The Worst Politician Of The Year & Dad-Dancing Populists

[@tomgraham6071]

Totally agree with Rory about Reeves. He clocked her and she knew it, that's why she was so defensive, and now it's all unfolding he's the least of her worries. Gone by this time next year? I want Labour to be successful as I waited so long for the Tories to go.

[@fenderek666]

+1 She is useless as a politician

[@TheInternetIsDeadToMe]

It’s strange how one person can get blamed for the fact the British economy is nosediving. It has been for years and will do into the future. It boils down to the fact that nobody really knows what they’re doing.

[@tomgraham6071]

@@TheInternetIsDeadToMe I think that's partly true but I do think Reeves had too easy a time from the media before she became Chancellor with her 'I worked for the bank of England' schtick. The amount of money it was obvious she needed to raise was never going to easily be raised whilst ruling out 70% of revenue raising measures. She got away with it for some reason. And now it's not looking promising for her in terms of getting the revenue she needs going forward.

[@Konwajiro]

Genuinely shocked that both guys support Justin Welby. Turning a blind eye to horrific behavior by a personal associate would be a sin for anyone, and this chap is supposed to be a spiritual leader. Pass the sick-bag.

[@davidthompson797]

Agreed.

[@patricklassalle]

I was shocked too. The banality of evil becomes evermore insidious.

[@lesblakeman]

Just a pair of trans loving , rancid communists

[@Charlieb6308]

What do you expect from these two. Starmer and his cronies are the biggest disaster for this country.

[@davidpanton3192]

Totally agree. I wondered if I was missing something as Welby seems to me a rather unpleasant character to be ABC.

[@sararichardson737]

The UK is terminally depressed. People are disillusioned ,broke and disheartened. The amount of people hanging up their hats vis the working population is emblematic of the fact.

[@russellsage8518]

The archbishop is a criminal. He knew what was going on and decided to protect the organisation rather than children

[@odi299]

Thank you, Alastair Campbell, for being so objective and balanced in this podcast episode. Your thoughtful insights and ability to present different perspectives make the discussion both engaging and enlightening. It’s always refreshing to hear such a fair and nuanced approach to important topics.

[@griefwnl7641]

It's precisely the opposite, Alastair is very bias with little contributions while Rory is one of the most insightful UK political commentator ever.

[@simony2801]

@@griefwnl7641 I think he’s been sarcastic, Campbell can only criticise the tories despite labours awfulness.

[@griefwnl7641]

@ I see

[@TLIO-kc1vz]

I think Reeves has done a good job so far. No one was going to thank her for doing the things that needed to be done. Neither she nor Starmer are the strongest presentationally. But that’s the last thing we need now.

[@maltesetony9030]

This all goes well . . . . until the last few minutes on Justin Welby. You just cannot be serious about Welby.

[@Christian22605]

Stain of the year: Not calling out Welby!! As Edmund Burke said “All that’s necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do NOTHING!!”. You should have called this out as he’d been a guest on leading, previously. You didn’t, you chose to give him a pass, by not clearly stating his betrayal of those child victims… moral cowardice!

[@jeffwiseman3840]

This is likely been added somewhere else, but here is anyway: Time magazine has always explicitly stated that their person of the year is unrelated to most admirable person of the year. It is just the person who has had the biggest impact.

[@stateofhead5262]

At least half of America supports Trump. I’d argue that half the world does too. A view that Trump is not admirable is patently silly and certainly delusional. I still do enjoy this channel for laughs.

[@Simalacrum]

I was telling this to someone else IRL, and they responded with: “try telling that to Donald Trump!” Which… Touché 😅

[@stateofhead5262]

@@Simalacrum At least half of America supports Trump. I’d argue that half the world does too. A view that Trump is not admirable is patently silly and certainly delusional. I still do enjoy this channel for laughs.

[@Simalacrum]

@@stateofhead5262 I take it this is a bot?

[@stateofhead5262]

@ You are a bot

[@SunnyGallivanter]

My vote for the Leading interview that confirmed my impressions of a politician is the David Davis interview. He was smug, loose with facts and defensive, just as I have always sensed. After that interview I can fully understand how he walked into the Brexit negotiations without a single prepared item, smugly assuming he could wing it. So we have a terrible Brexit deal because of politicians like him, too arrogant to realise the enormity of what they didn't know Brexit would involve. (That reminds me that I enjoyed Barnier's Leading interview)

[@danmayberry1185]

Eye opener, for me. I quite liked David Davis and found him intelligent, then lost track of him for years, to learn he had been radicalized.

[@insertclevername4123]

Smug? Did we listen to the same interview? All he did was explain how logical he is whenever he thinks about any topic, and how people who disagree with him really haven't thought about it as logically as he has. I guess you could say that he wasn't as charitable as he could have been to people who clearly haven't spent their lives being as logical as he has, but smug? Perish the thought!

[@Catherine-wm3uf]

as a historic primatologist, I was a bit stunned by Rory's comment about Robert S watching baboons as if it was such an extraordinary thing to do. And we are all different in our experience and knowledge, I recognise. A reminder, though!. c

[@MartinGreen932]

2 serious issues for the UK surprisingly nailed by Rory. 1) ‘Why are UK citizens 50% more likely to be on the sick than in Europe?’ - obviously needs sorting. Alastair’s response ‘hhhmmmm’. 2) Alistair says we need a wealth tax!!! Rory ‘We know the top 1% of taxpayers pay around 30% of government funds. If we taxed them more they would move out of the country which would be a disaster. We need middle-low earners to pay a bit more tax’. Alastair - ‘hhhhmmmm’.

[@Philsmahsmchjsb]

Alistair is a hack out of ideas. Anything he comes out with is a NL policy 25 years old microwaved

[@benmarshall5235]

Merry Christmas chaps, you are the voices of sanity in a world gone mad.

[@mikelm222]

It's seems odd that you both seem to like Justin Welby, to me he just seems like an arrogent guy with repressed anger issues who comes across more like a politician than a religious leader. Personally I am not a Christian, but feel more inspired by the genuine humble kindness of Pope Francis.

[@andybrice2711]

Yes, I always admired Rowan Williams. He seemed like a philosopher. Whereas Justin Welby seems very much like a politician.

[@PickleSurpriseVEVO]

He’s one of their upper class lot, so he must be protected.

[@DylanSargesson]

A candidate for worst foreign politician definitely has to be the South Korean President for his Martial Law move.

[@forklaundry]

Another delightful discussion. Merry Christmas to both of you, and to everyone who helps make this show happen

[@parlabaneisback]

As he was sporting his Abba jumper, I'm surprised Alastair didn't think the most under discussed political issue of the year (for the past 200 years) was what a disaster Waterloo has turned out to be.

[@valeriestephenson8346]

Happy Christmas to you and your families. Thanks for a wonderful podcast.

[@alanrobertson3172]

Thank you to Rory and AC for all the great content.

[@BertWald-wp9pz]

Sapolsky is tremendous, intelligent, inspiring, amusing, entertaining, modest.

[@carmenmiranda652]

Thank you both for this year's podcasts. I, too, really enjoyed the one with Angela Merkel. Keep up the good work!

[@kicorse]

Well done for sticking to your guns on Wellby when you know you'll get pilloried for it. Not sure I agree with you, but I dislike the mob mentality on issues like this, and appreciate public figures standing up to that. More generally, I thought Rory had a good episode. I know he could look silly if everything goes wrong in Syria, but right now it has the potential to be the biggest good news story for a very long time.

[@jimgordon5844]

Have a very excellent Christmas you two. Brilliant pod cast. 🥸

[@christinaoreilly6030]

Rory's last comment: better than the king's Christmas speech. Much more hopeful.

[@robc7881]

Wellby attending drinks at British museum gala day after standing down for something he was clearly not ashamed about was brazen. I have zero sympathy.

[@ellisford7596]

Rory is 100% right on Rachel Reeves!

[@Bobisalive]

yep. Annoyed that Alistair tried to gaslight it and say it was due to Rorys interview with her, ignoring the mistakes she has made

[@julianshepherd2038]

​@@Bobisaliveor was told to make. We don't know to what extent these things were agreed and planned. The PM is the good cop and the Chancellor is the bad.

[@Bobisalive]

@@julianshepherd2038 she agreed to it, she could refuse.

[@jamess5166]

She is awful for example the winter fuel change costs money and is cruel, you force people to apply for pension credit but if half of the eligible people applied for it then it cost more than the older winter fuel allowance policy. So it is a cruel policy and more expensive she's either stupid or cruel.

[@annishilcock4587]

Rory has again let his personal prejudices cloud his judgement, as in betting on Kamali Harris winning the election. 100% wrong.

[@zappybazinga8124]

I like Rory and I think almost all he says is on the mark and I think he’s sort of right about Reeves in that I don’t think she read the room correctly in the announcements their timing and indeed how they would be politicised. But I also think that the idea she could have just raised NI on employers or income tax and there wouldn’t be the exact same meltdown is for the birds. There was no revenue raising measure that wouldn’t receive the same condemnation. And she had to raise revenue. Very very difficult if not impossible position to be placed into. The politics of the situation were of course equally impossible with reform there - blaming the tories for the mess works but when most of their voters are happy to drift to reform it becomes an issue. They were left the poisoned earth and whatever decisions were made would be unpopular. She made decisions that the treasury told her would provide a short term uplift and long term stability but the concern is that the short term uplift is under threat. Again maybe a result of changing politics and rising populism. Take reform out and I suspect that business would be in a different place.

[@alexpotts6520]

The thing is, if you're going to be unpopular whatever you do, you might as well make changes that make a lot of revenue that can be used to invest in infrastructure and public services. As it is Rachel Reeves has made tiny changes that increase government revenue by less than 1%, and she's *still* been vilified for it. She has squandered her political capital on stuff with only a tiny upside.

[@zappybazinga8124]

@@alexpotts6520 Dunno the fiscal rule changes provided a lot of headroom if borrowing costs weren’t also rising which is mainly linked to the us economy. That was a pretty bold move, that may not ultimately work. And beyond that I’m not sure what massive revenue raising measures she could have pulled. Government borrowing was already at historic highs with borrowing in the previous 14 years surpassing the total of all previous borrowing. There isn’t much headroom and the lefts ‘wealth tax’ calls are all totally bogus - look at what European nations have raised with asset taxes. Virtually nothing. Reeves had no magic levers to pull. Her mistake seems to have been underestimating the toll of politics on broader confidence. She established confidence during the campaign because it was her or the totally discredited Tories. I don’t think Labour spotted reform courting the billionaires and top business leaders and the subsequent politics of how that would unfold and impact on business. Still I don’t agree with Rory’s suggesting she is binned off. She has a lot of credible experience and I think it’s about reassessing in the current climate. I don’t think there is a chancellor in waiting who would command the same authority sitting on the Labour benches. And I think it’s about riding out a tough period and making sure you know what needs doing to steer the economy to more stable waters.

[@tomredgrave4121]

I think the criticism is that of the big 4 revenue raisers, employers NI is by far the worst from a growth perspective. In that it discourages hiring, people from starting their own businesses, and only targets working age people rather than pensioners where a lot of the wealth is.

[@zappybazinga8124]

@@tomredgrave4121 The exact same would be said for a worker NI rise or IC rise - reducing spending power stunts growth. She couldn’t really win. I agree that it was a dangerous place to be and certainly I don’t agree with the nic rise for business but there was no appetite for attack rise at all (the opposite) yet a need to raise revenue. That’s the bottom line.

[@tomredgrave4121]

@zappybazinga8124 Oh yeah, i just think she was obsenely short-sighted in attacking the tories for their NI rises Or the suggestion to merge NI and income tax. And then for backing their cuts this year. If shed have just said yup, this is necessary and backed them they'd have still got heat but ultimately less than now. And vice versa with cuts said they were irresponsible.

[@alistairrobinson3865]

Kim leadbeater, I suspect her bill is based entirely on the unforgivable naivety that assumes our wrecked health service can handle assisted dying in a competent and humane way, despite struggling to provide the basic duty of care these days, blame the tories for the state of NHS, but I will blame her for overlooking the reality of where we are. Hopefully I’m wrong! 🙏

[@alexpotts6520]

There could have been more debate than the three hours of parliamentary scrutiny given to it. There are safeguards baked into the bill - but I get the sneaking impression that the bill's supporters mostly don't believe in the safeguards and will push to remove them later down the line. For me, I think, the current bill is a good compromise between the individual right to choose and protection of the vulnerable, but I fear that people won't stop there. Some slippery slopes are real.

[@alistairrobinson3865]

@ my concern is not the safeguards in the bill, it doesn’t matter what is built in, if assisted dying becomes legal, then the financial incentive to refund diagnostics, cancer care, palliative treatment etc will naturally occur, meaning assisted dying will become more default than we expect, I wish it was different, but I just don’t believe it is.

[@fenderek666]

As for work... I lost a job in export as company I worked for got hit by Red Sea issues too heavily... in about 6 weeks I sent 150 CVs. Didn't get a single interview. Has export decreased so much? If there are that many people not working- where are the jobs?

[@robc8892]

Can you guys talk about and properly address the switch to EV and the fact that it is not that far off yet a lot of people don't seem to want EVs and more alarmingly the power generation capacity of the UK surely won't be able to generate enough electricity. This also ignores the lack of charging infrastructure, impact of car makers, vehicles that tow (including caravans), lack of value retention, battery degeneration, rare earth supply etc etc. Please try and address this with someone informed but a-policital from the point of view of a couple with a large mortgage who both commute to work who have say two young kids and don't live in London. Lots of anxiety around this with us 'normal folk' Happy Christmas to you and your teams

[@alexpotts6520]

One other issue - the loss of government revenue as fuel duty vanishes. Is it time for road pricing?

[@alistairrobinson3865]

Great discussion lads! Merry Xmas 🙏

[@fenderek666]

Good choice of Macron, Scholz and Trudeau- but I would add Netanyahu...

[@orionandersen9333]

I would like to see Rachel Reeves go… ):

[@russellsage8518]

You really need to get Prof Richard Murphy on Leading.

[@RecycledBikes-jj]

Rory on Reeves - absolutely spot on, unfortunately....

[@andrewclimo5709]

You're right Rory that Rachel Reeves has made some major errors. One can only hope she's learning to sharpen her PR toolkit and strategic political nouse. I don't know that I agree with you about public sector wages. These are likely to stimulate economic activity. Whether it's the *best* uss of scarce resources though, I'm inclined to agree.

[@frank1469]

this channel is my KZbin discovery of 2024, thank you and merry Christmas

[@6footcutie]

I like Reeves. If British politics wasn't a game of 'who can look best in the papers' she would do better on opinion polls. Entitled modern Brits would rather blame those trying to fix a problem, than those who caused it. And for those saying they wouldn't vote labour again, remember that not voting Labour for 14 years got us into this mess, and Starmer's mob has only had a few months to try and get us out. Give them chance, stop reading headlines, stop blaming people just so you have something to be negative about, you clowns.

[@cuddersop]

She’s a charmer, for sure. Inflicting hardship on those who can least afford it, without showing an ounce of humanity. Ill thought out policies harming those they weren’t designed to penalise. Nope, nothing to admire here.

[@Bobisalive]

So you don't think Reeves has made some big mistakes? Who cares about looks, it's about substance

[@Intravenusdimilo]

It's not that she's not media friendly in the looks dept, she's been utterly hopeless on policy

[@6footcutie]

​@@cuddersop She isn't paying off her pals with taxpayer money, she isn't necking on with her secretary when she's meant to be running the country, she isn't breaking the law to have a party. So you don't like her policies, I don't care. An ill-thought out but well intentioned policy is the best we've had in a long time. I'm happy to see a bit of real decency in politics. Anyone can shout about the negatives. Doesn't make you smart, just means you watch the news mate.

[@6footcutie]

@@Bobisalive Show me where I said that she hasn't made mistakes? Substance is what she has in droves mate. Mistakes made while trying to make real change is acceptable, deliberately stealing taxpayer money and acting like reality TV stars is what I find unacceptable in politics.

[@ronanmartin1990]

It's people over 14 who should be banned from using social media, not the other way around

[@dreamcrusher112]

Plenty of WhatsApp group chats full of 11 year olds exposed for being racist and massively bullying to others in the past few weeks in my circles... kids with unfiltered access to the internet is terrible.

[@jmasl7]

Rachel Reeves righly denounced

[@petermizon4344]

HIW CAN SHE BE THE WORST POLITICIAN? WE JUST HAD 14 YEARS OF DESTRUCTION TO WHICH ANYONE TAKING OVER HAS LOTS IF SHIT TO CLEAR UP AND ITS A DIRTY JOB, GUYS YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT

[@Charlieb6308]

You ain't seen nothing yet.

[@petermizon4344]

@Charlieb6308 OH YES I HAVE, DAW IT FOR 14 YEARS WERE WAS YOU IN A COMA??? YOU MISSED TRUSS WHO IT OUT MORTGAGES AND RENT UP 4 FOLD, YOUR MAD, AND SILLY, GROW UP NO MATTER WHO TOOK OVER THE ECONOMY FARAGE SUNAK STARMER, WE ARE STUFFED AFTER LAST LOT YOUR JUST ANOTHER TORY WHO LOST, GET OVER IT MAN

[@gazmalman]

Because she is utterly inept, economically clueless, politically illiterate and has zero personality. Just another PPE neoliberal careerist.

[@petermizon4344]

@gazmalman CANT BE WORSE THAN LAST LOT, HAS REEVE PUT YOUR RENT UP OR MORTGAGE X4 YET LIKE TRUSS DID , THE FAR RIGHT CAPITALIST THIEF ?

[@kernowchris]

Sshhhh.

[@tubeWyrme]

Thank you Rory & Alistair and happy xmas

[@IanBellis]

Good year end episode. Good episode overall. Happy Christmas, guys

[@petamalthouse]

Rory finding his core tory. The years outcomes from all sides of the spectrum have made him look at his central belief

[@julianroberts698]

Merry Christmas to you both

[@mirandaa463]

Thanks darlings. Lovely podcast. Merry Christmas 🎄

[@emmaatkinson4334]

Sick Workforce. Productivity. My opinion. Over the last 50 years, ordinary working people including managers have not benefitted from productivity improvements. The senior managers, executives and business owners have taken all of the gains. Productivity improvements need to benefit ordinary working people. Right now productivity improvements sounds rather like a euphemism for being ripped off or exploited by self serving bosses. Ordinary working people must see an improvement in their lot when improving productivity in both businesses and public service.

[@shehryar_]

Agree. By far worst politician of the year is our thick-as-mince chancellor Reeves. Absolutely pathetic

[@lukedaniels7750]

She is probably not thick, but she certainly lacks important insight.

[@Catherine-wm3uf]

what surprises me though is that you seemed to be quite enthusiastic on the budget (in your session on this at the time)?

[@garypheasey4343]

Highlights of the year. Rory giving RR hard time and loved him with Jamie Ruben too. Happy Christmas to all the team.

[@tumbleweed747]

Want to know how to rehabilitate a terrorist? Perfect example of political propaganda... Ganhdi? FFS

[@Manmadepack]

get gary stevenson on leading

[@sheriff_bart]

If we are bringing in age limits for social networks, then all elected offices need age and term limits. That's an obvious thing that would help unlock our politics.

[@JZTechEngineering]

The politician age and term limits are called not voting for them

[@tonyaustin3792]

I agree with Rory, not often mind, but here about Ed Davey. Politics and politicians have a awful perception by the public. And it’s well deserved after 10 years of utterly shameless greed by the Tories; but to make it even worse there was Ed Davey behaving like a stupid clown during the Election! I still can’t believe his idiotic behaviour won votes for his Party….I mean have we got, as the Americans say, such a ‘low information’ public that look at politics as if it’s a cheaply made tv game show?

[@RobertJonesWightpaint]

Reeves is politically incompetent - if Starmer doesn't get rid of her, others will get rid of him; and even if he does, he'll still be lumbered with Liz Kendall.... I don't think he realizes the danger he's in yet. He'd have been better off defending Ms Haigh, rather than Tulip Siddique - I see a deepening storm there. Whereas, Haigh's offence is widely seen as utterly trivial - and if there's more to it, Starmer should say so. He's wrong on smoking, by the way, and so are you two, if you think a ban on cigarettes should be extended to all forms of tobacco; but there we are - I'll be long dead by the time all that comes into fruition; and perhaps someone will grasp that banning things of which you don't approve is neither liberal nor progressive.

[@bernardfox9078]

They are trying to ban smoking not because they disapprove but because it damages people's health. I am tired of breathing in other people's smoke.

[@DylanSargesson]

If Reeves were to be fired as Chancellor she wouldn't be replaced by Liz Kendall. Darren Jones would seem much more likely.

[@nicksimmons7234]

Is Reeves incompetent because she hasn’t magically found a ton of money to fix everything.

[@oldskool4572]

@@bernardfox9078Then don’t stand next to them. Not difficult

[@garthly]

The whole point of the law is, it only works if you make activities illegal that the vast majority of people agree are wrong. That is why making marijuana illegal just made the law an ass. First, persuade people until at least 95+% agree with you, then if you manage that, pass a law against it.

[@jaggmor]

Good point about Alistair's potential appeal to young men. I've seen some debates of his, and he comes of as disagreeable, adamant and straight to the point. Not the scolding female (unfortunately) politician that elicits incredible hate in the young male demographic

[@chrisohanlon69]

They see old footage and can see how much better it was. "Progessive" politics has turned the country into a s#!thole.

[@WakeUpSleepyHead-V1]

Alistair Campbell trying to make an argument the kier was politician of the year is so out of touch. Even during the campaign he wasn’t very likeable, tarries were just never going to win. From a labour voter (for now)

[@Phaedra808]

Couldn’t agree with you more about the “Farage mirage” and keep up the great work, seasons greetings to you both.

[@garthly]

Agreed in so many ways!

[@klarageorge1110]

Such a pleasure to listen to Rory actually presenting a more conservative, opposite view to Alistair 👌🏻💪🏻 I enjoy this podcast because I want to be aware of both sides of the argument are saying so please keep this up in 2025!

[@crippsverse]

Well. That's cheered me up for xmas!

[@wccgroundsman]

I find it deeply depressing 12 thousand people, myself included, have checked into this channel on Christmas Day.

[@judithpride1690]

Why is that depressing? If you shift your perspective away from the saccharine movies of the season, today is simply another bank holiday, with another tomorrow and may be the only two days some of us get off work this week, particularly retail, hospitality or care workers.

[@kernowchris]

But no one made you or I watch did they. No point moaning about a personal choice made.

[@nope8341]

Farage? Doesn't matter how good of a campaign he ran, or how many people fell for his rhetoric. He wasn't a politician when he was running. How about we look at his voting record in Parliament since he got elected, something that no one seems to be bothered about. 73 votes so far for which he's been absent for 48 of them. He's voted on 25 out of 73. It's about time we had minimum requirements for attendance, under 2/3's and a by-election is called and the sitting MP can never run for office any where ever again. Fooling people into voting for you shouldn't be celebrated, we should be weeding his type populism out of politics.

[@CharlieBam]

People can't afford homes or food, and see a grim economic future. Good luck weeding out any form of populism at this point. I think Nigel isn't attending many votes because he's busy organizing for a much bigger platform in the future.

[@Charlieb6308]

Yet all the Liebour MPs voted to freeze pensioners this year and even cheered when it went through. Rotten to the core

[@petermizon4344]

@@nope8341 WELL SAID HES A MINI TRUMP POPULIST

[@gjsykes7924]

Thats a poor take on Justin Welby. No sympathy for him at all. Bit disappointed long term inequality in the UK was barely mentioned. And Rory wonders why the long term sick figures are going up? With some of the most appalling working conditions in europe, and the longest hours, and some of the rich still reaping the benefits of the covid loans (how much in fraud is still outstanding?) can you blame some for not wanting to contribute to an unfair system?

[@lauram6156]

What are your recommended books for the year?

[@bumberClart1000]

Nigel Mirage. Fight Fascism 2025 💚✌️

[@colinthompson3111]

Disagree with Mr. Stewart. I think Chancellor Reeves will do well.

[@adamwright1106]

Merry Christmas

[@andystafford7073]

Welby may be a "good" man - but surely the job demands that he gets the big calls right when it comes to the management of the clergy - something he's failed at, further undermining the church? Man of the year - no mention of Zelensky - who else in public life could have risen to what he's achieved when confronted with what he's got on his plate?

[@eddiel7635]

He’s not even a good man, he’s politicised the church in an attempt to be relevant.

[@afzalmufti]

Very good indeed!

[@DylanSargesson]

Not talked about enough is RAAC. I feel like it was a major talking point near the end of last year, but now you hardly hear about it, even though it is still present in many buildings (including schools and hospitals)

[@malcolmrobson-v6p]

Having listened to your views on the Justin Welby issue, I have to say how disappointed I am with both of you. When will people simply accept responsibility and accountability for their actions or lack thereof. I will no longer subscribe to your channel.

[@ctrl-shift-run8681]

Liz Truss is truly special. Thankfully she has been relegated to the history books unlike Farage.

[@Iconicvids]

Part of the reason for the male swing towards the right is their role models have been co-opted by the right. The right has done a co ordinated effort to expose politically apethrtic commentators and role models to their populist rhetoric. Boys who previously would not be exposed to political talk are now listening to comedy podcasts with comedians repeating right wing talking points, they are watching live streamers who are repeating the rhetoric. As a young man it is impossible to avoid right wing talking points because politically naive people have been turned into puppets. How do we change this? The left and moderates need to send their best to challenge these people on their own platforms and show to fragility of their new found political frameworks. Joe Rogan famously just repeats what the last person he spoke to told him. Most young men have no exposure to the left so why do you expect them to vote left.

[@WestfaliaStuff]

To mention Al Golani in the same sentence as Gandi or Mandela... What exactly is Rory smoking? because I definitely want some of it.

[@pauljoyner6489]

Fuse energy...obviously not working well, coats and fleeces!!

[@alistairrobinson3865]

Have been very supportive of Reeves but agree with Rory she really messed things up, don’t blame her (yet) for the economic stagnation as that has been on/off for years, but the politics has been disastrous On a separate note, she did thoroughly slap Rory around after he gaslighted her in the interview, but that aside his Criticism was fair

[@danmayberry1185]

I thought ABBA was sponsoring Alastair .. until he bowed his head. It's clearly McDonald's.

[@noahpalmer6653]

Why can't Alastair pick the worst politician of the year not his least favourite.

[@garygalt4146]

Farage is a grifter

[@PMMagro]

Indeed. Grifter, conman, charlatan... Take you pick.

[@chrisohanlon69]

He's containment, it seems. Rupert lower is fantastic, however.

[@brianferguson7840]

On his best day 😢

[@clario2178]

Better than being a killer

[@keithhardy8513]

"Worst politican of the year", Rachel (Martha) Reeves by a Mile. Rory, on the money, as usual ! Merry Christmas all ! 😂🎉

[@Luke08Sadler]

"No reason to believe we got 50% sicker" lol. Am I mad or was there a global pandemic not too long ago that had lasting effects?

[@Alistair-q4m]

my comment above to Rory "approx 50% increase in long terms sick since pre covid (roughly from around 2 million to 3 million people), but ask yourself, 14 years of reduced real terms NHS funding, the pandemic, 2 years of NHS strikes (that Sunak intentionally didnt resolve), 7-8 million people on waiting lists, is it really surprising that more people are unable to work??"

[@PaulZazzi]

Thanks

[@rembot7061]

Regarding Farage ‘as a political operator’? Do you just mean ‘politician’, Alastair? It’s okay to say it through gritted teeth.

[@grahamreddel5682]

Don’t worry sbout Nigel. He has no idea how to manage anything. He is great at giving insults & criticism, but I doubt he would be able to manage a government.

[@afctaylor12]

Which is why Elon love him . Easily to control.

[@insertclevername4123]

I can't believe you left David Davis off your list of favorite interviews. Does he need to come back in the studio and talk about how logical he is another ten or fifteen times before you see just how logical he is?

[@biscuit4259]

30:05 the issue is a collective depression that can be linked to Brexit but not entirely, since it is the consequence of a nation demolishing itself over and over in serfdom to the rich and elite (Tories) who have been aaset stripping the U.K. for 14 years.

[@jayneh8263]

Enjoyable but I was hoping President Yoon Suk Yeol would feature, together with President Zelenskyy coming up to his 3rd year of bitter war with a significantly superior force...and the tragedy which is PM Netanyahu's legacy this year.

[@azokalum]

Fair points. President Zelensky's political mandate hasn't been reaffirmed as his term has run out and understandably elections have been put on hold. As for PM Netanyahu, my feeling is that he's committed to keeping the war on Gaze going to avoid being brought into the light for his own political actions (outside of war crimes). There have been protests calling for him to step down.

[@RebeccaEmerick-t4t]

Really disturbed by the comments about Justin Welby. Not least because of the dismissive speech he gave shortly afterwards in the Lords. He is symbolic of a whole section of society which when it hears these allegations sticks its fingers in its ears and focuses on the mental health of the perpetrator rather than the experience of the victim. So many chauvinistic men like him in positions of power appear moral publicly.

[@MargaretDeakin-d6m]

Quite simply Rory, work has become extremely punitive in the UK, compared to most of Europe.Pay and conditions worse. NHS support for health issues, untreated and escalate to chronic conditions. Education university debt demoralising.High rents taking two thirds of salary.Shortage of good jobs available, lack of career ladders.Lack of training, upskilling or new skill training. A state that refuses to finnance support for the wellbeing and good of the overall economy is neglectful. And, public money is being spewed out to private people and companies, rather than the people.

[@mattieboy7777]

Alaistar is so 1sided lol

[@PMMagro]

Unlike whom?

[@advocate1563]

He's a hack in all senses of the word. What do you expect?

[@kernowchris]

@@advocate1563 So watch some thing else then.

[@TerriObrien-mi5rx]

Merry Christmas to Alistair. and Rory,love the podcast,keep it going 🔥🔥🔥

[@JimEdwards-i2k]

Not our next prime minister 😮!!???😂 So mean Make Brit great again 😂

[@peterstrachan1794]

Excellent!

[@christophersemken]

Argentina. Milei. Whether his economic transformation of Argentina succeeds or fails, it is surely one of the most importantpolitical events of the year. Firstly because the nation voted for it (when even in the UK 'theory' has it that impossible something for nothing promises will always beat economic truth and warnings of pain ahead) and secondly becausegovernments around the world face similar problems of debt and deficit (albeit less extreme) and have as yet come up with no answers. Succeed or fail, the Argentinian experiment is of word importance. It says a lot that this 'progressive' pair do not consider either debt and deficit problem or this attempt to solve it worthy of any mention at all. If 'progressives' do not even recognise that sovereign debt and deficits are an issue, let alone any solution to tht isue save 'more of the sam', it is little wonder that the tide is going out on them around the world.

[@CharlieBam]

I totally agree. Argentina should be like a canary in the coal mine for progressives. If they can't sustainably build the systems they are advocating for, then eventually people will vote for a guy to come in with a chainsaw. I'm an American independent, the left has completely turned me off lately. Smug and moralistic people who now are basically as preachy and stuffy as the old religious right was.

[@ohboyz222]

Rory - don't expect Reeves to sort anything out, and certainly not the problem of economic inactivity. Who'd have thought the employer's national insurance policy would lead to job losses and a lack of business investment? Anyone, it seems, but Reeves and Starmer!

[@WakeUpSleepyHead-V1]

Most under discussed issue has to be wealth inequality and the impacts on working class

[@surly60]

Thank you Rory, Merry Christmas. Mr (tax the rich) Campbell, Brit exit was common sense for the future of Britain, unless you believe in a World Government. Wasn’t Britain mainly using the J&J vaccine, is there a link suggested regarding the astonishing disability rate among the work force.

[@judithdavidson2356]

totally disagree with you about Justin Welby

[@bernardfox9078]

Most under discussed issue is the male grooming gangs.