"... the Mafia was not just a criminal endeavour committed by street thugs, or ordinary criminals. It was a state within the state, that could only thrive because of a commonality and intersectionality of interests between the power, the politics, and the financial-economic system. [Falcone and Borsellino] had exposed this, and they had been isolated, silenced, smeared. Eventually they were killed"
#FrancescaAlbanese, 2025
I am at Theatre Royal Drury Lane to see The Rest is Assassinations. They are playing the FULL version of W. G. Snuffy Walden's #WestWing theme as people arrive and as the curtain raises. I am in my element. #TheRestIsHistory #TheRestIsPolitics #TheRestIsPoliticsUS
Rory Stewart on #TheRestIsPolitics:
"Quit playing Trump's game. Stop it. #Trump could not have been clearer, for more than a decade, that he believes Putin's line on #Ukraine. We are humiliating ourselves again and again, bending over backwards, begging, giving him exactly what he wants, which is that he just feels he can demand anything at the moment from people. We're abandoning #Canada and not stepping up for what should be one of our closest allies in the world."
https://www.youtube.com/live/7GQZqPo_Ke4?si=Czoimo4EEYR8FoL2&t=2395
Former #Conservative MP Rory Stewart:
"We should ban X/Twitter completely in the United Kingdom and in #Europe. It is clearly now a mechanism being used to undermine our democratically elected governments and support far-right parties."
I look forward to the day Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart join #Mastodon
"... We've come now into a period when I think the great trends are the rise of distrust, the rise of inequality and the rise of [digital] tech, and somehow, all of us have got to work out ... am I gaining or losing trust for what we're doing? Am I really dealing with the causes of inequality, and not adding to them? And am I using the tech, or am I being used by it?"
#TomFletcher, 2025
Despite all of my criticisms above, there's a reason I bother with The Rest is Politics. As well as being fun to listen to, Both Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell come across as principled men, who care deeply about democracy and its potential to make the world a better place.
Case in point, they both make some passionate arguments for campaign finance reform;
(1/2)
Some more shibboleths Alistair and Rory are attached to;
"The whole post-war system believes that the way that you stop wars [like WW1 and WW2] was based on 4 things; ... making sure there was open trade so economies were interlinked ... generous international assistance to rebuild economies ... this rule-based international order ... and the final thing was [US]American hegemony that put this whole thing together"
#RoryStuart, 2025
(1/?)
Rory and Alistair once again banging on about growth. Maybe they're just showing their age, old dog, new tricks, and all that. Because from what they're saying, it seems like UK Labour have moved on, to talking about stuff like raising living standards, which is what most people really care about.
When Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart interviewed Kate Raworth just over a year ago, they seemed to accept that the growth dogma was leading us down a blind ally;
https://alastaircampbell.org/2023/06/22-kate-raworth-doughnut-economics-and-thriving-in-balance/
A year later, they're right back to singing the 'growth is good' song, in their discussion of UK Labour's attempts not to look like the centrist lame duck it is;
https://alastaircampbell.org/2024/12/346-the-battle-for-syria/
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#podcasts #Leading #TheRestIsPolitics
#growth #DeGrowth #KateRaworth #AlistairCampbell #RoryStewart
"Is Israel still in the situation where it can honestly say that it's judicial process is so strong that it will fairly investigate war crimes committed by its own people? Or are the critics correct who say ... if you look at Israeli judicial practice over 20 years, it's been very reluctant to hold anyone accountable for war crimes"
RoryStuart, Nov 27, 2024
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"We all like, at the end of big moment like this, to say 'oh well, this was the reason and that was the reason', there are thousands of reasons. Millions of people have their own decisions."
#AlastairCampbell, 9 Nov, 2024
https://therestispolitics.supportingcast.fm/listen/the-rest-is-politics/337-trump-returns-what-now
#podcasts #RNZ #TheRestIsPolitics #elections #ElectionResults
Highly recommend this live discussion by multiple "The Rest Of" podcast speakers:
Alistair Campbell
Rory Stewart
Anthony Scaramucci
Marina Hyde
Dominic Sandbrook
#US #USelection #USpol #TRIP #TheRestIsPolitics
#TheRestIsPoliticsUS #TheRestIsHistory #TheRestIsEntertainment #USA #UK #democracy
Walked into my hotel room and, bizarrely #TheRestIsPolitics is playing on the TV
What a shitshow
Someone who was a failure in politics whitters on at someone who never actually was a politician (albeit had great influence over them) about how to do politics.
Dadcast audio at its worst. If you really know how this works, put your money where your mouth is. Oh, no, a bit too hard? Honestly: fuck off.
"... it felt a little bit to me like a cross between a political program and a bit of a game show. The "raise your hands" and all that stuff. I just wanted something a bit more serious I think."
#AlastairCampbell, June 2024, on the Sunak vs Starmer debate
https://alastaircampbell.org/2024/06/261-sunak-vs-starmer-who-won/
"How do you generate growth? A big growth plan that signals to people the economy is going to be done in a different way" - Alistair Campbell on the policies of the next (Labour?) government
The awkward interview with Kate Raworth from mid-June forgotten?
#TheRestIsPolitics #DoughnutEconomics #KateRaworth
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Zf67yFhMOPhR8DNpJIlth?t=787
