RSA Conversations

Just as our reality has seemed to take a dystopian turn, there’s been a resurgence of political imagination. Utopian dreams have returned to the forefront of our politics. How achievable are these utopias, especially when they collide with the realities of power and government? And what can we learn from past attempts to make dreams into reality? Guests: James Meadway , former economic policy advi...

Matthew Taylor speaks to French political journalist Marie Le Conte about the European elections, French politics and being in the eye of a Twitter storm; and Paul Mason sets out the dual threats of fascism and fatalism. Share this episode Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Produced by James Shield . Brought to you by the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce)...

At long last, for a few weeks in April, climate breakdown finally seemed to be at the top of the political agenda. Extinction Rebellion shut down the streets. School children walked out of classes in protest at inaction from the grown-ups. Politicians – some of them, anyway – declared a climate emergency. Does this surge of interest mark a real shift in public opinion and political will? Can the e...

Is religion still shaping our politics? And has its decline led to a wider search for meaning in public life? Matthew Taylor and Ian Leslie are joined by Elizabeth Oldfield, director of the think tank Theos. Plus, reflections on the one of the hardest questions in European politics right now: 'what's happening?' Links The Times, 16 April 2019: Americans lose their taste for going to church Theos t...

Insights from three of the world's leading thinkers on how political and societal change happens: presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, 'Nudge' author Cass Sunstein, and philosopher Roberto Unger. Plus, the story of how a bar fight in the House of Commons may have inadvertently changed the course of British political history… Presented by Matthew Taylor . Featuring: Doris Kearns Goodwin , P...

We’re living through the biggest backlash against neoliberalism for 40 years, and the biggest crisis over Britain’s relationship with Europe since the Second World War. Climate breakdown and new technologies present major threats to the way we live and work. So against that backdrop, where does the politics of conservatism – and its relationship with capitalism – go next? Presented by Matthew Tayl...

From climate change to vaccines, there’s a worrying tendency in our culture to bury our heads in the sand, and for a growing number of people to turn their backs on the truth. At its most dangerous, denialism can shade into extremism. Denialism is fundamentally a rejection of reality, but what drives it? What does it say about our psychology that sometimes we need to protect ourselves from what’s...

Commentators say the financial crisis and its aftermath sounded the death knell for centrist parties. Is the centre ground of British politics really dead, or could it make a comeback? And what does the ‘centre’ even mean these days? This week, Ian Leslie and Matthew Taylor discuss the Independent Group, before talking to the political sociologist Paula Surridge from the University of Bristol abou...

Has the opening up of political parties been a vital force for change, or bad for democracy as a whole? How can politicians represent both their party members and the voters? Is it game over for the old party politics of left vs right, and for the old party establishment? This week Matthew Taylor and Ian Leslie are putting political parties in the spotlight. Guests: Ian Shapiro , co-author of Resp...

This week Ian Leslie and Matthew Taylor are asking: what's the best way to talk to people we disagree with? If we want to understand the other side – to bridge divides, or even persuade people we disagree with to think differently – what’s the best way to do that? With Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel, and Maria Exner, deputy editor of German news website Zeit Online. Share this episode on Twitt...

Two days after the biggest government defeat in the history of the British parliament, Matthew Taylor makes the case for another form of democracy that might help sort out the mess. With James Fishkin and David Runciman. Share this episode on Twitter Links The RSA's campaign for deliberative democracy James Fishkin's talk at the RSA Amazon: ' Democracy When the People Are Thinking: Revitalizing Ou...

The phrase ‘identity politics’ has come to be used as a sort of political insult. It’s a short way of accusing someone of pandering to voters – based on race, religion or gender. From white nationalists and Donald Trump, to the politics of liberation and demands for equal rights, it feels like everyone is playing identity politics these days. Conflicts between identity groups now dominate our poli...

Is tribalism an indelible part of human nature? And if it is, can we overcome it? Matthew Taylor speaks to moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind and The Coddling of the American Mind . Plus, Ian and Matthew discuss the recent protests in France, and we ask why the British people have claimed responsibility for 55% of all world history… Share this episode on Twitter Links...

It's been a turbulent week in UK politics. What could possibly happen next? Matthew Taylor and Ian Leslie talk Brexit predictions, and whether constant news updates are doing us any good. That brings us on to a discussion about the stories we tell ourselves – fake news, and the importance of myths – before Matthew tests out his new 'theory of everything', and we ask whether all of our society's pr...

Is democracy falling apart? How worried should we be? And how can we fix it? With Niheer Dasandi, author of 'Is Democracy Failing?' (part of the Big Idea series from Thames & Hudson), and Eliane Glaser, author of 'Anti-Politics: On the Demonisation of Ideology, Authority and the State'. Links Matthew Taylor's blog: Could politics ever be a source of wisdom rather than anxiety? Is Democracy Fai...

Have feelings taken over the world? Have we lost our collective grip on rationality? And what can a panic about nothing at Oxford Circus last year tell us about our relationship with the truth? With author of 'Nervous States', William Davies . Plus a recommendation for another podcast (because we're generous like that) about social network theory. Links Nervous States - Penguin Books How feelings...

Anger is all the rage, but is anger itself the problem? Some people say we need to push back against anger in our politics, and respond with tranquil civility. But what if anger is the only rational response to a crisis in our democracy, and crumbling political norms? Claire Fox , director of the Academy of Ideas and author of 'I Find That Offensive!', joins Matthew Taylor and Ian Leslie to discus...

Is it really true that we all live in our own echo chambers? Fake news and the filter bubble, post-truth and alternative facts… Are we all, as President Obama put it, ‘absorbing an entirely different reality’? In this episode we’re asking: Is our sense of a shared reality becoming even more fragile? And is fragmentation of the media the cause – or just the symptom – of our polarised politics? With...

Are economic divides to blame for everything else that’s broken in our politics? Does 'economic anxiety' explain the Trump and Brexit votes? And what deeper cultural undercurrents are at play in unequal societies? Ian and Matthew speak to Faiza Shaheen , director of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) about inequalities in the UK and the US. And Matthew interviews the Emmy-winning dir...

Is it inevitable that the internet and social media drive us to the extremes? Or do they just hold up a mirror to an already divided culture? And we explore the dark side of the internet – trolls, racist memes, hate-filled comment sections and increasingly virulent culture wars – and ask whether it hijacked the White House. Guest Whitney Phillips, Assistant Professor of Communication, Culture, and...

By now, lots of us have heard at least part of the story of the Facebook election scandal. Cambridge Analytica, the company in the eye of the storm, has closed its doors and is under investigation. But how effective were its methods? Can ‘psychographic microtargeting’ really swing elections and referendums? And is it already driving a wedge in our politics? Guests Chris Sumner , research director...

Commentators have written at great length about left vs right, the young vs the old, ‘somewheres’ vs ‘anywheres’. But what if there’s one big divide they’re missing? Are we now a nation of liberals vs authoritarians? Divides in politics are nothing new – but are they deepening? And does the old left/right split still apply, or are there newer, different splits in British politics? The political so...