Show Notes
The American experiment is failing. Division, mistrust and misinformation are now the country's defining characteristics. The storming of the Capitol, the prosecution of Donald Trump and battles over gun rights and abortion raise the spectre of further political violence.
We often hear that these events are unprecedented. On the contrary, author and journalist Nick Bryant suggests that the hate, divisiveness and paranoia we see today are in fact a core part of America's story. His remarkable new book is titled 'The Forever War: America's Unending Conflict with Itself'.
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More from Fire at Will
Politics shouldn't be a team sport, but it has become one. Far too many of us blindly support politicians or parties as opposed to critically assessing ideas and policies. Where has this tribalism come from, how has it got so bad, and what do we do about it?
The Economist recently described Germany as "the hole at the heart of Europe". That's a reasonable description, particularly given it accounts for a quarter of the EU's output, but it has been in recession for the past two years. Another way to look at it is that Germany is a representation of Europe, and all of its challenges.
Whilst illiberal progressivism (or woke for short) appears to be in retreat, what will take its place is an open question. The right in the UK has splintered, Europe is still being suffocated by the weight of the leftist social democratic model, free speech is under assault in Australia (as it is pretty much everywhere), and whilst the Republicans are resurgent in the US, Trump's brand of economic protectionism would have been anathema to the American right in years gone by.
There's an interesting historical pattern in British politics, and you can see it in various shapes and forms since the days of William the Conqueror. About once every century, there is a realignment that completely changes the nature of politics in the country. The last great realignment was the 1922 election, with the Liberal Party falling to third-party status, the Conservatives establishing themselves as the largest party in Parliament, and Labour emerging as the undisputed opposition party.
In the last month, the grooming gangs scandal has gone from being the UK's worst-kept secret to its greatest source of national shame. From at least the 1990s, and likely long before then, criminal networks comprised almost entirely of Pakistani Muslim men prostituted, raped and tortured thousands of young girls in towns and cities across the UK. And the authorities, despite being aware of what was happening, did very little to intervene. UK citizens, and indeed the world, quite rightly want to know why.