Why is The Rest Is Politics so popular? Because it harks back to an earlier age of broadcasting: less cynical, less combative, and in which the BBC's John Freeman asked questions like : “Are you on the whole more interested in ideas or in people?” www.economist.com/britain/2024... - ThreadSky

matthewholehouse.bsky.social • 129 days ago

Why is The Rest Is Politics so popular? Because it harks back to an earlier age of broadcasting: less cynical, less combative, and in which the BBC's John Freeman asked questions like : “Are you on the whole more interested in ideas or in people?”

https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/10/21/why-the-rest-is-politics-a-british-podcast-is-a-hit

Comments

simonsmith.bsky.social•129 days ago

It is interesting how so many of the old print media brands - who have completely failed to catch this gap in the market - are now paying people to write polemics slagging off ‘centrist dad’ podcasts.

matthewholehouse.bsky.social•129 days ago

not i!

simonsmith.bsky.social•129 days ago

Oh, the Economist isn’t ’one of them’.

louise275.bsky.social•129 days ago

I'm listening to Jeremy Hunt talk to Nick Robinson. He links his budget to his conservative & Conservative thinking. I am no fan of his, nor the Toriesl, but it's refreshing to hear the ideology applied in the real world instead of the opportunism one sees in Jenrick, Badenock and Tugenhat

swight103.bsky.social•129 days ago

Presumably his podcast not Today.

radekcdydd.bsky.social•129 days ago

Why would you believe what he said?

swight103.bsky.social•129 days ago

Also they have (slightly) fewer ads than some other political podcasts and the intro music is much less awful than some.

nichhills.bsky.social•129 days ago

The Rest is Politics has its limits. Don't ask Alastair Campbell about Iraq. Until recently you couldn't ask Rory Stewart about Austerity.

midnightsheep.bsky.social•129 days ago

The problem is the hours they spend talking about themselves. So much cosy self-congratulation per hour of actual content took it from interesting to unlistenable quite quickly for me. They seemed to get exponentially more smug as they got more popular, presumably a feedback loop they’re still in?

nichhills.bsky.social•129 days ago

I don't enjoy the podcast as much as I used to, yes. Still, Rory can now say, "Austerity."

midnightsheep.bsky.social•129 days ago

So their public attempt at doing aversion therapy on each other is working out for them? Nice.

Genuinely, it’s good that there’s a demonstrably popular exercice in civil political discourse out there. That can’t be a bad thing.

raydouglas.bsky.social•129 days ago

This episode is well worth a listen. An at-times difficult but informative listen https://therestispolitics.supportingcast.fm/listen/the-rest-is-politics/111-the-iraq-war-1

eucorinne.bsky.social•129 days ago

But they do talk about Iraq and austerity. They actually dedicated 2 hours to Iraq.

nichhills.bsky.social•129 days ago

I sit corrected. I am recalling an episode many months ago where Rory mentioned Iraq and Alastair went into full Tony-Blair-can-do-no-wrong mode.

troybairn.bsky.social•129 days ago

They are weak on Scottish politics.
Stewart is as rabid a Unionist as they come.
Campbell thinks that the utterly hopeless Anas Sarwar is a political genius.

boatdesigner.bsky.social•129 days ago

All podcasts have their limitations, but despite them it is a good podcast not least because they get on, but come from different angles and sometimes shine lights from different perspectives

troybairn.bsky.social•129 days ago

Not convinced that they do really ”come from different angles”. They’d both be in the same bloc in a PR system. Slightly different shades of leftist Christian democracy.

martymcd.bsky.social•129 days ago

It's also an age of broadcasting that Gary grew up in tbh

simonehochgreb.bsky.social•129 days ago

They are actually interested in what the various interviewees have to say, and cut the crap when the guests are being disingenuous. Sort of what we would like to do if we were there. Simples.

liampr1.bsky.social•129 days ago

The demise of HardTALK might make it even more popular! There really is a market for "On the Record" style programming for politics and current affairs and maybe podcasting is where it has to be.

matthewholehouse.bsky.social•129 days ago

Indeed. I'd have got into HardTalk and other long-form shows but - ironically - just a brief note.

liampr1.bsky.social•129 days ago

(And on a trivial note, if this resurrects the "On the Record" theme tune all the better.)

adnamsius.bsky.social•129 days ago

To me it’s a bigger thing about podcasts more generally. Space to talk ideas. Space to let guests talk. Questions designed to be answers not gotchas or generate soundbites. Can’t watch political interviews on the broadcast news anymore.

juliablue.bsky.social•129 days ago

I agree with this,so tired of the gotcha moments. Been an avid viewer of BBC NN & QT for years, but now prefer TRIP at least we can hear what people have to say.

warondirtymoney.bsky.social•129 days ago

The BBC should offer to televise such informative discussions between Stewart and Campbell. It would be a very good public service broadcast, in my view.

kayegodleman.bsky.social•129 days ago

Completely agree on all points.

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