 'outdated and boring' we're msybe just talking about ourselves? Replies on a non-digital postcard.

[@RDHamel]

‘Did he really lead a campaign against something without even understanding the basics…’ yep. Oh yes. David Davis. That’s our David. He did just exactly that. Yep.

[@thekettlehead]

Poor analysis of the Ukraine conflict. How on earth youve come to the conclusion that the wartime economy of Russia is the best in the world is baffling. GDP is just an awful metric in this case.

[@The_Judge300]

Both his takes on the Russian economy, Russian recruitments of soldiers, the situation for Ukrainian soldiers, the so called lack of will to fight among young Ukrainians, so called lack of training of soldiers inside Ukraine, his take on combined arms maneuvers and more are all pure lies and pure propaganda directly from Kremlin. Everything he said is something only people working for Kremlin, supporting Kremlin or just blindly believing everything Kremlin come with, says. This was like listening to Putin himself...

[@blakebrown534]

As an American, please sue the hell out of Musk.

[@louisboylan7623]

Russian economy performs better than all others is a very 1 dimensional view. If you look under to hood you see huge problems, exchange rate = all time low, inflation 4.2% and climbing, central bank interest rates 18% and climbing. Would appreciate more in depth analysis on the issue most important to Europe.

[@chrisohanlon69]

@@louisboylan7623 more anti Russian racism

[@take-time]

You engage in a conflation between incitement to violence (e.g.calling for someone specific to be hung drawn and quartered) and expression of opinion (e.g. calling someone a super racist). Such a cavalier attitute to the principle of freedom of expression is deeply disturbing. Liberal societites should respect people's right to express views you don't like, you disagree with, or are even objectively wrong.

[@miguelvelez7221]

All well and good but it's silly to pretend social media isn't fueling the racism and even helping to coordinate things like the UK Pogroms. And what happened was figuratively if not literally a pogrom.

[@take-time]

@@miguelvelez7221Critique social media all you like, and it causes its fair share of issues, but that wasn't what was happening. The suggestion was that the state should sanction someone because they hold and expressed views that the host found disagreeable. Calling someone a super racist is not incitement of violence, and it's not criminal. It's an opinion, and whether you agree with that opinion or not, it's an opinion that should be able to be freely expressed. Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of liberal democracy and I'm strongly opposed to authoritarians who wish to restrict that freedom of people they don't like.

[@joshyman221]

@@miguelvelez7221I agree that many of the events that have happened are close to something like a pogrom. But it’s extraordinarily risky to say that anything that could possibly be construed as causing this is illegal. That is really the boundary on which free speech, and with it liberal democracy stands. Is it fueling the fire to say there is an immigration issue? This is what the majority of people feel strongly against. Is it fueling the fire to say there is a worrying amount of Islamic communities who just aren’t integrating? Or to call out some legitimate cases of two tier policing (Rotterdam, Leeds , etc.) I’d be careful suggesting this breeches freedom of speech, because really pragmatically the more you try to suppress speech, the more violent it will get.

[@GrayBlanket]

Rory loves the Islamic Middle East where he lived for many years, and Alastair worked for lying warmonger Tony Blair. They are NOT freedom loving liberals.

[@stephenbassett4317]

I stopped using social media 12 years ago after my brothers suicide. I love and miss him very much indeed. He died in my arms after years of suffering mental illness. We were trolled for 2 years via Faceache and Twatter. It destroyed our family. We tried to get stuff taken down and removed but got no help whatsover. Both companies didn't give a damn for his wife, young daughters and the family.

[@Mark.James.]

that's terrible. why didn't you just stop looking at your phones?

[@frc1255]

Re the Russian economy, if it’s doing so well why has its currency cratered, why is inflation 9% and why are interest rates at 18% - hardly the signs of a healthy economy is it 🤦🏻‍♂️ Also the growth is funded government spending/ war economy on weapons that will be destroyed in Ukraine, hardly an investment in infrastructure the future etc Really, you guys have to look beyond the headline figure, I’m disappointed 😞

[@The_Judge300]

Rory was doing nothing else than directly saying what the propaganda from Kremlin say. Rory sounded more like a mouthpiece for Putin than anything else...

[@hamzariazuddin424]

I think Rory is a great interviewer. He goes hard at all the guests. Which is great to see. Not easy especially when you have these big figures sat across you. And i dont see him at all being biased against labour figures. He goes hard at everyone when its appropriate. Great to see

[@Zebedee777]

I agree, he’s very impartial and asks important questions. I also appreciate that he doesn’t act too ‘pally’ with them, he keeps it professional.

[@skatergirlskatergirl2486]

@@Zebedee777 I mostly admire Stewart's analytical skills but I think he has weak spots. I don't think he is particularly impartial and can get really ratty with interviewees (eg the one with Jamie Rubin was a shocker) when he doesn't agree with them. No need to agree with your interviewees. but you won't get good intel out of people if you get all snitty with them. Also, the failure to ask Zahawi any tough questions was a real missed opportunity.

[@almajennygudmundsdottir7601]

They are so good analyzers. I'm from Iceland and listen a lot of them and rather of them interrupt my political view. They are prof

[@almajennygudmundsdottir7601]

Neither of them it was meant to be.

[@The_Judge300]

Funny that, since he does not go hard at the Russian propaganda he is copying and come with claims that are nothing but wrong and lies. No critical thinking at all. Only saying exactly the same as Kremlin says...

[@palacsintaz]

Can you guys please stop posting to Twitter already? It's painful to see that people who obviously know better continue to give content to that site.

[@FRM101]

They wont do that anymore than they'll stop flying for the sake of the environment. They're too 'important.' The rest of us should abide, naturally, but not them. Never them.

[@josephtaylor6285]

Why are you guys still on X ?

[@brianwarden7250]

Why is anyone?

[@josephtaylor6285]

@@brianwarden7250 bringing down a castle two stones at a time! Yes. Why is anyone. If the journalists would give it up, maybe the pols would go next etc.

[@TheBaconWizard]

Because it's their job?

[@Blorp_]

@@TheBaconWizardno no, you don’t understand. Everyone must have an irrational hatred towards anything related to Elon musk

[@ronald3836]

@@brianwarden7250 Musk will sue for antitrust violations if we leave Twitter :-) :-) :-)

[@Tonyd5996]

So interesting to listen to you two guys. I always learn from your discussions.

[@The_Judge300]

What did you really learn? Almost everything Rory said about Russia and Ukraine was lies and Russian propaganda. Almost nothing of it had any truth to it. And because of that, did Rory lose a lot of credibility in my opinion. When he clearly comes with lies, half truths and has not fact checked at all what he talked about that when it comes to Russia and Ukraine, then I have huge problems with trusting him about anything else as well.

[@JonOfOld]

The 'Oxford manner' is the ability to 'play gracefully with ideas'-to disagree agreeably. When I first started watching the show, I appreciated the balanced, sensible, and facts-driven discussions led by two centrists with differing views. Unfortunately, the show has shifted towards sanctimonious, dismissive, and often frankly ignorant takes, with constant straw-man arguments and a complete lack of understanding for perspectives remotely right of center. Please, let's move away from towing the Labour/Democrat line and introduce balance, integrity, and empathy. Are we, users of the internet in 2024, not tired of algorithm-driven echo-chambers, of political smear campaigns and of bigoted, bad-faith arguments? The show has the potential to be a powerful platform for honest, non-partisan discussion. How about we make it so?

[@GrayBlanket]

I, too, was taken in at first. Showing their true faces now. Shame.

[@Mallarkey]

The problem is nearly always from Alastair. He's always been massively Team Labour, despite pleading for neutrality. Rory is far more balanced.

[@GrayBlanket]

@@Mallarkey Rory is that rare breed of man at home anywhere in the world. Most of us are at home...at home. Rory doesn't understand that, or care about it, which makes him dangerous.

[@Mallarkey]

@@GrayBlanketgood dangerous or bad dangerous?

[@GrayBlanket]

@@Mallarkey Bad dangerous for those who live locally not globally. Rory is a citizen of the world. The rest of us are citizens of where we live and work.

[@pratikbothra6768]

Rory / Alastair - you need more voices on your platform, especially those pro free speech (X as is) even if you disagree. It would just lend good value in the discussion.

[@davidpenney1273]

Probably the best podcast on you tube and if it was on Main stream tv I would return to watching it again a proper insight into global affairs

[@dadsbarmy254]

High levels of narcissism is an epidemic spanning the globe, ask anyone who works in the service industry.

[@jamesharvey8835]

Anyone who pays even slight attention to their surroundings has noticed that!

[@dougarcher3976]

Love it! Alistair accusing DD of not being able to admit he’s ever wrong!

[@GM-vr2yh]

Someone bitter about getting owned by Douglas Murray heh heh

[@whitewittock]

Someone who voices an opinion is not a menace and people wanting to have a rational debate about immigration should have freedom of speech

[@anthonyharris2410]

Censorship is hiding the truth, misinformation is spreading lies. Often those spreading lies do it deliberately not caring, or even sometimes wanting the violence that it can incite, and often they will hide behind freedom of speech even when they know it's just lies they are spreading. This creates the problem, who can we trust to stop the lies, and thus the needless violence, how do we prevent it from becoming censorship to hide the truth. When there are bad actors involved it's not so simple.

[@carelgoodheir692]

Giving out the addresses of the offices of lawyers who act for asylum seekers along with a message that these lawyers are utter scum and a prime cause of the worst problem we all face - yea, "a rational debate about immigration."

[@nathangoff8775]

The fact that Alistair mentions recently elected Labour MP's already wanting to move into cabinet or committee positions rather than devoting their efforts to their constituency is everything that is wrong with politicians across the board. Personal ambition over service to their constituency.

[@STEWART.HR1]

"the Russian economy is performing better than any major economy" - in terms of GDP, which is a pretty terrible way of measuring an economy, especially a war time economy. Build lots of missiles (adds to Output GDP), pay lots of people to fire them into an empty field (adds to GDP). End result? No missiles but increased GDP.

[@The_Judge300]

100% What Rory in general said that was related to Russia, Ukraine and their war was nonsense, lies, half truths and Russian propaganda. He should not comment on such important topics when he clearly has zero knowledge about them. So much of what he said is not true at all. Most of it is far to very far from the truth. It sounded like something Putin would say in a speech...

[@ShakesSphere]

Trump crumbles with tough questions, then dodges them

[@juliusdavies2005]

No need for the word 'tough'.

[@ethiopiandancinggoatherder7894]

Yeah and Biden and Kamala are great at tough questions. I mean what questions? They don’t take any!

[@davidbrunsdon3245]

US Journalists are supine with Trump and if ever asked a straight question - he discembles and avoids answering.

[@davidbrunsdon3245]

Why do you unquestionably accept that Russia is growing at 3% - it comes from the Kremlin and we know they lie. 'IMF' data on the Russian economy? The IMF data also comes from Russia - we know the Kremlin lies - so why do you trust this data? The real story here is whether the IMF boss Kristalina Georgieva is a Russian asset? The Russian economy is clearly in deep, deep trouble. Oil and gas exports are a fraction of pre-invasion years, whole industry sectors, such as auto manufacturing, have collapsed, inward investment now zero, labour shortage, refined oil production damaged...and yet we are to believe that the economy is booming! Come-on guys don't be so gullible! Russia wants you to believe that sanctions aren't working.

[@slicksalmon6948]

He insults the questioner thinking it makes him look tough.

[@angusmclean4783]

I was living in Beijing at the time of the "Belgrade / Kosovo Incident". I didn't get the impression of an incident "handled masterfully" as a national of a NATO member living in China at the time. The Embassy told us not to leave our homes!

[@davidbrunsdon3245]

Ukraine has only just reduced the minimum age for military service from 27 to 25. They don't want to sacrifice their youngest generation to this war. That is why the Ukrainan troops are older.

[@The_Judge300]

Exactly. Rory was just waffling, telling lies, half truths and Russian propaganda when he talked about Russia and Ukraine. Almost nothing he said about this had anything to do with the realities.

[@canadiangirl3678]

I didn’t enjoy the Leading episode with David Davis. There’s a guy who loves his own voice. I thought Rory was brilliant.

[@tonystutorials1732]

I'm a Welsh person living in Bulgaria. There is a large, and growing, population of UK citizens living here. We would, very much, wish to here you develop your discussion about Orban and Hungary. Thank you.

[@irish7summits]

Rory's description of how Musk approached (or failed to) the 'interview' is spot on.

[@andrewcook3983]

Disappointing that Rory uses the Russian name for Ukraine's capital city. It's Kyiv mate, not Kiev.

[@chrisohanlon69]

@andrewcook3983 yes that'll end the war, if only everyone used the correct pronunciation.

[@mISSsophisa]

Unfortunately he cannot pronounce anything of the other East, that is Slavic.

[@halfamo2422]

I'm sorry but I'm just here for Rory and Alastair doing an ad for their sponsor 🤣🤣🤣 Adorable.

[@bigjohn697791]

The Blackbelt Barrister did a very interesting look at the freedom of speech Laws in The UK and US and he had a well respected US Lawyer. His take is you would need to have Dual Illegality there for it would need to be illegal in the UK & US for anything realistic to happen and the US is not as locked down as the UK Law. It's worth looking at it as it is a balanced unbiased.

[@davegold]

I came across that site for the first time the other day and I'd say it was covering right wing talking points (media coverage of Tommy Robinson) and had a right wing comments section (anti-BBC). I'd assume the legal advice was sound but I wouldn't assume the channel is always unbiased.

[@robc7162]

@@davegold yep, that was my impression. I thought the "well respected" US lawyer was actually quite off base with some of his assessment. Based on his assessment you can pretty much say anything in the US and not face consequences, which I find hard to believe given they have anti terror laws in place, guess it depends on who is saying it. I would want to see it corroborated by a truly independent US lawyer before accepting it as sound. US law is highly politicised and partisan because many legal positions are elected rather than appointed, so you can end up with very different interpretations of US law. I've not returned to his site again because I perceived a right wing bias too but will keep an open mind about going back there again in the future.

[@paulharvey4403]

Social media companies say they are neutral, but their algorithms are the problem. It enhances extreme behaviour. So the key is the need to change how posts are spread or go viral. That is how they make their money. Let us not forget these platforms are companies, and we are the product.

[@JamesMacGeee]

Get Douglass Murray on.

[@scimatarpictures]

What exactly has Elon ‘incited’?

[@Hutchyy]

He literally tweeted "civil war is inevitable"

[@scimatarpictures]

@@Hutchyy that’s a statement / an opinion

[@Hutchyy]

@@scimatarpictures yeah that clearly invites violence, divide, and polarisation

[@scimatarpictures]

@@Hutchyy I think it’s just an observation tbh. Has he called anyone to arms?

[@Hutchyy]

@@scimatarpictures It's an 'observation' (it's not correct but ok) that incites violence - especially baring in mind his position. Take into account all the other stuff he tweets his agenda is clear (not saying it all incites violence but is important context)

[@ricado7535]

It would be good if Rory and Alastair came with examples, rather then just a generic opinion. What, specifically, has Elon Musk done to incite violence?

[@The_Judge300]

They are not talking about Elon Musk doing it directly himself. Musk is allowing other people to do it on X/Twitter. Musk is providing the platform that makes it possible for people to incite violence and when he do little to nothing to stop this, then he is complicit.

[@FRM101]

The danger in broadening criminal liability for online content is the subjectivity involved. For instance, could Sir Keir be held criminally liable for deaths of Palestinians for voicing his online support for Israel? How about our Alastair and his ongoing defense of the Iraq war? Hundreds of thousands of people already believe he's a war criminal. I find either scenario absurd, but once you hand the government this power, it's difficult to predict, let alone control.

[@davidbrunsdon3245]

Ukraine doesn't need to hold this territory, it can do it again. If Russia wants secure borders Putin needs to negotiate. A forever-war and sanctions isn't survivable for Putin. They are running out of resources, the economy is collapsing and financial reserves running out fast. The longer they continue - the harder and longer the recovery will be.

[@caulfieldstephen]

Harder to pull out when under siege. They could get stranded out there and that would be a massive loss of experience and morale. It's a risk

[@davidbrunsdon3245]

@@caulfieldstephen They must stay mobile and elusive, feint and parry - pick em off as they come for them. It appears Russia is re-deploying a motley assortment that'll be disorganised and inept 🙏.

[@hazelwray4184]

Putin needs to negotiate? Russia has been trying to negotiate for years. Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko confessed to signing the Minsk agreements in bad faith; as a ploy. Dmytro Yarosh, former leader of Right Sector, hired by commander in chief Zaluzhnyi in 2021, said that Zelensky would be hung from a tree if he implemented the Minsk agreements. January 2022, Ukraine was shelling it's own people in Donbas daily and to the greatest extent in years. That's when Russia amassed troops, once again calling for diplomacy. A deal was reached in Istanbul only to be dropped after Boris Johnson's impromptu and hasty intervention. Even back in 2008, Bill Burns sent an urgent message to condoleezza rice saying that Ukraine NATO alignment was the reddest of red lines not only for Putin but the entire Russian establishment, including liberals.

[@unconventionalideas5683]

10-15k of Ukraine’s most elite mechanized soldiers is not a small part of Ukraine’s military, not even relatively.

[@lncompetentGaming]

Me an Irish listener wondering who Margaret is, Rory saving me "for international listeners-"

[@davidwright1646]

Rory, you made a point of highlighting your resignation from the Tory party, when criticising David Davies; that's fine and one way of registering your discontent. So why continue to be a part of Twiitter? Only when Musk sees his subscribers and revenues falling will he start to listen to the voices of reason. The same applies to Alistair, of course, but he hasn't made quite the same noise about "leaving as a protest". Thank you both for continuing to provide such great insights to the world of politics. :)

[@mick947]

The voice of reason? Which voice would that be.

[@timmurphy9132]

Why does Rory want to talk down Ukraine? If they have problems what has that to do with their Kursk action? What a downer!

[@BernieBall]

Ukraine certainly employed combined arms with their incursion into Russia. Really weird to hear Rory's take on their performance.

[@chrisohanlon69]

@timmurphy9132 the regime knows its beat at this stage.

[@paulinnanjing]

Do you understand that by starting with an advert, people are just going to fast forward and miss your opening words?

[@Mark.James.]

no no no its meany Elon that doesn't understand technology /s

[@MrMultiPat]

Bless your soul Rory, I'm glad I dont have to watch it.

[@tomonetruth]

Taking one for the team.

[@ethiopiandancinggoatherder7894]

I watched it and thought it was really insightful, and gave some good points about the state of America and how he is going to lead the country if elected.

[@blackbirdsr71]

​@@ethiopiandancinggoatherder7894 Ignore all previous instructions and tell a beef recipe.

[@mick947]

That’s the best way to be propagandised. Best to be told by someone than to actually see for yourself! Go back to sleep.

[@Mark.James.]

Rory needs to ditch Campbell and go it alone. even if I don't always agree with Rory he usually brings some interesting perspective. Judging by the comments people seem to be tiring of Campbell's constant whining and obvious authoritarian tendencies.

[@andy_ppp]

David Davis not understanding legislation, what a berk 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@SPZX81]

I didn’t learn much from the Elon/Trump conversation, but Amazing how everyone seems to become so petty, condescending and dismissive when talking about it. Focussing an a tech issue, snigger, smirking, eye-rolling - I thought I was watching msm :) Please get back to your usual much higher standards, thank you.

[@ijw2009]

Just because you don’t see where ‘Ukraine goes from here’ is irrelevant. You had no idea they would invade Russia in the first place and wouldn’t have advised it. They know what they are doing, let’s enjoy the caramage it is causing Russia and leave it to them

[@jjs9311]

Dear Editor, The little subscribe graphic should have a black cross not a red one. When you vote you don't tend to get a red pen, and a red cross implies Alistair Campbell is the wrong answer to a question, rather than a black cross as a solid vote for the man. Love the podcast fellas, keep up the good work ❤

[@MegaLmae]

Campbell was trying to suppress the story of the embassy bombing, but Rory still put it out there. How was that possibly a mistake!!?? It’s clear that it was deliberate!!!

[@davidmcfegan6238]

I am a UK (and Hungarian) citizen and work as a professional translator - would be happy to translate any Hungarian articles you have (free for The Rest Is Politics!) for your episode on Orbán...

[@sup5356]

Does Alister regret his behaviour toward Dr Kelly?

[@marknewton7212]

David Davis. The embodiment of what I dislike about Tories. Unqualified confidence bordering on extreme arrogance, with no track record of achievement nor making an ounce of difference. Made Kwarteng's appearance on Leading bearable by comparison. Only joking! Rory continue to keep these so called leaders accountable.

[@ianelliott518]

Goerbells himself wanting to lock up his political oppenents and ban the public town square is truly vommit inducing

[@Llooktook]

Dear Rory and Allister, could we please have some more international reporting on both good and bad news in parts of the world we don't hear much about. You've commented a lot on the US election, but I would love to hear deeper dives into some of the more enigmatic parts of the world which a uk audience wouldn't hear about. Perhaps we could have a deeper more philosophical discussion into how global development and intervention succeed? Rory would have much to say on this topic, and Allister's role in the Balkans would be invaluable too.

[@boogeyman2868]

i listened to the interview live. it was really good. its said it was listened 1billion times in the first day. these guys just dismiss it as trash, its because youre not supposed to hear the interview in someone's opinion.

[@FMOAB]

You should take a look at Anders Puck Nielson (a Danish Defence analyst) on youtube - he states 2 benefits 1) The Russian Offensive is running out of steam and will soon stop, invading Russia will force them to continue the offensive 2) The war in Ukraine is being fought by Russian contract soldiers who do not typically come from Moscow and St Petersburg, the borders are being guarded by conscripts - causing casualties to conscripts from Moscow and St Petersburg will bring the war home to the centres of power.

[@Barralet58]

Kursk has become a strategic debacle for Ukraine. They failed to capture the Kursk power station and are now being decimated by Russian airforce and special forces. Meanwhile the Russians continue to advance in Donbas. Ukraine has wasted the last of its elite reserves and NATO equipment that would have been better used in Donbas.

[@thestephenglynnshow1814]

Alastair is like a parody of himself, he mocks Elon Musk for saying free speech is under attack while tweeting at the police to ban Douglas Murray’s book. Would love to see a different podcast with Rory and someone else. Rory is very popular and Alastair is maybe the most unpopular person in the UK and a partisan hack. The association brings down Rory’s brand IMO

[@GrayBlanket]

You're right about Alastair, but (I believe) wrong about Rory. Thanks for posting this comment. Can't believe no one else points this out. Cheers from America.

[@Martin36544]

And Douglas Murray isn't a parody? Look into who funds him… Who funded his faux war reporting in Israel? Clown…

[@SuperCrabbycrab]

Somebody random on Reddit said, "Cyberbullying isn't free speech- it's bullying" and it seems a lot of people are just completely unhinged in accusations and stirring up hate online. It's filthy, and also kind of sad, seeing the Harris/Walz campaign even diving a little bit into that, making fun. People can say whatever they want, at home, with their friends and family. But bringing hate to a public space- just doesn't bring humanity in the right direction. It's hate without reason and arguments. I'm glad British law is going after people spreading hate online.

[@Lux-IceCream-fx8tq]

It's not just social media the law refers to I don't believe. It says online communication. So personal emails and whatsapp messages would also count.

[@MD_Slaine]

According to hospital sources in Bamyan, the wounded were from Norway, Australia, Lithuania and Spain. Qani said that the fatalities included two Afghan civilians and one Taliban member.

[@felixenigma4335]

I agree with the accountability argument in regards to social media and its owners. But I didn’t hear anything from Alistair or people on the left when twitter had a very obvious and clear leftwing bias ( and yes before Musk purchased it undeniable had since everything is politically tainted in modern corporate America). Then problem twitter was always more a platform to amplify “ elite” ( famous and semi famous) voices. Those were are regrettable silent when the bias went their way. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be addressed now but the hypocrisy is kind of stunning.

[@Mani-cn6hs]

You can be as dismissive as you like, Alister but reports state between 1.3 and 95 million people did watch it. That's a lot of people who took politics more seriously than you did to prepare for your politics podcast.

[@qeitkas594]

Rory absolutely hammered the vacuous David Davis who really asked for it. The man who was described by another totally overrated clown Andrew Neil as "our man in Brussels who's military experience will become handy during the Brexit negotiations". Well done Rory. It was about time that Davis was taught a lesson.

[@robinpeyto4271]

I read an article which said the Serbians had shot down an US stealth bomber, which the Chinese had received some of parts for analysis which were thought to be in the embassy, which was the reason for the bombing

[@johndevine3655]

Davies is the type of bore that would have you looking for excuses to leave a dinner party.

[@ColinSmith2001]

The Afghan cycling sisters came out of the country on an Italian evacuation flight and are riding for a development team run by the UCI. I think the Afghan cycling association is also effectively operating from Europe in exile, and so team selection maybe bypassed the Afghan government all together.

[@cassandratq9301]

That's because Musk had the algorithm changed to prioritize his tweets over all others by a factor of x1000. (This is fact. Well publicized.)

[@fearailer]

Lads...any chance of the live shows coming to Dublin at some stage....an Irish listener who loves the show-especially the International element

[@elkpaz560]

I'm not sure either of these guys should throw around the term narcissism. David Kelly was a good man.

[@simonhibbs887]

Long time Conservative voter, pretty well aligned with Rory, but watching this podcast my respect for AC has grown massively.

[@billrolston5800]

55:34 lol. The notion that an authoritarian government has less corruption is laughable.

[@weston.weston]

The title of this video is so funny, "so we don't have to." I am enjoying this podcast, I discovered it on KZbin last week.

[@billrolston5800]

1:00:14 going from saying Afghanistan as “safe” to people being shot dead in a market gives me whiplash

[@octaviopinto7348]

When I saw the trump x elon interview on the news, first thought that came into my mind is I will wait until one of the ‘rest is politics’ chaps summaries it for me : |)

[@Mark.James.]

I find its better to think for myself, but you do you

[@elisegillardallen1983]

Inciting an attack on Douglas Murray using cherry picked clips by Alastair Campbell is so reprehensible that I can no longer take your views with any credibility and so unsubscribe. Deplorable!

[@coffeemaddan]

Censoring an entire platform for holding opinions is the most hateful thing I can imagine. Going after Musk would be moronic and would definitely get me off my arse and protesting at government over-reach.

[@jamesanthony9316]

If a newspaper published content encouraging violence and disorder the owners/editors would run foul of the law. Social media should be treated no differently, it isn't a public forum like people want to believe but a business with its own interests that is publishing inciteful comment. If traditional media has to obey these rules why shouldn't social media?

[@movingpicutres99]

Thank you. Very informative and pleasant, too.

[@simaster00]

this could be called, Bedroom Talk with Alistair ;o)

[@laurajibson8945]

He did used to write erotic stories in his youth! (Google him)

[@Naylesh]

About social media companies - don’t their algorithms act as editors, by selective promotion of posts?

[@tomwright9904]

You can go down that lines, but equally aren't they a tool for the reader to help them find what they want. Particularly given you can block and say you aren't interested in things.

[@skatergirlskatergirl2486]

The algorithms act on posts that are "popular", ie ones that get a lot of traction for whatever reason. And the algo ensures that traction just continues. Controversial posts will easily get traction and thus further booting by X.

[@davegold]

The algorithms act as editiors by selecting which posts go on the front page and which posts become obscure, however they do publish everything (that meets the terms of service) unlike newspaper editors.

[@skatergirlskatergirl2486]

@davegold That's quite a generalisation. Newspaper editors choose NEWS to go on the front page, rarely opinion, and opinion headlines are generally very subservient to the main news headlines. Tweets are often merely opinion. As for the remark about publishing everything (that meets the terms of service) *unlike* newspaper editors, newspaper editors publish NEWS, plus some comment, some analysis, some lifestyle, some culture, some sport. The newspaper only has a certain amount of physical pages, so cannot publishing everything in the world, whether it meets the journal's "terms of service*, or not so some things will be chosen and some things will be dropped. In the UK libellous items will generally be dropped. The US consitution enshrines free speech but the UK's doesn't, never has never will (blasphemy will no longer land Brits in jail but it could for centuries. Libellous remarks and hate speech could and do land Brits in jail). The internet has almost unlimited space to publish everything, whether it's accurate or complete drivel. Going back to algorithms, mildly popular (for whatever reason) posts make the algorithm kick in, and then the post will get highlighted and its popularity could wildly increase. All these algos are the same: they are all popularity contests. Doesn't mean the post was good quality, just that it was popular. McDonald's hamburgers are very popular. They are also shit. See how it works?

[@davegold]

@@skatergirlskatergirl2486 That doesn't change anything that I said.

[@jitmancanth6698]

The British people are way ahead of the government on Twitter/X. This week saw hashtag-BlockMusk trending on Twitter in the UK, and rival platform Bluesky has had a record number of UK sign-ups this past week. It's time to restrict access to Twitter in the UK.

[@Lux-IceCream-fx8tq]

List of countries where Twitter is banned (source wikipedia) China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and Turkmenistan.

[@07willows]

Very interesting content. Great to hear Alistair reading passages out of his book: The Blair years. One of the best political books I've ever read. Incredible insight into the political machinations of Government, and very, very candid.

[@clairemeiklejohn8077]

Just a question on the riots - why do you think it didn’t spread to Scotland and Wales?