George Monbiot, campaigning journalist on his life, the story of neoliberalism, the alternative and scrubbing up

Welcome to my new podcast, “PETER YORK’S CULTURE WARS HOUSE PARTY.” In this fourth episode, I’m joined by campaigning journalist George Monbiot.

We discuss George’s journey from his Conservative family background to his political awakening and his rise as one of our most prominent environmental and political activists. What exactly is a campaigning journalist – is it a contradiction in terms?

We explore the story of ‘neoliberalism’ and what it really means – less ‘liberal,’ but rather the disenchantment of politics through brute economic power. We explore how its tentacles have spread into think tanks, academia and the media – including the BBC. Can an alternative vision fight back – and how?

And has the BBC become a “timorous, cowering beastie”? We discuss this, along with George’s attire for his BBC Question Time appearance.

“The only way you're ever going to get significant change is - like John Maynard Keynes and Clement Attlee or many other figures through history - is pursuing systemic change and rolling over your opposition. That's the only way it's ever going to happen. But this timidity, which has kicked in since about 1980, where none of the formerly left or even centrist parties almost anywhere on Earth are prepared to ask for anything more than a few tiny tweaks to the system, that is a recipe for defeat. And that defeat is what we now witness everywhere.”

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

LinkedIn: Peter York's Culture Wars House Party podcast

Good Egg Productions

https://goodeggproductions.uk/

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