The strange politics of UK newspapers
Quirks, political agendas and scandal
A new video from me: The TWISTED politics of UK newspapers - with
UK newspapers are hugely influential on the country’s politics. Even with plummeting sales and fragile finances, if you want to understand how power works in the UK, you need to understand the newspapers.
For that reason, I asked Mic Wright, whose substack Conquest of the Useless focuses on skewering the hypocrisies and personalities of UK media (usually in a very amusing manner) to be my guide to each newspaper’s controversies, politics and personality. We cover everything from the time the Sun had to leave a front page blank because of a dispute with union printers, to the time Jeremy Clarkson punched Piers Morgan.
Other recent videos:
+ How "lived experience" goes wrong
+ How antisemitic are the pro-Palestine protests really?
+ What people got wrong about Russia (and history)
+ Israel is walking into a trap
+ How Bernie Sanders wins an argument
+ The problem with the media is not what we think
Notes and links
+ The Future of Dating (YouTube shorts)
+ AI is running out of stuff to read (YouTube shorts)
+ If you’ve seen my video on media panics, you’ll know I’m sceptical of the “phones are destroying our lives” theory (though I might be wrong!) For this reason, I enjoyed Tyler Cowen giving Jonathan Haidt a hard time. (Blog with links to podcast, transcript)
+ I find Piers Morgan on YouTube watchable in a way I didn’t on breakfast television. This debate with Mehdi Hasan was excellent. (YouTube)
+ “If you say someone has given a “fulsome apology”, you are suggesting it was so over the top as to be insincere.” A good list of words that everyone in politics uses incorrectly from Isabel Hardman. (Twitter)
+ Fascinating thread on how lobbying works in the US. Pair with this tweet from a former Conservative HQ staffer on how the party would use friendly press outlets to add credibility to rumour.
+ “For most of us over 40, our youth was characterized by mass unemployment … This means the economic thinking of well-meaning people throughout their lives has been dominated by one question: how to create jobs. [But today] we are not quite at full employment, but close to it, especially for skilled workers.” Chris Dillow. A good example of how the political debates we grow up with shape the outlook we have for the rest of our lives.
+ The Downfall Of Modern Podcasts (YouTube) How podcasts increasingly put out stuff they know isn’t true to profit from the controversy engagement.
+ I enjoyed John Gray’s book New Leviathans. I don’t agree with his pessimism about liberalism but it’s a short book full of ideas, and I got a lot from it.
+ I also recommend The End of Race Politics by Coleman Hughes. I found his arguments clear, liberal and persuasive, and though I’d probably been exposed to them before, it took — to my discredit — a black writer for me to see their merit clearly.
+ ‘"What makes Iago evil? some people ask. I never ask." (What makes those sentences work? I ask. Cadence, I answer. What do those sentences mean? you may ask. Don't.)"‘ It was fascinating to read this (old) essay explaining how Didion writes so beautifully. The analysis on Didion’s writing style is insightful but I don’t agree that it is a substitute for substance. I recently read Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Didion’s famous collection of essays depicting the 60s, and it’s true there’s a meaningless to it, but surely that’s the point about the 60s.
+ The Brexit Plots - On their (proudly centrist dad) podcast, Ed Balls and George Osborne interview Michael Gove about the Brexit referendum and aftermath. (Apple podcasts). I wasn’t sure I needed another such podcast in my life, but this is an insider look that I found interesting.