Thinking Class

Philip Kiszely is a cultural historian, an academic, an author, a political commentator, and senior fellow at the New Culture Forum. In this episode, we talk about the evolution of British culture, media, and education from the post-war era to the present day, why we have seen significant shifts in the media's treatment of Britain and its history, how British comedy has changed, how social me...

 Professor James Clark is Professor of History at the University of Exeter and has published widely on medieval monasteries and their place in the medieval world and he was historical advisor on the BBC TV series Tudor Monastery Farm. His book, The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History was published in 2022 to widespread acclaim.   In this conversation, James and I talk about the impact of...

Carl Trueman is Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. And he is the author of several books and perhaps best known for The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and The Road to Sexual Revolution. Karl is also the author of To Change All Worlds, Critical Theory from Marx to Marcuse.  In this conversa...

Hello, classmates, and welcome to Thinking Class. Today I'm speaking with, well, myself and you, dear listener. I'm a management consultant, podcaster, and proud Northumbrian, Englishman and Briton.  I'm recording this episode to mark 50 episodes of Thinking Class and almost one year, and to reflect on what I've learned, which episodes have proven popular and why they spoke dee...

Spencer Klavan is a scholar, writer, and podcaster. A graduate of Yale, he earned his doctorate in ancient Greek literature from Oxford University. Spencer is the author of the acclaimed book How to Save the West, Ancient Wisdom for Five Modern Crises , and his latest release is Light of the Mind, Light of the World: Illuminating Science through Faith . Spencer is also the editor of Gateway to the...

Dr. Alka Sehgal-Cuthbert is the director of the organisation Don't Divide Us. She is an educator, academic, author, and campaigner who believes passionately in the essential importance of impartiality.  In this episode, Alka and I think out loud about the importance of recognising our common humanity amidst a sea of divisive ideologies, the various critiques of the current anti-racism movemen...

William Clouston is the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the United Kingdom.  In this episode, William and I talk about the reasons behind the SDP’s resurgence, his personal political journey, what the current political landscape looks like in Britain, and why it’s hard to escape the feeling of civilisational decline in the country, how cultural identity is being undermined through i...

Glen Scrivener is an ordained Church of England minister and evangelist who preaches through writing, speaking, and online media. Glen is also the director of Speak Life, and the creator of the 3-2-1 evangelism course. In this episode, Glenn and I talk about the profound impact of Christianity on Western values, the personal journeys that lead someone to faith, and the cultural shifts that have re...

Philip Pilkington is a macroeconomist and investment professional, and he's also the host of the Multipolarity Podcast.  In this episode, Phil and I talk about why European nations are struggling so much economically, and why the macroeconomic environment shows that we're in for a scary ride, how the European Union and the European Central Bank are intervening in national elections, why...

Peter Hitchens is a columnist for the Mail on Sunday and a contributor to many other publications. He has published several books, mainly on aspects of what he regards as a cultural revolution which has transformed Britain for the worse in the last half century, and these include The Abolition of Britain and The Rage Against God. Peter has been a journalist for nearly 50 years, has reported from 5...

Charlie Downes is the co-founder of the think-tank Centre for Migration Control, which is "committed to controlling and reducing immigration to the United Kingdom".  In this episode, Charlie and I talk about why there is only a hair's breadth between the Conservative Party and the Labour Party on immigration policy; how the negative impacts of mass immigration can be seen in the cri...

James Esses is a social commentator and writer, the co-founder of Thoughtful Therapists and the coordinator of the Declaration for Biological Reality.  In this episode, James and I talk about why he was expelled from a Masters in Psychotherapy three years ago, the personal consequences he suffered for airing his gender critical views, the extent of ideological capture of Britain's largest ins...

Lorenzo Warby writes the substack Lorenzo from Oz , and he contributes regularly to one of Substack's recommended publications, Helen Dale’s Not On Your Team, But Always Fair . In this episode, Lorenzo and I talk about what hereditarianism is, and whether it is compatible with our notions of equality, the pitfalls of making political decisions based on people's genes, cultures, and envir...

Dr. John Rapley is a political economist at the University of Cambridge and a senior fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Studies. His books include Understanding Development, Globalization and Inequality, and most recently, Twilight of the Money Gods, Economics as a Religion, and How It All Went Wrong. Dr. Peter Heather is a British historian of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ag...

Chris Martz is a meteorology student who interns at CFACT, the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, runs a hugely popular x profile, and writes the climate blog chrismartzweather.com.  In this episode Chris and I talk about his passion for climate science and meteorology began and how he was concerned about the increasing talk of climate change, how his mind began to change as he was exposed to...

Tobi Emonts-Holley is a husband, a dad of six, and a CEO of Tipareth, a nonprofit organisation that provides support and opportunities to people with learning disabilities.  In this episode, Tobi tells us what being a father has taught him about his relationship to time and, well, death; how parenting taught him the wisdom of the ages without having to read philosophy or theology from the last few...

Hilary White is the creator of the Sacred Images Project, which you can find on Substack, and which explores the Christian life, thought, history, and culture through the lens of the first 1, 200 years of sacred art. In this episode, Hilary and I talk about what classifies as sacred art and why it is so important, how the Renaissance led to sacred art's (and the West's) decline when man...

Garett Jones lives in Washington D. C. and is Associate Professor of Economics and BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at George Mason University. Garett's research spans macroeconomics, political economy, and the foundations of economic growth. Along with many scholarly articles, Dr. Jones is the author of three books, his Singapore Trilogy, all published with the Stanford Univers...

Frank Furedi is an author, social commentator and Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, author of more than 26 books, Frank's studies have been devoted to an exploration of the cultural developments in Western societies. And in recent years, he's published several studies on the impact of the culture wars on family life, socialisation, education, and public life.  In...

Doug Stokes  is the Professor of International Relations at Exeter University and acts as the Director for its Strategy and Security Institute. Doug was a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for over a decade and is currently the Thomas Telford Fellow at the Council on Geostrategy and the senior advisor to the Legatum Institute's Sovereignty Unit. Doug is the author...

Ben Cobley writes the blog, A Free Left Blog, and is author of The Tribe: The Liberal Left and the System of Diversity . Ben is a journalist by trade and a former Labour Party activist.  In this episode, Ben and I talk about Being English and Englishness, what it is and how it has come under threat from the spread of progressive ideologies, what it means to be a part of a nation, why there might b...

Connor Tomlinson is a writer and presenter at LotusEaters.com and Co-host of the Deprogrammed podcast by NewCultureForum. Connor has also frequently contributed to Talk TV and GB News, and writes for The European Conservative and The Critic. In this episode Connor and I talk about why Gen-Z are not so much being anti-civilisational insomuch as they didn't receive a cultural inheritance at all...

Lorenzo Warby writes for one of Substack's featured publications for 2024, Helen Dale's Not On Your Team, But Always Fair, as well as for his own Substack Lorenzo from Oz . Lorenzo writes frequently about evolutionary anthropology, evolutionary psychology, human nature, the institutional health of the West, the differences between civilisations, and the impact of political ideologies on...

David Goodhart is a journalist, writer and thinktanker. He worked for the Financial Times for 12 years before setting up Prospect magazine in 1995. He has been involved with issues relating to equality and discrimination for 20 years. In 2013 he published a book on race and immigration, 'The British Dream' (runner up for the Orwell prize). When director of the Demos think tank he set up...

Emma Wells is an English church historian, academic, consultant author, and broadcaster, specialising in the ecclesiastical and architectural history of the late medieval and early modern age. Emma is the author of two books, including the 2021 book Heaven on Earth: Lives & Legacies of the world's greatest cathedrals; and the 2016 book Pilgrim routes of the British Isles. Emma is working...