The Sceptic

Politics and the Modern Self – Dr Carl Trueman | Sceptic Special Episode

Intellectual historian Dr Carl Trueman on politics, psychology and the ‘modern self’.
In this special episode of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell is joined by intellectual historian Dr Carl Trueman, to discuss his book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution.
Many of the ideas that drive our politics today are strange by historical standards. Why is such great importance placed on sex, sexuality and identity politics? Why have questions about the family become so ardently politicised? When did our therapeutic society stop believing that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”? And why are we so often told that morality and truth are wholly subjective – whatever ‘feels right’?
Across so many domains, the personal has become political. In this conversation with Sceptic host Laurie Wastell, intellectual historian Dr Carl Trueman explains how today’s ‘me, me, me’ social imaginary stems from what he calls The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, in his book of that title. In an argument encompassing Rousseau, Nietzsche, the Romantic poets and the Sexual Revolution, Dr Trueman sets out how our dominant social ethos of “expressive individualism” arose – and shows what its consequences have been.
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Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Battling Britain’s Blasphemy Laws | Toby Young – The Sceptic Ep.62

Toby Young on a year of free-speech battles, and Chris Morrison on the OBR’s junk climate science and the attempt to sue Shell over the weather.
 
In Episode 62 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Toby Young, the Daily Sceptic’s Editor-in-Chief and the Director of the Free Speech Union, to review the many free speech battles that we’ve been fighting this year in Starmer’s two-tier tyranny.
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Chris Morrison, the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor, on how the Office for Budget Responsibility was taken in by junk climate science, the campaign to sue Shell Oil because of the weather and the Government’s response to the ongoing criticisms of the Met Office.
 
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Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Why I’m Taking on ‘Hope not Hate’ | Jack Rankin – The Sceptic Ep.61

Andrew Orlowski on Britain’s weird utilitarian cult, Jack Rankin MP on the Tories vs the Blob and Ben Pile on green rent-seeking.
In Episode 61 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Andrew Orlowski, business and technology columnist at the Telegraph, on Britain’s weird utilitarian cult, the ‘Mansards’, and why they’re everywhere.
Jack Rankin, Conservative MP for Windsor, on where the Tories went wrong in their 14 years in power and whether they can recover. Plus: why he’s referred ‘Hope not Hate’ to the Charity Commission.
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Ben Pile, journalist and Daily Sceptic regular, on the scourge of the rent-seeking Green Blob, and the worrying campaign to bring back lockdown measures because of the flu.
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Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

David Starkey: The Lies of Multiculturalism

Dr David Starkey on the lies of multiculturalism and the Blairite delusion of politics as spin. Plus: Steven Tucker on the Green zealots’ mental health madness.
In this special episode of The Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell is joined by Dr David Starkey, the eminent, insightful and acerbic historian, author and broadcaster.
They discuss the lies of multiculturalism: the Stephen Lawrence inquiry and the Windrush myth; Labour’s disastrous Budget and why it thinks it can wish the realities of economics away with ‘Modern Monetary Theory’; why leftists in general believe they can remake reality through strength of ideological conviction and propaganda; New Labour’s sinister yet overlooked Parekh Report and its ludicrous claim that Britain has always been “multicultural”; plus why the introduction of “hate crimes” was social engineering.
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Steven Tucker, Daily Sceptic columnist and the author of 10 books, on the Green alarmists claiming that climate change will affect people’s mental health – and the Left’s two-tier standards about what you’re allowed to be nostalgic about.
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Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Labour’s Benefits Budget | John O’Connell – The Sceptic Ep.60

Rachel Reeves’s disastrous benefits Budget with John O’Connell of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, and Tilak Doshi on the great COP flop.
In Episode 60 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to John O’Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, on Rachel Reeves’s disastrous benefits Budget.
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Dr Tilak Doshi, the Daily Sceptic’s Energy Editor, on how the COP 30 climate summit in Brazil utterly flopped and what that says about the Net Zero agenda, plus Sadiq Khan’s giant eco-hypocrisy.
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Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Mahmood’s Migration Smoke Screen | Rob Bates – The Sceptic Ep.59

Why Shabana Mahmood’s asylum crackdown is not all it’s cracked up to be, and how the Met Office and the BBC push climate alarmism.
In Episode 59 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Rob Bates, Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control, on why Shabana Mahmood’s asylum crackdown is not all it’s cracked up to be.
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Chris Morrison, the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor, who gives us the latest on the Met Office’s dodgy data shenanigans, plus why the BBC is so wrong on the climate.
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Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Kathryn Porter on the Lies of the Green Zealots

Kathryn Porter on just how much Net Zero is costing us, why Ed Miliband’s claims about renewables are so laughable and how the Green Crusade is putting us at risk of blackouts this winter.
In the Sceptic this week, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Kathryn Porter, energy consultant and commentator, for a deep dive on just how much Net Zero is costing us, why Ed Miliband’s claims about renewables are so laughable and how the Green Crusade is putting us at risk of blackouts this winter.
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Produced by Richard Eldred. Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

The Truth About ‘Multicultural’ Birmingham | Chris Bayliss – The Sceptic Ep.58

Chris Bayliss on Aston Villa vs Maccabi Tel Aviv and the rise of Muslim sectarianism in Birmingham and Ben Pile on Bill Gates vs Net Zero and the BBC’s climate misinformation.
In Episode 58 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Chris Bayliss, independent consultant and writer, on what the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from this week’s Europa League match against Aston Villa says about multicultural Britain and our sectarian second city.
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Ben Pile, journalist and Daily Sceptic regular, on how Bill Gates has turned against the Net Zero agenda, plus the BBC’s climate misinformation.
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Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

The Cost of Migration | David Shipley – The Sceptic Ep.57

A look back on a week of grim migration news, and the horrifying truth about wind turbines.
In Episode 57 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to David Shipley, journalist and friend of the show, on a week of grim and horrifying migration news, how accusations of racism enabled the Southport Killer and the media's warped priorities over the grooming gang inquiry.
And for our premium subscribers, I speak to the Daily Sceptic's Environment Editor Chris Morrison on how wind turbines are killing birds, how the Left are trying to censor climate dissent and the fallacy of so-called climate tipping points.
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Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Another Grooming Gang Coverup? | Adam Wren – The Sceptic Ep.56

How Labour is still failing grooming victims, and the lunacy of the Greens’ wealth tax.
In Episode 56 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Adam Wren, campaigner and founder of Open Justice UK, on the chaos in the Government’s grooming gang inquiry.
And for our premium subscribers, Matthew Bowles, Senior Policy Researcher at the Prosperity Institute, on why the Greens’ plans for a wealth tax just don’t add up.
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Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.