Podcast appearances and mentions of James Callaghan

Bernard Ponsonby and Alex Massie reaction and analysis of the first budget statement from Rachel Reeves - the first woman Chancellor to deliver a budget in British history. Is it a "workerist", old-Labour budget that the likes of Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Denis Healey would be happy with? Bernard and Alex discuss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There will be a British general election on July 4. “The most consequential of our generation” no doubt many politicians will remind the voters. But almost exactly 45 years ago, there really was a profoundly consequential British election. Back in May 1979, Mrs Margaret Thatcher's Conservative party won power in an election that ultimately changed everything about Britain. In 1979, (Sir) Tim Lankester was the first economic private secretary to Margaret Thatcher and, in his new book, INSIDE THATCHER'S MONETARISM EXPERIMENT, he writes about the promise, failure and legacy of this radical economic gamble. Yet in spite of the economic failure of Thatcher's monetarist experiment, Sir Tim appears not a little nostalgic for a politician with the vision and will of the Iron Lady. “Mrs Thatcher never lied”, he reminded me about a politician whose success at the polls was rooted in the trust she established with the electorate. And it's this trust that seems most scarce now, not just in the UK, but also in the US and other late-stage western democracies. Sir Tim Lankester has led a distinguished career in economics and public service and is an ardent supporter of charity and the arts. After studying at St John's College, Cambridge, and Yale University, Tim went on to enjoy an career with World Bank and then in the English Civil Service, including; at the British Embassy in Washington D.C., as Private Secretary to James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher, as Permanent Secretary at the Overseas Development Administration (now the DFID), and at the Department of Education. He retired from public service in 1994, for which he was knighted. He went on to serve as Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (1996 – 2000), President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford (2001 - 2009), and Chair of the Council of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2008 – 2014). From 2007 to 2015, Tim was Chair of The Place and formerly a board member of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama and Governor of the Royal College of Music. Currently, Tim sits on the boards for many charities, including; Wells Maltings Trust, Norfolk; International Foundation for Arts and Culture; MBI AL Jaber Foundation; and Karachi Education Initiative UK. Tim also sits on the Board for the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Art and Culture, University of East Anglia, and is and Honorary Fellow of both SOAS and St John's College, Oxford.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

2024年COMPUTEX將以「AI串聯，共創未來」為主題 6/4~6/7 於南港展覽館隆重登場！ 預計吸引1,500家國內外科技業者、新創企業、國際大廠、加速器等夥伴共襄盛舉，歡迎踴躍預登參觀 報名連結

Birkaç hâdise üst üste geldi. Fransa'da Başbakan istifâ etti ve yerine, başarılı Fransız aktör Yves Attal'ın oğlu Gabriel Attal isimli bir başkası atandı. Yunanistan'da ise Syriza Partisi'nin başına ise Stefanos Kessakilis isimli yeni bir şahıs geçti. Bu iki nevzuhur liderin müşterek bâzı nitelikleri var: Hem Attal hem de Kessakilis eşcinsel. Diğer bir müşterek tarafları yakışıklı ve genç olmaları. Gabriel Attal'ın şöyle böyle bir siyâsal kariyeri mevcut. Ama daha çok mâliyeci bir teknokrat olarak. Kessakilis ise uzun seneler ABD'de yaşamış, Biden'a destek vermiş, Golden Sachs Bankası'nda çalışmış, siyâsetle alâkası, Attal'a göre daha zayıf bir şâhıs. Ama her ikisi de para-tura işlerinde temâyüz etmişler. Bu da başka bir benzerlikleri. 1980'lere kadar hüküm süren iklimde dünyâda, şöyle böyle genel kâbul görmüş siyâsetçi tipinin hayli dışında tipler bunlar. Sert, maço, çoklukla yaşını başını almış erkek veya erkekleşmiş kadın siyâsetçilerdi eski zamanların siyâsetçileri. Sevenleri elbette vardı, ama sevimli oldukları söylenemezdi. Ciddiyet başat prensipleriydi. Kissenger ve Nixon ABD'den buna tipik misâldir. Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, James Callaghan, onların Birleşik Krallık'daki muadilleriydi. Fransa'da Jacques Chirac, Valéry Gisgard d'Estaing ilk akla gelen isimler. Şansölye Willy Brandt ve Helmut Schmidt Almanya'dan bu listeye dâhil edilebilir. İtalya'da Amintone Fanfani, Aldo Moro, Guilio Andreotti bu sınıfın İtalya'daki karşılıklarıdır. Bu şahıslar Soğuk Savaş'ın şekillendirdiği Zamânın Ruhu'na hitap ediyorlardı. Alabildiğine soğuk ve katıydılar. Onlara reelpolitik ilkeler yol gösteriyordu. Tabiî ki sütten çıkmış ak kaşık değillerdi. Ama hepsi de denge adamlarıydı. Siyâsetlerini dikkât, rikkât ve ölçü üzerine kuruyorlardı. 1980'lerden başlayarak tuhaf gelişmelere şâhit olmaya başladık. İkinci sınıf bir Holywood aktörü olan Reagan ABD Başkanlığına seçilerek yapıyı alt üst eden ilk figür oldu. Almanya'da Helmut Kohl halâ kabalığı, bilhassa yemek konusunda oburluğu ile nam salmıştır. Margaret Thatcher ise çıkardığı kanunlarla Birleşik Krallık'da kurulu tekmil dengeleri alt üst etmiş, Demir Lady sıfatını kazanmıştır. Baba-Oğul Bush'ların neleri kırıp döktükleri ortada. Yeltsin'i ayık bulmak neredeyse imkânsızdır. (Bizde de Turgut Özal tam bu kırılmayı karşılar). Arkası gelmiştir. İtalya'da Silvio Berlusconi, Fransa'da Sarkozy, Birleşik Krallık'da Tony Blair, tam da bunu ifâde eder. Artık katı siyâset sınıfının yerini, her yerde eş anlı olmasa da hayli sulu başka bir sınıf almaktadır. Meselâ Almanya'da Kohl sonrası Schröder ve Merkel devirlerinda hâlâ eskinin izlerine rastlanabilir. Almanya'da kırılma Olaf Scholz'da başladı. Son zamanların en büyük düşünürü olarak gördüğüm Zygmunt Bauman'ın kibarca Akışkan Toplum olarak kavramlaştırdığı bir dünyânın siyâsetçileridir onlar. Akışkan (liquid) toplumların siyâsetçileri de bir o kadar sıvılaşmış, sululaşmış şahıslar olabilirdi. Ama artık onlar da zamânın gerisinde kalıyorlar.

James Callaghan was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1976 and 1979. He is also the only person to have held the UK's four Great Offices of State: Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, and Prime Minister. This episode is the next in the "Rather Less Horrible" Series, where my guest and I discuss politicians less unpleasant than most of the others on the podcast, but whose careers still hold important lessons. Callaghan's time in power is a lesson in collective leadership; having kept his Labour Government together in a time of high inflation, low growth and strikes. Rishi Sunak, who faces similar challenges, would do well to take note of this prime minister somewhat forgotten in modern British politics. My guest today is a particularly special one given our subject; she is James Callaghan's daughter, Baroness Margaret Jay. Margaret had a unique perspective on her father's long political career, and also later served as a minister in the Tony Blair government. 

With inflation remaining stubbornly high and interest rates at their highest in 15 years, this week's episode looks at the causes and political repercussions of today's crisis as well as the parallels with previous governments — from Harold Wilson to Ted Heath, James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

歡迎留言告訴我們你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/cl81kivnk00dn01wffhwxdg2s/comments Topic: In Britain, Rising Prices and Shortages Evoke 1970s-Style Jitters Long lines at gas stations, rising fuel prices, empty shelves in supermarkets and worries about runaway inflation. 加油站大排長龍，燃料價格上漲，超市貨架空無一物，大家憂心通貨膨脹失控。 Britons have emerged from 18 months of pandemic-imposed hibernation to find their country has many of the same afflictions it had during the 1970s. There is nothing Austin Powers-like about this time machine: Unlike the swinging '60s, the '70s were, by all accounts, some of the bleakest days in postwar Britain; even contemplating a return to them is enough to make leaders of the current government shiver. 英國人從疫情造成的18個月冬眠中醒來，發現國家遭遇許多與1970年代相同的痛苦。這次時光機器情節跟電影「王牌大賤諜」毫無相似之處：不同於動盪的1960年代，人們都說1970年代是戰後英國最淒涼的日子。只是想到要回到當時，就足以讓現任政府領導人不寒而慄。 The sudden burst of doomsaying in Britain is rooted at least as much in psychology as economics. While there is no question the country faces a confluence of problems — some caused by the pandemic, others by Brexit — experts said it was far too soon to predict that Britain was headed for the kind of economic malaise and political upheaval that characterized that decade. 英國突然爆發的末日預言，源自心理學的份量跟經濟學一樣多。無疑地，這個國家面臨一系列問題，一些由疫情引起，另一些由英國脫歐造成。專家們說，現在就預測英國將陷入那十年特有的經濟低迷與政治動盪，仍為時過早。 “It's a combination of things that could, in principle, lead to that, but are quite survivable on their own,” said Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at Kings College London. “We always talk about the 1970s, but it's half a century later, and all sorts of things are different.” 倫敦國王學院經濟學教授波特斯說：「原則上來說，這樣的多種因素組合可能導致那種情況，但個別也能發揮作用。我們總是在談論1970年代，但已過去半個世紀了，一切都不一樣了。」 Britain's economy, he noted, has bounced back faster from the pandemic than many experts predicted. The shortages in labor and some goods are likely a transitory effect of reopening much of the economy after prolonged lockdowns. Rising wages and supply bottlenecks are driving up the inflation rate, while the fuel shortages that have closed dozens of gas stations reflect a shortage of truck drivers, not of energy supplies. 他指，英國經濟從疫情中恢復的速度比許多專家預測還快。勞動力和一些商品短缺，可能是長期防疫封鎖後重新開放大部分經濟活動的短暫影響。工資上漲和供應瓶頸正在推升通膨率，而造成數十家加油站關閉的燃料短缺，反映的是卡車司機短缺，而非能源供應問題。 Nor does Britain have the aging industrial base and powerful unions it had in the 1970s. Labor unrest led to crippling strikes that brought down a Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, and one of his Labour Party successors, James Callaghan, after what the tabloids called the winter of discontent, in 1979. 英國也沒有1970年代那樣老化的工業基礎與強大工會。1979年發生小報所稱的「不滿之冬」，勞工騷亂導致嚴重罷工，造成保守黨首相奚斯及他的工黨繼任者之一卡拉漢下台。 And yet the parallels are suggestive enough that the right-leaning Daily Mail warned that “Britain faces winter of woe” — a chilly welcome for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he returned from the United States, having celebrated a new submarine alliance and rallied countries in advance of a U.N. climate change conference in Scotland in November. 然而，一些相似之處足以引發聯想，讓右傾的每日郵報發出「英國面臨災難冬天」警告。對訪美歸來的英國首相強生而言，這是個冷淡迎接，他才剛慶祝新的潛艦聯盟成立，並在11月蘇格蘭聯合國氣候變遷會議前團結各國。 “That is a very easy ghost to resurrect,” said Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to Washington who now sits in the House of Lords. “But these are real problems. You can just see this perfect storm coming.” 英國駐華府前大使、現為上議院議員的達洛許說：「那是個很容易復活的鬼魂，但這些都是實實在在的問題。你可以看到這場完美風暴逼近。」Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5804159 Next Article Topic: Brexit ‘done' at last: Now for the hard part The United Kingdom left the EU on Friday, its most significant change of course since the loss of its empire — and a major blow to 70 years of efforts to forge European unity from the ruins of two world wars. 英國上週五脫離了歐盟，這是自大英帝國解體以來英國最重大的改變，這對自兩次世界大戰廢墟中重建、經七十年整合努力的歐洲來說，也是重大的打擊。 After the numerous twists and turns of a three-and-a-half-year crisis, the final parting is an anticlimax of sorts: Britain steps into the twilight zone of a transition period that preserves membership in all but name until the end of this year. 這場危機歷時三年半、經過無數迂迴曲折，最後的脫歐似乎有些太過平靜：英國進入了過渡期的模糊地帶，雖名義上已脫離歐盟，但到年底前這段過渡期仍享有原先歐盟成員國之待遇。 At a stroke, the EU will lose 15 percent of its economy, its biggest military spender and the world's international financial capital — London. “This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act,” said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, one of the leaders of the “Leave” campaign in the 2016 referendum. “It is a moment of real national renewal and change.” 英國一脫歐，歐盟即會損失百分之十五的經濟、其最大的軍事開支國，以及國際金融重鎮──倫敦。 英國首相波里斯‧強生說：「這是黎明破曉、揭開新篇章的時刻」，強生曾是二○一六年公投中「脫歐」派的領導人之一。「這是真正的民族復興與變革的一刻。」 DISUNITED KINGDOM The EU cautioned that leaving meant losing the benefits of membership, though the US said Britons wanted to escape the “tyranny of Brussels.” While Britons either side of the Brexit (a portmanteau of “British” and “exit”) divide expressed either sadness or delight. 國內嚴重的分歧 歐盟警告說，英國脫歐意味失去歐盟成員國所享有的利益，雖然美國表示英國人想逃離「布魯塞爾的暴政」。而對於脫歐，英國贊成與反對的兩方皆表達出其喜與悲。〔「Brexit」（英國脫歐）一字為「Britain」與「 exit」所合成。〕 For proponents, Brexit is “independence day” — an escape from what they cast as a doomed German-dominated project that is failing its 500 million people. 對脫歐支持者來說，英國脫歐日是「獨立日」──擺脫了他們所認為注定失敗、由德國主導、辜負其五億人民的歐盟。 Opponents believe Brexit is a folly that will weaken the West, shrivel what is left of Britain's global clout, undermine its economy and ultimately lead to a more inward-looking and less cosmopolitan set of islands in the northern Atlantic. 反對脫歐的人認為，英國脫歐是不智之舉，會削弱西方的力量，也會讓英國所剩不多的全球影響力更無足輕重、破壞英國的經濟，最終會讓英國變成獨善其身、國際化程度較低的北大西洋島嶼。 Brexit was always about much more than Europe. The referendum, which split voters 52 percent to 48 percent, showed up deep divisions and triggered soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration to empire and modern Britishness. 英國脫歐所牽涉的問題絕不止是歐洲。脫歐公投將選民撕裂為百分之五十二贊成與百分之四十八反對的兩方，顯示選民分歧之深，也引發了人民對國家分裂、移民，乃至大英帝國及現代對「英國性」之定義等這一切的深刻反省。 SMALL TIMEFRAME AHEAD Feb. 1 marks the beginning of a new phase of negotiations between London and Brussels to agree on the shape of their future relationship. 協議談判的緊迫時程 倫敦與布魯塞爾自二月一日起開始新階段的談判，以決定其未來關係的樣貌。 They have until the end of 2020 — a transition period during which Britain will remain an EU member in all but name — to hammer out an agreement on trade and other issues including security, energy, transport links, fishing rights and data flow. 將於二○二○年底屆滿的過渡時期中（在過渡期，英國實質仍為歐盟成員，但名義上不是），英國和歐盟必須就貿易和其他問題（包括安全、能源、交通運輸、漁權及資料流通）達成協議。 Johnson claims 11 months is time enough to strike a “zero tariff, zero quota” trade deal and has vowed — even though the option is there — not to extend the limbo period beyond 2020. 強生聲稱，十一個月的時間足以達成「零關稅、零配額」的貿易協議，並誓言不會把過渡期延長、拖過二○二○年，即便英國有此選項。 If they fail, the legal default will be a potentially crippling no-deal Brexit that would leave trade between Britain and the EU from 2021 onwards based on WTO terms, and see the imposition of import duties and controls. 若未在此期限內達成協議，就會變成無協議脫歐，損害可能非常嚴重，英國和歐盟間之貿易便會在二○二一年起依世界貿易組織（WTO）之規定課徵進口關稅及受管制。 Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/02/04/2003730294/1 Next Article Topic: In Slumping U.K., Feelings Of ‘Bregret' Toward Brexit Six and a half years after voting to leave the European Union, three years after the formal departure, two years after signing a post-Brexit trade deal with Brussels and one month after installing its fourth prime minister since the 2016 referendum, Britain is caught in — what else? — another debate over Brexit. 公投脫歐6年半後、正式脫歐3年後、與布魯塞爾簽署脫歐後貿易協議2年後，以及任命2016年公投以來第四任首相滿月後，英國正陷入，還會有別的嗎？另一場關於英國脫歐的辯論。 Brexit may be in the history books, but “Bregret,” as the British newspapers have called it, is back in the air. 英國脫歐可能已載入史冊，但英國報紙所說的「後悔脫歐」又重新浮上水面。 The cause of the remorse is clear: Britain's economic crisis, which is the gravest in a generation and worse than those of its European neighbors. Not all — or even most — of the problems are because of Brexit, but Britain's vexed trade relationship with the rest of Europe indisputably plays a role. That makes it a ripe target for an anxious public casting about for something to blame. 後悔的原因很明顯是英國的經濟危機，這是一個世代以來最嚴重的一次，比歐洲鄰國情況還要糟。並非所有問題都因為英國脫歐，甚至大部分問題都不是，但英國跟歐洲其他國家之間棘手的貿易關係，無疑發揮了一定作用。這讓它成為焦慮民眾追究責任的現成目標。 The latest eruption of this never-ending drama began last week with an opinion poll that showed support for Brexit had fallen to its lowest level yet. Only 32% of those surveyed in the poll, by the firm YouGov, said that they thought leaving the European Union was a good idea; 56% said it was a mistake. 這場永無止盡的鬧劇最近一次上演是在上星期，一項民調顯示英國脫歐支持率已降至最低水位。根據YouGov公司民調，僅32%受訪者認為離開歐盟是個好主意，56%的人則稱這是個錯誤。 The Brexit second-guessing grew louder this week, after The Sunday Times of London published a report that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was considering pursuing a closer arrangement with the European Union, modeled on that of Switzerland. The Swiss have access to the single market and fewer border checks, in return for paying into the bloc's coffers and accepting some of its rules. 質疑英國脫歐的聲浪本周變得更大，因為倫敦的《周日泰晤士報》刊出報導稱英相蘇納克正考慮仿效瑞士，跟歐盟建立更緊密關係。瑞士能進入歐洲單一市場和享有較少邊境檢查，代價是必須付款給歐盟並接受歐盟一些規範。 Sunak quickly shot down the report, which was attributed to “senior government sources.” 蘇納克迅速駁斥這篇宣稱來自「政府高層消息人士」的報導。 “Under my leadership,” Sunak told business executives Monday, “the United Kingdom will not pursue any relationship with Europe that relies on alignment with EU laws.” 蘇納克周一告訴企業主管表示：「在我的領導下，英國不會尋求與歐洲建立任何仰賴於遵守歐盟法律的關係。」 “I voted for Brexit, I believe in Brexit,” Sunak added. “I know that Brexit can deliver, and is already delivering, enormous benefits and opportunities for the country.” 蘇納克還說：「我投票支持英國脫歐，我相信脫歐。我知道英國脫歐能夠實現，且已在為我國帶來巨大利益和機會。」 While nobody is predicting that Britain will seek to rejoin the European Union, political analysts said that the Sunday Times report, on top of the dismal economic data and growing popular sentiment against Brexit, would open a fresh chapter in Britain's search for a new relationship with the rest of Europe. Where that would lead, they cautioned, was impossible to predict. 雖然沒人預測英國將尋求重新加入歐盟，但政治分析人士表示，《周日泰晤士報》的報導，加上黯淡經濟數據及日益高漲的反對脫歐民眾情緒，將為英國開啟尋求與歐洲其他國家建立新關係的篇章。他們提醒說，這將導致什麼結果無法預測。Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/6811142 Powered by Firstory Hosting

On 2 November 1967 Winnie Ewing shocked the political establishment when she won the Scottish seat of Hamilton for the Scottish National Party. As today's guest, Professor Murray Pittock explains, so began a month that would radically re-shape modern British politics. *** For British politics the 1960s was a testing time. While the country experienced its fabled cultural flowering, it simultaneously had to come to terms with its reduced place in the world. Decolonisation was going ahead at pace. Sterling was losing its power as a currency. In geo-politics Britain did not know where to turn: to the United States, or towards Europe and the EEC. In this episode Murray Pittock shows how Britain was forced to confront all of these issues within the space of one single month. November 1967 opened with a political shock, when the young politician Winnie Ewing won a bi-election for the Scottish National Party. During her campaign she made use of a gripping slogan: ‘Stop the World: Scotland Wants to Get On.' Here was an early sign of something to come. And as the SNP rose north of the border, more trouble was simmering to the south in Westminster. Soon the Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Callaghan, would be obliged to resign. And in Europe, too, Charles de Gaulle was poised to make matters still worse. Professor Murray Pittock is one of Scotland's foremost living historians. He is the Bradley Chair at the University of Glasgow, where he is also Pro-Vice Principal. He is the author of many books, the most recent of which is Scotland: The Global History: 1603 to the Present. Show notes Scene One: 2 November 1967: Winnie Ewing wins the Hamilton by-election a total surprise, with the victory slogan ‘Stop the World: Scotland wants to get on'. Scene Two: 18 November 1967: sterling devalued against the US $ by 14%; Chancellor of the Exchequer resigns. Scene Three: 27 November 1967: UK application to join EEC vetoed for a second time by de Gaulle. Memento: $1 Silver Certificate banknote People/Social Presenter: Violet Moller Guest: Professor Murray Pittock Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token' from the album ‘This Is Us' By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ Or on Facebook See where 1967 fits on our Timeline

Isabel Hardman from The Spectator reviews a dramatic week in Westminster following Rishi Sunak's arrival in Downing Street. The former Conservative Cabinet minister Greg Clark discusses the Prime Minister's first few days in office with the Shadow Leader of the House Thangam Debbonaire. As Northern Ireland prepares for new elections to Stormont, the former DUP leader in Westminster Lord Dodds explains why his party refused to share power with Sinn Fein. Also in this week's programme, the SNP's Brendan O'Hara and Conservative MP and former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers debate legislation to remove the legal status of all retained EU law by 2023. Not since the early 1980s have three former prime ministers sat in the House of Commons. The veteran documentary-maker Michael Cockerell, who interviewed Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Edward Heath, joins Catherine Haddon from the Institute of Government to reflect on whether Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss's presence on the backbenches will be a help or hindrance to Rishi Sunak. Editor: Peter Snowdon

LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, "There is no help for him in God." Selah I trust that you had the opportunity to read 2 Samuel 12 through 18. In these chapters you read the story and the events behind the writing of this prayer of David. This prayer in Psalm 3 begins very abruptly with "Lord." This is how Peter began his prayer when he got his eyes off Jesus and began sinking into the sea. Matthew 14:30, “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” David didn't have time to go through a long liturgy, for his own life was at stake and so was the future of the kingdom. David knew that God is a "very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). Absalom had taken a long time to build up his support for taking over the kingdom and the number increased day by day (2 Sam. 15:12-13; 16:7-8; 17:11; 18:7). Absalom was handsome, smooth-spoken, and a gifted liar who knew how to please the people and steal their hearts (2 Sam. 15:1-6). British statesman James Callaghan said, "A lie can be halfway around the world before the truth has got its boots on." There's something in the heart of mankind that enjoys feeding on lies. Not only were David's enemies increasing but the news was getting worse. People were saying, "The king is beyond help." (See Psalms 31:13; 38:19; 41:4-9; 55:18; 56:2; 69:4 and 71:10-11.) The word "help" in the Hebrew (yeshua) is translated "save" in verse 7 and "salvation" in verse 8 and gives us the names "Jesus" (Matt. 1:21) and "Joshua." It's used 136 times in the Psalms. Why had God permitted this dangerous and disgraceful uprising? It was part of David's chastening because of his sins of adultery and murder. One of the saddest chapters in the Bible is 2 Samuel 12, where we read about David and his affair with Bathsheba. When he found out she was pregnant he tried to cover it up by bringing her husband Uriah home from the battle front hoping he would have relations with his wife. But when Uriah refused to spend any time with her, David had him killed. God in his grace forgave David when he confessed his sins (2 Sam. 12:13-14; Psalm 32 and 51), but God in his government allowed David to reap the bitter consequences of those sins. He experienced painful family problems (2 Sam. 12-14), including the death of the son Bathsheba bore him, the rape of his daughter Tamar, by her half-brother Amnon. Then Absalom, Tamar's full brother, murdered Amnon in retaliation and had to flee the kingdom for three years. When Absalom was allowed to come back, he begins stealing the hearts of the men of Israel and two years later lead an insurrection against his own father David. The consequence of sin is always very high! Over the years as a pastor, I have watched many families broken apart as a result of the sin of adultery. It affects everyone! Thank the Lord for His forgiveness, and also for His grace that He gives us to deal with the consequences! When we cry out in our brokenness like David, we can be assured that the LORD will hear us!! God bless!

Após 70 anos de reinado, a rainha Elizabeth II faleceu na última semana e colocou a monarquia britânica sob análise. A coroação de Charles, como rei Charles III, não traz a confiança de estabilidade que Elizabeth trazia. Não quer dizer que de uma hora para a outra a monarquia corre o risco de desmoronar, mas o novo soberano sabe que não conta com a mesma simpatia que a mãe.  Thiago de Aragão, analista político Para quem vê de fora, principalmente de um país que não vive um sistema monarquista, não é sempre fácil perceber o papel moderador político que a rainha tinha e como isso é importante no Reino Unido. Ao longo dos últimos 70 anos, a monarca viveu inúmeros tipos de crise. Entre elas, Elizabeth II passou pela reconstrução do país no pós Segunda Guerra Mundial, onde o Reino Unido, liderado mais uma vez por Winston Churchill (que havia substituído Clement Attlee em 1951), passava por dificuldades econômicas.  O aprendizado cumulativo de décadas à frente de um dos mais relevantes países no mundo fez da rainha Elizabeth um símbolo doméstico de estabilidade e tranquilidade. A soberana teve um papel importante nas crises do meio dos anos 70, durante o governo de Harold Wilson e James Callaghan, além de solucionar as diferenças com Margaret Thatcher, para realizar uma “dobradinha” que fez com que a popularidade da família real se recuperasse ao longo da década de 80.  Apesar das polêmicas e escândalos familiares, a rainha mantinha na população o sentimento de unidade no país, independentemente do crescente sentimento separatista escocês dos últimos anos. O referendo escocês pela independência de 2014 trouxe 55% a 45% a favor do “não”. Já em 2021, o resultado das eleições parlamentares escocesas demonstrou o crescimento dos partidos separatistas, tornando-os uma das principais forças da política escocesa.  A rainha era um símbolo do soft power britânico. Esse soft power sempre foi extremamente útil para a diplomacia britânica. Quando Elizabeth se tornou um símbolo pop, a Reino Unido do pós-guerra precisava, mais do que nunca, de uma forma de mostrar sua assertividade ao mundo. Muitas pessoas, artistas, jornalistas e líderes políticos endossaram e embarcaram na percepção da rainha como um símbolo pop. Essa importância não sumiu, muito pelo contrário. A relevância da Comunidade Britânica de Nações - Commonwealth para a influência política britânica no mundo é enorme. Elizabeth sabia transmitir a confiança de que o Reino Unido ainda poderia liderar alguns países diplomaticamente. Será Charles, como rei Charles III, capaz de trazer essa mesma simpatia e soft power para a mesa diplomática?  O papel de um monarca pode ser político se este é hábil e conhecedor da comunicação popular por meio de gestos e comportamentos. Claro, sempre é mais fácil ser um monarca esquecido politicamente, numa neutralidade pensada em relação aos eventos domésticos e externos. Charles é rei de um país onde a imprensa e a sociedade gostam de sinais bem dados, nos campos da política, diplomacia e avanços sociais. Sua responsabilidade é grande e ocupar o espaço da sua mãe, difícil. 

The former Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Wigley joins Felicity Evans and James Williams at the National Slate Museum in Llanberis to reflect on half a century in frontline politics. Now in the House of Lords, he looks back at the highs and lows of his political career, from the dying days of James Callaghan's Labour government in 1979, through to the high drama of the devolution referendum of 1997 and beyond. And then there's his connection to a 1930s Chicago gangster and Public Enemy Number 1.

Appetising items on our lavish tray of conversational hors d'oeuvres this week include:- Billie Eilish, 20, (“the youngest at headliner at Glastonbury”) and pop stars who started even younger – “Little” Stevie Winwood, Stevie Wonder, Ranking Roger, Annabella Lwin, Alex Chilton and Peter Frampton. “The poison of criminal violence and gang warfare” (supposedly Brighton in 1948) and other highlights of Brighton Rock. The Stones – what they heard when the screaming stopped and the Hyde Park show 53 years ago. Kate Bush on Woman's Hour. Found in the attic: an old copy of Smash Hits from 1982 and the rich variety on offer - the Belle Stars, Monsoon, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, The Teardrop Explodes on a bill with Queen, Vic Godard goes swing, Scritti Politti, Neil Tennant on Hambi & The Dance. A did-they-play-day-or-night-at-Woodstock parlour game. TLC v Sam Fender in the Glastonbury highlights. One of them was "monumentally boring". Famous quotes that were invented – “Let them eat cake”, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on”, “Ringo isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles” etc.… and the winner(s) of this month's quiz.-------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It's completely risk free with Nord's 30 day money-back guarantee!-------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole load of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Appetising items on our lavish tray of conversational hors d'oeuvres this week include:- Billie Eilish, 20, (“the youngest at headliner at Glastonbury”) and pop stars who started even younger – “Little” Stevie Winwood, Stevie Wonder, Ranking Roger, Annabella Lwin, Alex Chilton and Peter Frampton. “The poison of criminal violence and gang warfare” (supposedly Brighton in 1948) and other highlights of Brighton Rock. The Stones – what they heard when the screaming stopped and the Hyde Park show 53 years ago. Kate Bush on Woman's Hour. Found in the attic: an old copy of Smash Hits from 1982 and the rich variety on offer - the Belle Stars, Monsoon, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, The Teardrop Explodes on a bill with Queen, Vic Godard goes swing, Scritti Politti, Neil Tennant on Hambi & The Dance. A did-they-play-day-or-night-at-Woodstock parlour game. TLC v Sam Fender in the Glastonbury highlights. One of them was "monumentally boring". Famous quotes that were invented – “Let them eat cake”, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on”, “Ringo isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles” etc.… and the winner(s) of this month's quiz.-------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It's completely risk free with Nord's 30 day money-back guarantee!-------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole load of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Appetising items on our lavish tray of conversational hors d'oeuvres this week include:- Billie Eilish, 20, (“the youngest at headliner at Glastonbury”) and pop stars who started even younger – “Little” Stevie Winwood, Stevie Wonder, Ranking Roger, Annabella Lwin, Alex Chilton and Peter Frampton. “The poison of criminal violence and gang warfare” (supposedly Brighton in 1948) and other highlights of Brighton Rock. The Stones – what they heard when the screaming stopped and the Hyde Park show 53 years ago. Kate Bush on Woman's Hour. Found in the attic: an old copy of Smash Hits from 1982 and the rich variety on offer - the Belle Stars, Monsoon, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, The Teardrop Explodes on a bill with Queen, Vic Godard goes swing, Scritti Politti, Neil Tennant on Hambi & The Dance. A did-they-play-day-or-night-at-Woodstock parlour game. TLC v Sam Fender in the Glastonbury highlights. One of them was "monumentally boring". Famous quotes that were invented – “Let them eat cake”, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on”, “Ringo isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles” etc.… and the winner(s) of this month's quiz.-------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It's completely risk free with Nord's 30 day money-back guarantee!-------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole load of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John and Olly are joined by renowned historian Dominic Sandbrook to discuss Margaret Thatcher. They also cover some other Prime Ministers, James Callaghan, Gordon Brown and Stanley Baldwin. 

Before we get started… Writing elsewhereI have recently written about modern Russian literature for CapX, as well Victorian YIMBYs and Katherine Mansfield and 1922, for The Critic.Tours of LondonSign up here to get updates when we add new tour dates. There will be three tours a month, covering the Great Fire, Barbican, Samuel Johnson and more!Helen Lewis is a splendid infovore, which is how she has come to be one of the most interesting journalists of her generation. You will see in this conversation some of her range. We chatted before we recorded and she was full of references that reflect her broad reading. She reminded me of Samuel Johnson saying that in order to write a book you must turn over half a library. I recommend her book Difficult Women to you all, perhaps especially if you are not generally interested in “feminist” books. Helen is also working on a new book called The Selfish Genius. There's an acuity to Helen, often characterised by self-editing. She has the precision — and the keenness to be precise — of the well-informed. She was also, for someone who claims to be a difficult woman, remarkably amiable. That seeming paradox was one of the things we discussed, as well as biography, late bloomers, menopause, Barbara Castle, failure, Habsburgs and so on... I had not realised she was such a royal biography enthusiast, always a good sign. Helen's newsletter, by the way, has excellent links every week. It's a very good, and free, way to have someone intelligent and interesting curate the internet for you. Her latest Atlantic feature is about defunct European royals who are not occupying their throne. Let's hope one of Helen's screenplays gets produced…(I do not know, by the way, if Tyler Cowen would endorse the reference I made to him. I was riffing on something he said.)[This transcript is too long for email so either click the title above to read online or click at the bottom to go to the full email…]Henry: Is Difficult Women a collective biography, a book of connected essays, feminist history or something else?Helen Lewis: Start nice and simple. It was designed as the biography of a movement. It was designed as a history of feminism. But I knew from the start I had this huge problem, which is that anyone who writes about feminism, the first thing that everybody does is absolutely sharpens their pencils and axes about the fact that you inevitably missed stuff out. And so I thought what I need to do is really own the fact that this can only ever be a partial history. And its working subtitle was An Imperfect History of Feminism, and so the thematic idea then came about because of that.And the idea of doing it through fights, I think, is quite useful because that means that there was a collision of ideas and that something changed. You know, there were lots and lots of subjects that I thought were really interesting, but there wasn't a change, a specific "We used to be like this, and now we're like this," that I could tie it to. So I don't think it is a collective biography because I think there's no connection between the women except for the fact that they were all feminists, and to that extent, they were all change makers. And I've read some really great collective biographies, but I think they work best when they give you a sense of a milieu, which this doesn't really. There's not a lot that links Jayaben Desai in 1970s North London and Emmeline Pankhurst in 1900s Manchester. They're very disparate people.Henry: Some people make a distinction between a group biography, which is they all knew each other or they were in the same place or whatever, and a collective biography, which is where, as you say, they have no connection other than feminism or science or whatever it is. Were you trying to write a collective biography in that sense? Or was it just useful to use, as a sort of launching off point, a woman for each of the fights you wanted to describe?Helen Lewis: I think the latter because I felt, again, with the subject being so huge, that what you needed to do was bring it down to a human scale. And I always feel it's easier to follow one person through a period of history. And weirdly, by becoming ever more specific, I think you'll have a better chance of making universal points, right? And one of the things that when I'm reading non-fiction, I want to feel the granularity of somebody's research which, weirdly, I think then helps you understand the bigger picture better. And so if you take it down all the way to one person, or sometimes it's more... So Constance Lytton and Annie Kenney, that's sort of two people. I think probably Constance is bigger in that mix. It helps you to understand what it's like to be a person moving through time, which is what I wanted to kind of bring it back. Particularly, I think, with feminism where one of the problems, I think, is when you get progress made, it seems like common sense.And it's one of the things I find I love about Hilary Mantel's, the first two of that Thomas Cromwell trilogy, is there is a real sense that you don't know what's going to happen. Like the moment, the hinge moment, of Anne Boleyn's star appears to be falling. It's very hard not to read it now and think, "Well, obviously that was destined to happen. You'd obviously jumped ship to Jane Seymour." But she manages to recreate that sense of living through history without knowing the ending yet, right? And so maybe you should stick with Anne Boleyn. Maybe this has all just been a temporary blip. Maybe she'll have a son next year. And that's sort of what I wanted to recreate with feminism, is to put you back in the sensation of what it is to be like making those arguments about women having a vote at a time when that's seen as a kind of crackpot thing to be arguing for because obviously women are like this, obviously women are delicate, and they need to be protected. And when all of those arguments... Again, to go back to what it's like to just to live in a time where people's mindsets were completely different to... Which is to me, is the point of writing history, is to say... And the same thing about travel writing, is to say, "Here are people whose very basis, maybe even the way that they think, is completely different to all of your assumptions." All your assumptions that are so wired so deeply into you, you don't even know they're assumptions. You just think that's what consciousness is or what it is to be alive. And that's, I think, why I try to focus it on that human level.Henry: How do you do your research?Helen Lewis: Badly, with lots of procrastination in between it, I think is the only honest answer to that. I went and cast my net out for primary sources quite wide. And there was some... The number of fights kept expanding. I think it started off with eight fights, and then just more and more fights kept getting added. But I went to, for example, the LSC Women's Library has got a suffragette collection. And I just read lots and lots of suffragette letters on microfiche. And that was a really good way into it because you've got a sense of who was a personality and who had left enough records behind. And I write about this in the book, about the fact that it's much easier to write a biography of a writer because they'll fundamentally, probably, give you lots of clues as to what they were thinking and doing in any particular time. But I also find things that I found really moving, like the last letter from Constance Lytton before she has a stroke, which has been effected by being force fed and having starved herself. And then you can see the jump, and then she learns to write again with her other hand, and her handwriting's changed.And stuff like that, I just don't think you would get if you didn't allow yourself to be... Just sort of wade through some stuff. Someone volunteered to be my research assistant, I mean I would have paid them, I did pay them, to do reports of books, which apparently some authors do, right? They will get someone to go and read a load of books for them, and then come back. And I thought, "Well, this is interesting. Maybe I'll try this. I've got a lot of ground to cover here." And she wrote a report on a book about… I think it was about environmental feminism. And it was really interesting, but I just hadn't had the experience of living through reading a book. And all of the stuff you do when you're reading a book you don't even think about, where you kind of go, "Oh, that's interesting. Oh, and actually, that reminds me of this thing that's happened in this other book that's... Well, I wonder if there's more of that as I go along." I don't think if you're going try and write a book, there is any shortcut.I thought this would be a very... I'm sure you could write a very shallow... One of those books I think of where they're a bit Wikipedia. You know what I mean. You know sometimes when you find those very 50 inspirational women books, those were the books I was writing against. And it's like, you've basically written 50 potted biographies of people. And you've not tried to find anything that is off the beaten track or against the conventional way of reading these lives. It's just some facts.Henry: So biographically, you were perhaps more inspired by what you didn't want to write than what you did.Helen Lewis: Yeah, I think that's very true. I think writing about feminism was an interesting first book to pick because there's so much of it, it's like half the human race. It's really not a new subject. And to do the whole of British feminism really was a mad undertaking. But I knew that I didn't want to write, "You go girl, here's some amazing ladies in history." And I wanted to actually lean into the fact that they could be weird or nasty or mad. And my editor said to me at one point, and I said, "I'm really worried about writing some of this stuff." She said, "I think you can be more extreme in a book," which I thought was really interesting.Which I think is also very true in that I also feel like this about doing podcasts is that I very rarely get in trouble for things I've said on podcasts because it's quite hard to lazily clip a bit of them out and put them on Twitter and toss the chum into the water. Right? And I think that's the same thing about if you write something on page 390 of a book, yeah, occasionally, someone might take a screen-grab of it, but people hopefully will have read pages 1-389 and know where you're coming from, by that point.Henry: Maybe trolls don't read.Helen Lewis: Well, I think a lot of the stuff that annoys me is a shallow engagement with complexity, and an attempt to go through books and harvest them for their talking points, which is just not how... It's just such a sad, weathered way of approaching the experience of reading, isn't it? Do I agree with this author or not? I like reading people I disagree with. And so for example, the fact that I call the suffragettes terrorists, and I write about that, I think people are reluctant to engage with the fact that people you agree with did terrible things in the pursuit of a goal that you agree with. And I think it's very true about other sectors. I always think about the fact that Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for terrorism. And that gets pushed down in the mix, doesn't it? When it all turns out that actually, he was a great man. And that incredibly long imprisonment in Robben Island is its own totemic piece of the history of modern South Africa, that you don't wanna sit with the awkward bits of the story too.Henry: You've had a lot of difficult experiences on Twitter? Would you have written this book if you hadn't lived through that?Helen Lewis: I think that's a hard question to answer. I tried not to make it a “Here is the cutting of all my enemies.” And actually, my friend, Rob read this book in draft and he insisted that everyone I knew that I was going to argue with had to be of sufficient stature to be worth arguing with. He's like, You cannot argue with, I think I put it in my drawing piece, a piece like Princess Sparklehorse 420. Right? That's quite hard when you're writing about modern feminism, because actually if you think about what I think of as the very social justice end of it, right? The end of it, that is very pro sex work, very pro self-identification of gender, very pro prison abolition, police abolition, it's actually quite hard to find the people who were the theorists of that. It's more of a vibe that you will find in social media spaces on Tumblr, and Twitter and other places like that. So trying to find who is the person who has actually codified all that and put that down to then say, "Well, let's look at it from all sides", can be really difficult. So I did find myself slightly arguing with people on Twitter.Henry: I'm wondering more, like one way I read your book, it's very thought-provoking on feminism, but it's also very thought-provoking just on what is a difficult person. And there's a real thing now about if you're low in agreeableness, that might mean you're a genius, like Steve Jobs, or it might mean you're a Twitter troll. And we have a very basic binary way of thinking about being difficult. And it's actually very nuanced, and you have to be very clever about how to be difficult. And in a way, I wondered if one of the things you were thinking about was, well, everyone's doing difficult in a really poor way. And what we need, especially on the left, is smart difficult, and here is a book about that, and please improve. [chuckle]Helen Lewis: Yeah, there was a lot of that and it's part of the sort of bro-ey end of philosophy is about maybe women have been less brilliant through history because they're less willing to be disagreeable, they have a higher need to be liked, which I think is kind of interesting. I don't entirely buy it. But I think there's an interesting thing there about whether or not you have to be willing to be iconoclastic. The thing that I find interesting about that is, again, there's another way in which you can refer to it, which is the idea that if you're a heretic, you're automatically right.Henry: Yes.Helen Lewis: And there's a lot of...Henry: Or brave.Helen Lewis: Or brave, right? And I think it's... You can see it in some of the work that I'm doing at the moment about the intellectual dark web being a really interesting example. Some of them stayed true to the kind of idea that you were a skeptic. And some of them disbelieved the mainstream to the extent that they ended up falling down the rabbit holes of thinking Ivermectin was a really great treatment for COVID, or that the vaccines were going to microchip you or whatever it might be. And so I'm always interested in how personality affects politics, I guess. And yeah, how you can be self-contained and insist on being right and not cow-tow to other people without being an a*****e is a perpetually interesting question. It's coming up in my second book a lot, which is about genius. Which is sort-of the similar thing is, how do you insist when everybody tells you that you're wrong, that you're right. And the thing that we don't talk about enough in that context, I think Newton is a very good example is that, obviously, he made these incredible breakthroughs with gravity and mathematics, and then spends literally decades doing biblical chronology and everyone tells him that he's wrong, and he is wrong. And we don't really talk about that side of it very much.All the people who spent all their time studying phlogiston and mesmerism, or that's more complicated because I think that does lead to interesting insights. A lot of people who the world told was wrong, were wrong. And we're over-indexing, always writing about the ones who were the one Galileo saying the Earth still moves, and they turned out to be correct.Henry: Yes. There are good books about biographies of failures, but they're less popular.Helen Lewis: Which is tough because most of us are going to be failures.Henry: Yes. Well, you're not gonna buy a book to reinforce that.Helen Lewis: No, but maybe there could be some deep spiritual learning from it, which is that a life spent in pursuit of a goal that turns out to be illusory is still a noble one.Henry: That's a fundamentally religious opinion that I think a secular society is not very good at handling.Helen Lewis: Yeah, maybe. Yeah. I've been doing lots of work for Radio 4 about the link between politics and religion, and whether or not religion has to some extent replaced politics as Western societies become more secular. And I think there is some truth in that. And one of the big problems is, yes, it doesn't have that sort of spirit of self-abnegation or the idea of kind of forgiveness in it, or the idea of just desserts happening over the horizon of death. Like everything's got be settled now in politics here, which I think is a bad fit for religious impulses and ideas.Henry: What is the role of humour in being difficult?Helen Lewis: I think it's really important because it does sweeten the pill of trying to make people be on your side. And so I had a long discussion with myself about how much I should put those jokes in the footnotes of the book, and how much I should kind of be funny, generally. Because I think the problem is, if you're funny, people don't think you're serious. And I think it's a big problem, particularly for women writers, that actually I think sometimes, and this happens in journalism too, that women writers often play up their seriousness, a sort of uber-serious persona, because they want to be taken seriously. If you see what I mean, it's very hard to be a foreign policy expert and also have a kind of lively, cheeky side, right? We think that certain things demand a kind of humourlessness to them.But the other thing that I think humour is very important, is it creates complicity with the audience. If you laugh at someone's joke, you've aligned yourself with them, right? Which is why we now have such a taboo and a prohibition on racist jokes, sexist jokes, whatever they might be, because it's everyone in the audience against that minority. But that can, again, if you use your powers for good, be quite powerful. I think it is quite powerful to see... There's one of the suffragettes where someone throws a cabbage at her, and she says something like, “I must return this to the man in the audience who's lost his head.” And given that all the attacks on the suffragettes were that they were these sort of mad, radical, weird, un-feminine, inhuman people, then that was a very good way of instantly saying that you weren't taking it too seriously.One of the big problems with activism is obviously that people, normal people who don't spend every moment of their life thinking about politics, find it a bit repellent because it is so monomaniacal and all-consuming. And therefore, being able to puncture your pomposity in that way, I think is quite useful.Henry: So if there are people who want to learn from Helen Lewis, “How can I be difficult at work and not be cast aside,” you would say, “Tell more low-grade jokes, get people to like you, and then land them with some difficult remark.”Helen Lewis: Use your powers for good after that. It's tricky, isn't it? I think the real answer to how to be difficult at work is decide what level of compromise you're willing to entertain to get into positions of power. Which is the same question any activist should ask themselves, “How much do I need to engage with the current flawed system in order to change it?” And people can be more or less open with themselves, I guess, about that. I think the recent Obama memoir is quite open about, for example on the financial relief in 2008, about how much he should have tried to be more radical and change stuff, and how much he... Did he actually let himself think he was being this great consensualist working with the Republican Party and therefore not get stuff done?And then the other end, I think you have the criticism I made of the Corbyn project, which was that it was better to have kind of clean hands than get things done. There's a great essay by Matt Bruenig called Purity Politics, which says... No, what is it called? Purity Leftism. And it said, “the purity leftist's approach is not so much that they're worried about that oppression is happening but that they should have no part of it.” And I think that's part of the question of being difficult, too, is actually how much do you have to work with and compromise yourself by working with people with whom you're opposed? And it's a big question in feminism. There are people who will now say, “Well, how could feminists possibly work with the Conservative Party?” Entirely forgetting that Emmeline Pankhurst ran as a Conservative candidate.Henry: She was very conservative.Helen Lewis: Right. And there were members of the suffragettes who went on to join the British Union of Fascists. That actually... Some of the core tenets of feminism have been won by people who didn't at all see themselves on the left.Henry: If I was the devil's advocate, I'd say that well-behaved women, for want of a better phrase, do make a lot of history. Not just suffragists but factory workers, political wives, political mistresses. What's the balance between needing difficult women and needing not exactly compliant women but people who are going to change it by, as you say, completely engaging with the system and almost just getting on with it?Helen Lewis: There's a scale, isn't there? Because if you make yourself too unbelievably difficult, then no one wants to work with you and it's... I think the suffragettes is a really good example of that actually. The intervention of the First World War makes that story impossible to play out without it.But had they continued on that course of becoming ever more militant, ever more bombings, and pouring acid on greens, and snipping telephone wires... The criticism that was made of them was, “Are they actually turning people off this cause?” And you get people saying that, that actually the suffragettes set back the cause of women's suffrage, which I'm not entirely sure I buy. I think I certainly don't buy it in the terms of the situation in 1905. Fawcett writes about the fact that there were loads of all these articles decrying the suffragettes, whereas previously they'd just been... The cause of suffrage, which had been going on for 70-80 years, quite in earnest, in legal form, had just been completely ignored. So there was definitely a moment where what it really needed was attention. But then, can you make the same argument in 1914 about whether or not the suffragettes were still doing an equal amount of good? I think then it's much more tenuous.And there was a really good article saying that, essentially your point, well-behaved women do make history, saying that a lot of boring legal heavy-lifting... And it's one of the things I find very interesting about where modern feminism in Britain is. A lot of the work that's most interesting is being done through things like judicial reviews, which is a lot of very boring pulling together large amounts of court bundles, and people saying, “Is this obiter?” This word which I once understood, and now don't anymore. But it's not people chaining themselves to railings or throwing themselves under horses. It's people getting up in the morning and putting another day shift in at quite boring admin. And I do think that maybe that's something that I underplayed in the book because it's not so narratively captivating. Brenda Hale made that point to me that she would have been a suffragist because she just believed in playing things by the book. You won it by the book.And I do think now I find I don't agree with throwing paint and pies and milkshakes and stuff like that at people whose political persuasions I disagree with, right? I fundamentally don't believe in punching Nazis, which was a great debate... Do you remember the great Twitter debate of a couple of years ago about whether it's okay to punch a Nazi? I think if you live in America or the UK, and there are democratic ways and a free press in which to make your political case, you don't need to resort to a riot. And that's not the case all over the world, obviously. But I do think that I am... I think difficulty takes many, many forms.Henry: A question about Margaret Thatcher.Helen Lewis: Yes.Henry: Was she good for women, even though she wasn't good for feminism? So millions of women joined the labour force in the 1980s, more than before or since. It was the first time that women got their own personal allowance for income tax, rather than being taxed as an extension of their husband's income.Helen Lewis: I'm trying to remember. Was that a Tory policy?Henry: That was 1988 budget, and it came into effect in 1990. And she also publicly supported. She said, “You should be nice to mothers who go out to work. They're just earning money for their families.” So even though she definitely did not, consciously I think, help the cause of feminism, you would probably rather be a woman in the '80s than the '70s...Helen Lewis: Oh yeah, definitely.Henry: But because of her. That's my challenge to you.Helen Lewis: No, it's a good challenge. And I think it's one that has a lot of merit. I'm not sure whether or not she would be grateful to you for positioning her as Margaret Thatcher, feminist hero. And it's really into having... I wrote a screenplay last year about the women in politics in the years before Margaret Thatcher, and it's very... And I cover this a bit in the book. That women have always struggled in Labour, a collective movement, where it's like if you let one woman through, you've got to let them all. Like, “I'm the vanguard” versus the Thatcher route, which was like, “I'm just me, a person. Judge me on who I am,” and not making such a kind of radical collective claim. So that's the bit that holds me back from endorsing her as a kind of good thing for women, is I think she was Elizabeth I in the sense where she was like, “I'm good like a man,” rather than saying, “Women are good, and I'm a woman,” which I think are two different propositions. But it's definitely true that... I think that growing up in a society that had a female prime minister was a huge deal. America still hasn't had a female president. It's just not... If you're a girl growing up there, it's just... That's something that you've never seen. And the other half of it is, I think it was incredibly powerful to see Denis Thatcher. The true feminist hero that is Denis Thatcher. But genuinely, that's somebody who was older than her, who was willing to take a back seat. And he found a role for men that was not being the alpha. It was kind of the, “I don't have anything left to prove. And I like playing golf. Haven't I got a great life while the little woman runs around with her red boxes. All a bit much.” I think that was almost a more radical thing for people to see.And it's interesting to me that he was somebody who had fought in the Second World War because I think the '70s and the feminist revolution, I think in some ways depends on there being a generation of men who didn't have anything to prove, in terms of masculinity. And it's really interesting to me that... So Barbara Castle's husband Ted was also, I think, a little bit older than her. But he was also very much in that Denis Thatcher mould of, “Woman! Right, you're exhausting.” And Maureen Colquhoun, who I also write about in the book, her husband Keith was, by all accounts, a very decent guy who was totally accepting of her ambitions. And then he conducted himself with incredible dignity after she left him for a woman. And I think that's a story that I'm interested in hearing a bit more about, is of the men who weren't threatened. So I do think that's a big challenge that the Thatchers did present to orthodox values. But let's not underplay them as conservatives.Henry: Oh no, hugely conservative.Helen Lewis: And also the fact that, to some extent, Margaret Thatcher was reacting to an economic tide that was very useful to her. More women in the workforce meant more productivity, meant higher GDP. And I think it was at that point a train that was just not... Why would you throw yourself in front of it to try and reverse it and get women back into the home?Henry: Her advisors wanted a tax break for marriage.Helen Lewis: Oh, that's a classic Conservative policy.Henry: Because they said, “We're in office, and this is what we're here for.” And she said, “I can't do it to the mill girls in Bolton. I can't give a tax break to wives in Surrey playing bridge.” And in a way, I think she was very quietly, and as you say for political reasons not entirely openly, quite on the side of the working woman for moral reasons that we would usually call feminist. But which because it's her and because of everything else she believes, it doesn't really make sense to call them feminist, but it's difficult to think of another Prime Minister who has had so much rhetoric saying “Yes, women should go to work, that's a good thing. Don't yell at them about it.” And who has implemented economic policies that's giving them tax breaks and trying to level the playing field a bit. So it's a sort of conundrum for me that she didn't want to be called a feminist, but she did a lot of things that quotes, if you were that sort of person would say “undermined” the traditional family or whatever.Helen Lewis: Yeah. And she found a way to be a powerful woman and an archetype of what that was, which I think again, is based enormously on Barbara Castle, I think Barbara Castle is the template for her.Henry: Oh yeah. Down to the hair. Yeah.Helen Lewis: With the big hair and the fluttering the eyelashes, and that kind of, what I think of as kind of “Iron Fem” right? Which is where you're very, very feminine, but it's in a steely ball-crushing kind of way. Although interestingly, Barbara Castle cried a lot. She would have frequently burst into tears about stuff, which again was, I think kept the men around her slightly off balance, they didn't know how to... Which I think any good politician uses what they've got. But the thing that struck me when I read more about Thatcher last year, was about the fact that if she hadn't been the first female Prime Minister, I think we would write a lot more about her lower-middle middle class background and what a challenge that was. And the fact that that really, in some ways, I think the Tory Party really loved having a female leader once they got over the initial shock because it was kind of like, “Well, aren't we modern. And now Labor can't have a go at us about all this kind of stuff, 'cause look at our woman leader.” What I think was more of a profound challenge for a long time, was the kind of arriviste sort of idea that she was, as you say, a representative of working people, upwardly mobile, or from right to buy being an example of one of these policies. I think that was a big challenge to the kind of men in smoky rooms.Henry: I don't think they ever got over it. Carrington called her “a f*****g stupid petit-bourgeois woman.”Helen Lewis: Petit-bourgeois is exactly the right, I think the right term of abuse. And there was a... And I think that's why... I mean, I think it came out as misogyny but actually it was also driven by class as well, the fact that she was no better than she ought to be, right?But that's about... I think that's how you see, and honestly I think Ted Heath experiences as a great... Leading to the incredible sulk, one of my favorite phrases, [chuckle] that he just never kind of got over that he had been beaten by a woman. I think that was an extra kind of poisoned pill for him, of the ingratitude of the party, that they would replace him with a woman.Henry: And a woman of his own class.Helen Lewis: Right. And exactly, it's not like she... So she wasn't sort of Lady Aster wafting in a cloud of diamonds and violet scent. It was, “Hang on a minute, you're saying this person is better than me.”Henry: Now, before Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Tory Party, almost nobody thought that she was going anywhere, right up to say a week before the leadership election. People would have meetings about who the candidates were and they wouldn't even discuss her. Who are the people in politics today that no one's really sort of gathered actually have got this big potential?Helen Lewis: Yeah, I think that's really interesting isn't it, that essentially she goes into that leadership context and they sort of think, “Well, someone's gonna shake it up a bit, someone's gonna represent the right to the party.” And then they go round... And it was Airey Neave who was running her campaign, going around sort of saying, “Well, you know, vote for her, it'll give Ted a shock.” And then the first ballot result comes in and they go, “Oh God, it's given us a shock as well.” And then I think at that point, Willy Whitelaw piles in, doesn't he? But it's too late and the train's already moving. And the other one who's... It's Hugh Fraser is the other... And he runs very much from the sort patrician candidate background. I love that, that leadership election, it symbolizes what I like about politics, which is just that sometimes there is a moment, that is a hinge when a force that's been bubbling away suddenly pops up. And not to get too much into the great man or in this case, a great woman theory history, but someone makes a big decision that is either going to be the right call or the wrong call.And for Margaret Thatcher is almost insanely ambitious, and she could have ended up looking incredibly stupid, and because the life didn't take that fork in the road, we'll never look back on that. But there are many people who have made that gamble, and again, go back to failures point, have crashed. You have to have that kind of instinct in politics. Who's good now? I was just thinking this morning that Bridget Phillipson of Labor, who is now currently shadow education, I think has been underrated for a long time. Finally less so, given that she's made it to the Shadow Cabinet, who knows if she can make an impression there, but she is smart. So I'll give you an example, she was asked the inevitable question that all labor politicians are now asked, like, “What is a woman?” And she said, “The correct... “ This is Richard Madeley asked her this. She said, “What to my mind is the correct legal ounce that would also makes sense to normal human beings who don't follow politics all the time, which is, ‘It's an adult human female or anybody with a gender recognition certificate. And there are difficulties in how you might sometimes put that into practice, but those are the two categories of people.'”And it was like this moment, I was like, Why? Why has it taken you so long to work out an answer to this question that is both correct and explicable. And I think that is an underrated gift in politicians, is actually deciding what issues you're going to fudge around and which issues you actually have to come out and say what you think even if people disagree with it. It was one of Thatcher's great strengths, was that she made decisions and she stuck to them. I mean, obviously then you get to the poll tax and it becomes a problem. But I think there's... One of the problems I felt with the Ed Miliband era of Labor was that he didn't want to annoy anybody and ended up annoying everybody. Wes Streeting, I think is also... No, I won't say underrated, I will say he's now rated and clearly has got his eye on the leadership next.Bridget Phillipson has a much more marginal seat than you'd like to see from somebody who's going to be a leader. Wes is an interesting character. Grew up on free school meals, has been through cancer in the last couple of years, is gay, has a genuinely kind of... But is also on scene as being on the right to the party. So he's got lots of different identity factors and political factors that will make people very hard to know where to put him, I think, or how to brand him, I guess. But those are two of the ones who you make me think that there's some interesting stuff happening. On the Tory side, there are some people who are quietly competent. So Michael Gove, I think, whatever you think about his persona or anything like that, is the person they put in when they want stuff actually to happen. I think Nadhim Zahawi did very well as Vaccines Minister without anyone really noticing, which is probably not what you want when you're a minister, but it's probably what you want from the public.Henry: Why are so many women late bloomers? Well, obviously, the constraints of having a family or whatever.Helen Lewis: I think the answer is children, I think is the answer to that one.Henry: But there must be other reasons.Helen Lewis: I think... I mean, who knows? I may be straying into territory which is pseudo-science here, but I do also think that menopause is quite important. When you lose all your caring for others, nicely, softly, softly hormones and your hormone profile becomes much more male, I think that makes it easier to not care what people think about you, to some extent. As does the fact that you can no longer be beautiful and play that card. And I don't know, I think also... Again, this is... I don't know if this is supported by the evidence, I think there's more of... I think more of the men fall away. I don't know, I think if you're a guy who's found it very hard to form personal relationships, then maybe your 50s and 60s can be quite lonely, whereas I think that's often the time in which women kind of find a sort of a second wind. Does that make sense? This is all... I mean, none of this is... There's no evidential basis for this, this is just based on my sort of anecdotal reading of people that I'm thinking of.Henry: Camille Paglia once wrote, she put it in very strict terms, she said something like, when the menopause happens, the wife becomes this sort of tyrant and starts flourishing.Helen Lewis: Yeah. No, I'm very much looking forward to that, yeah. Oh yeah.Henry: And the husband becomes this kind of wet rag and his testosterone level drops and the whole power balance just flips. And you're sort of, you're saying that, but not in quite that... Not as quite an aggressive way as she's phrased it.Helen Lewis: Yeah, and it's not a universal truth.Henry: No, no, not at all.Helen Lewis: I just think for the people for whom that happens, that is quite an arresting thing that often gives them the liberation. I also do think there's a kind of mindset change. I don't have kids, but I know from women that I know whose kids have gone off to university, that if you have been the primary caregiver, there is suddenly a great, big hole in your life, and what do you fill it with? And actually, do you have to find a new focus and direction and purpose, because you don't want to be sort of turning up at their halls of residence going, “Hello, just thought I check in, see if you're alright.” And whereas for men, who've maintained a sort of career focus throughout, whilst also adding on a family, that's not such a kind of big realignment of their day and their life and what they feel the focus of their life is.Henry: I spoke to Tyler Cowen about this and he wondered if there's something about women become more acceptable in their looks. So you think about Angela Merkel and Margaret Thatcher as... I think you were sort of implying this, when a woman reaches middle age, the public or the people around them are less likely to judge them on whether they're good-looking, and so some of that sexism slightly falls away, because when you are a woman in your 20s or 30s, you're very susceptible to being looked at or rated or whatever, whereas Margaret Thatcher had a sort of, I don't know, a motherly quality that no one would... There was a kind of cult of finding her attractive and Alan Clark said disgusting things about her.Helen Lewis: Yeah, and also we've had a queen for 70 years, right? So we do have that sort of idea of what female power looks like, which is icy and so it's non-emotional, but yeah.Henry: But I've seen that in the office, that women in their 20s have a difficult time if they're good looking because there are a certain type of men...Helen Lewis: Well, people assume you're stupid as well.Henry: Well, and also it's just what men go to. They talk about you being that, whereas once a woman gets slightly past that, men don't automatically sort of go, “Oh, how would you rate her out of 10” or whatever? And that creates a space to see them as the person.Helen Lewis: And see them as actual human. I think that's a really interesting thesis. I also think that there's a... I think being a young woman is a particular kind of problem. So I think there's definitely a form of ageism against women, where it's silly old bat, right? Which I do think you get silly old duffer as well, but there is some extra level as well about women, it's like, “Why are you still talking? No one wants to hear from you? Your... “ This is a phrase they use in the internet now, “You're dusty, you and your dusty opinions.” But I think you get the contrary version of that as a young woman, whereas I think we find... The phrase Young Turk implies man, doesn't it?It's like, thrusting young guy, on his way up, super ambitious, he's the new generation, whereas I don't think you necessarily have that whole sort of coalition of positive stereotypes about young women. It's untested, learner, still needs to learn the ropes, that kind of... I'm eternally grateful to my boss in my 20s, Jason Cowley of the New Statesman, for making me deputy editor of the Statesman when I was 28, which I think was a pretty radical thing to do. When I don't think it would have necessarily felt so radical to make a 28-year-old guy.Although I say that, but then Ian Hislop became editor of Private Eye when he was 26, and there was like a revolution among the old guard. And he had to metaphorically execute a few of them outside the woodshed. So I do think that... I also think people begin to... There's... Now, this is really straying to some dangerous, choppy feminist waters. Competition between women can be very fierce, obviously. I write about this in the book in the terms of Smurfette Syndrome. The idea that there's only one place for a woman, and by God, I've got to have it. But I do think that there can be some jealousy that maybe recedes. And I think it's probably true for men and women. As you get older, people don't see you as a threat because they think, “Well, by the time I'm 40, maybe I'll have all the stuff you have.” But if you've got that stuff at 28, I think there's a real feeling from other people in the generation that those, the stars are peeling away, and there's a real resentment of them. So one of the things I do is I provide kind of counselling services to young journalists who've just suddenly had like a really big promotion or career lift or whatever it is. And I feel indebted to go and say to them, “By the way, this is amazing, but people will hate you because of it.”Henry: It's very striking to me that we've had a period of very young politicians being leaders, but they're men. And the women who've either competed with them or become leaders afterwards are in their 50s. And I do think there's something about what's an acceptable public woman.Helen Lewis: And the idea of authority, I think that's the thing. I think as you get older as a woman, it's easier to seem authoritative.Henry: Someone like Stella Creasy, I think, has had a much more difficult time just because she happens to be under a certain age.Helen Lewis: Yeah, I think that's interesting. And I think the fact that she's now got very young children at a relatively older age. I know that's... Sorry. Apologies to Stella, if you're listening. But it is comparatively old to have children after 40, still. That that will be interesting of how that complicates her next decade in politics.And I do think those super top jobs… There was a really brilliant piece of research which I put in the book about the sort of so-called demanding jobs, the kind of lawyers, the top lawyers, and I think journalists and politicians. Greedy jobs, they're called. And the fact is that they have become more demanding in terms of hours as women have entered the workforce. And now the thing has become fetishized as can you do the 14-hour days? And it becomes a soft way of excluding women with young kids.The problem, I think, will come with all of this when both men and women end up needing to look after elderly parents, as we're having more and more of that extension, those decades at the end of life when you're alive but maybe you're not as mobile as you were. Maybe you need more help from your family. And I think there is a lot of anger among certain types of women that they just feel like they're finally free from their caring responsibilities, and then they get landed with another one. But I know, I've been to some feminist conferences recently where... There's a famous saying which women are the only minority that get more radical with age, which I think is probably true. You can meet some groups of 50-something women, and they are fuming, really fuming. And they've now got the time and the sort of social capital with which to exercise that fuming-dom, as it were.Henry: Is Roy Jenkins overrated?Helen Lewis: [laughter] That's the most random question. He's not my favourite politician, mainly because I'm Team Castle for life, right? And I think she was treated very badly by the men in that Wilson cabinet, the first, the '66 to '70 one, of whom he was one, right? I think that, yeah. I think... Do you know what? I haven't got very strong opinions on him compared with my strong opinions on James Callaghan, who I am anti. And I know there are some Callaghan-stans out there. But I think the utterly cynical way in which he sucked up to the unions in order to get the leadership at the cost, ultimately, of then Margaret Thatcher in '79, out-strikes me as one of the most sort of cynical pieces of politicking.Henry: You are sailing very close to being a Thatcherite.Helen Lewis: I'm not a Thatcherite. I'm not.Henry: No, I know.Helen Lewis: But I can see... I think you... And I think Rachel Reeves has basically written about this, who's now Labour's Shadow Chancellor, that if Barbara Castle had succeeded with In Place of Strife on what were, now, to us, very mild measures, right? A conciliation pause where you have negotiations, strike ballots, no wildcat strikes. If she'd managed to push through some of those, then some of the excesses of the '70s would not have happened. Or at least, Labour would have been able to show that it had a grip of them. But you have a situation where the teachers were asking for something like 25% pay rise in the run up to the '79 election. And the Labour government just looked completely out of control. And so yeah, that's my Callaghan beef. What's your Roy Jenkins beef, then?Henry: I don't have beef. I can't remember why I wrote that question. I read about him in your book. I suppose I think that he did implement some good progressive measures, but that he was essentially a sort of patrician wannabe. And that his whole career in politics is much more middling and establishment, and his radicalism was... I don't know. Perhaps overrated, when we look back.Helen Lewis: Well, I will go away and read some more. I read quite a lot of the... The mad thing about the cabinet, particularly in that Wilson government, is that they were all obviously sitting there writing copious amounts of... To the extent that Barbara Castle would actually write literal notes in cabinet, save it for diary later on. But Tony Benn was writing notes. Crossman was writing notes. Jenkins essentially wrote lots of... A very full memoir. Harold Wilson wrote one of the most boring memoirs that the world has ever seen. The trade union leaders wrote memoirs. Jack Jones wrote a memoir. It was an astonishingly literate and writerly sort of set of people. And yet the cabinet was, in some respects, kind of utterly dysfunctional, but with Wilson still running a sort of... You know, sort of like who was kind of currently had been nice to me. And he went... And of course in his second term, he became incredibly paranoid.It was not a model of good government really. And again, Callaghan is one of the greatest political resurrections ever, right, when he completely screws up the Treasury and then uses Northern Ireland's Home Secretary in order to kind of make himself back into a respectful mainstream figure. But before we go and fight Roy Jenkins-stans, we should both go and find out what our beef is with him.Henry: I'm gonna say her name, well, Colquhoun?Helen Lewis: Colquhoun.Henry: Colquhoun. She said, “Labor would rather fight Powell than solve poverty.” Is that still true?Helen Lewis: What read it out there is a phrase that I think Maureen Colquhoun said after not “the rivers of blood” speech, but another Enoch Powell speech in the '70s, which got her in enormous trouble. Would you like to endorse this sentiment that got her called a racist? And it was used as a pretext for drumming her out of the Labor party. So what happened to Maureen after that is that she... Her local party tried to de-select her, it then went to an appeal at the NEC. She eventually ended up holding on to her candidacy and then she lost in '79 to a guy called Tony Marlow, who's one of the most... Talk about Thatcher, I mean... He was bristly, to the extent that his nickname was Tony von Marlow. But yeah, he has some terrible quote about Harriet Harman as well, which is something like, “These bra burners have got a chip on their shoulder,” or something. It was something terrible mixed metaphor involving how you couldn't wear a bra if you also had a chip on your shoulder. Anyway, I digress.Henry: I'm not trying to endorse her quote, but if you replace Powell with Boris.Helen Lewis: I think it's a really interesting quote about... It comes back to purity leftism, what we were talking about before, is actually, “Do you want the win or do you want the fight?” And there is, I think, more of a tendency on the left than the right, to want to be on the right side of history, to want to be pure, to want to be fighting, and that sort of sense that... The perpetual struggle is the bit that you want to be in, that's the bit that's exciting, rather than the win. I think one of the really interesting sounds to me is gay marriage. I was just reading this Jonathan Rauch piece this morning about the fact that... His argument being, that there was a coalition of kind of right-wingers and centrists and liberals in America who fought with the radical left, who wanted gay rights to be predicated on the idea of sort of smashing the nuclear family and everything like that, to say, “Let's make gay rights really boring, and let's talk a lot about how much we want to get married. And maybe we wanna adopt. Let's recruit all the people who happen to have been born gay, but are also Tories or Republicans.”And I think a similar thing happened to him here, where you have David Cameron saying, “I support gay marriage not in spite of being a conservative, but because I'm conservative.” And you frame it as essentially a very norm-y, boring thing. And I think that has been really interesting to watch in the sense of... I think that's why gender is now come much more to the fore because it's a sense that, “Well, if even Tories are okay with people being gay, it's not... Like what's left? How is that interesting anymore?” And so, I think the criticism that she was trying to make there is very true in the sense that sometimes Labor wants to look right more than it wants to win a halfway victory.Henry: What are some of the best or most underrated biographies of women?Helen Lewis: That's a really interesting question. I read a lot of royal biographies, so I very much like Leonie Frieda's biography of Catherine de' Medici, for example. There is also... You're gonna think this is terrible, Princess Michael of Kent wrote a joint biography of Catherine de Medici and Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II, which is called The Serpent and the Moon, which is a really... I think it's... Actually, it's not a bad biography, but I think it's quite interesting to write a biography of the wife and the mistress together.Henry: Yeah, I think that's a great idea.Helen Lewis: Because the story of them is obviously so intertwined and their power relationship obviously changes, right? Because Catherine is the dowdy wife who bears the 10 children, Diane is the kind of unbelievably gorgeous, older woman. But then of course, the king dies and it's like, “Oh, nice chateau you've got there. Shame, one of us is the dowager queen and one of us is now just some woman,” and makes her hand back her Chenonceau to her. So I enjoyed that very much. I'm trying to think what the best political women biographies are. Do you have a favourite Elizabeth I biography? I think there must be a really great one out there but I can't... I don't know which one actually is best.Henry: Well, I like the one by Elizabeth Jenkins, but it's now quite out of date and I don't know how true it is anymore. But it's, just as a piece of writing and a piece of advocacy for Elizabeth, it's an excellent book. And it sold, it was sort of a big best seller in 1956, which I find a very compelling argument for reading a book, but I appreciate that a lot of other people might not.Helen Lewis: No, that's not to everyone's taste. That's interesting. I like Antonia Fraser as a biographer. I don't know if you'‘e got a strong feelings, pro or anti. Her Mary Queen of Scots book is very good. Her Mari Antoinette book is very good. And I actually, I interviewed her once about how she felt about the Sofia Coppola film, which is basically like a two-and a half hour music video. She was totally relaxed, she was like, “It's a film, I wrote a book.”She didn't say it like that, she didn't go, “Film innit,” sucking on a roll-up, she said it in a very lofty, Antonia Fraser kind of way. But I think that's a good thing if you're an author, to kind of go, “What works in a biography is not what works in a film,” so...But yeah, I grew up reading those Jean Plaidy historical novels, so I guess I read a lot of biographies of Queens. I'm trying to think whether or not I read any biographies of modern women. I haven't read... I have on my shelf the, Red Comet, the Sylvia Plath biography. And I also, which is on my to-read pile, as is the biography of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas by Janet Malcom, which I one day, will treat myself to. Henry: What are the best or most underrated biographies by women?Helen Lewis: By women? Well, again, then we go back to...Henry: I mean, you've named some of them, maybe.Helen Lewis: The interesting thing is, I remember when I did Great Lives, they said... The Radio 4 program about history. That they said, the one thing that they have tried to encourage more of, is men nominating women. Because they found there was no problem with getting women to nominate men and men to nominate men, but they found there weren't that many men who picked women, which I think is interesting. I really wanted, when Difficult Women came out, I wanted a man to review it.Henry: Did that not happen?Helen Lewis: No, it didn't happen. And I think everybody would've... I think, from the point of view of your male reviewers, why would you review a book on feminism when you're gonna get loads of people going, “Ew, what are you doing?mansplaining feminism?” But it's an intellectual project, right? It's not a... It should be open to criticism by absolutely anyone, not on... You don't have to pass an identity test. It's an ideology and a school of history. And so I would... What's the best biography of woman written by a man, is kind of a question I'm interested in.Henry: Yes. That's very difficult to think of.Helen Lewis: And how many of them are there? Because it just strikes me that when I'm naming all my women, biographies of women, that they're all by women.Henry: Yes. It's difficult to think... It'‘ easy to think of biographies of men written by women.Helen Lewis: Right. Hermoine Lee's out there repping for Tom Stoppard biography recently. But yeah, people can send in answers on a postcard for that one.Henry: Should there be less credentialism in journalism?Helen Lewis: Yes. I started as a sub-editor on the Daily Mail. And I worked alongside lots of older guys who had come up through local papers at the time when the trade unions were so strong that you had to do two years on local paper before you got to Fleet Street. And therefore, I worked with quite a lot of people who had left school at either 16 or 18 and were better at subbing than people who'd... than recent university graduates. And so, the way that journalism has become first of all, a graduate profession and now a postgraduate profession, I don't think it's got any real relationship to the quality of journalism. There are a sort of set of skills that you need to learn, but a lot of them are more about things like critical thinking than they are about literature, if you see what I mean?That's the thing. That is what I find very interesting about journalism, is the interesting marriage of... You have to have the personal relationships, you have to be able to find people and make them want to be interviewed by you and get the best out of them. Then you have to be able to write it up in prose that other humans can understand. But then there is also a level of rigour underneath it that you have to have, in terms of your note-keeping and record-keeping and knowledge of the law and all that kind of stuff. But none of that maps onto any kind of degree course that you might be able to take. And so, I think that's... And the other huge problem, I think in journalism is that, everyone in the world wants to do it, or at least that's how it seems when you're advertising for an entry level position in journalism.When I was at the New Statesman, we used to recruit for editorial assistants and I once had 250 applications for a single post, which was paid a fine amount, you could live on it just about in London, but was not... It was a plum job in intellectual terms, but not in economic terms. And I think that's a real problem because I could have filled every position that we had, with only people who'd got Firsts from Oxford or whatever it might be. But it wouldn't have been the best selection of journalists.Henry: No. Quite the opposite.[laughter]Helen Lewis: Yes. I enjoy your anti-Oxford prejudice. [chuckle] But you know what I mean is that I... But the fact that you had to have at least a degree to even get through the door, is sort of wrong in some profound way. And actually, some of the places have been... I think Sky did a non-graduate traineeship for people who were school leavers. And I think that there are profound problems in lots of those creative arts, publishing is the same, academia is the same, where you could fill every job which is low paid, and in London, with middle-class people whose parents are willing to fund them through. And the credentialism just is a further problem in that it just knocks out bright people from perfectly normal economic backgrounds.Henry: Do you think as well, that in a way, the main criteria for a good journalist, whether they're a sub-editor, or writing leaders or whatever, is common sense? And that a good English degree is really no guarantee that you have common sense.[laughter]Helen Lewis: Yeah. I couldn't put my hand in my heart and say that everybody I know with an English degree demonstrates common sense. I think that is actually not a bad... The famous thing is about you need a rat-like cunning, don't you? Which I think is also pretty true. But yeah, you do need to come back to that kind of idea about heresy and you do need to have a sort of sniffometer, not to be... I think you need to be fundamentally cynical, but not to a point where it poisons you.The right amount of cynicism is probably the thing you need in journalism. Because my husband's a journalist and quite often, there'll be a story where we just go, “I don't believe that. I just don't believe that.”And it really troubles me that that's become harder and harder to say. So I wrote a piece a while ago, about TikTok and people who claim to have Tourette's on there and actually quite a lot of them might have something else, might have functional neurological disorder. But there are whole genres of that all across journalism, where people will talk very personally and very painfully about their personal experiences. And the other half of that is that, we are not... It's mean, to question that. But they're often making political claims on the basis of those experiences. And you therefore can't put them in a realm beyond scrutiny. And so it's interesting to me, having been a teenager in the '90s when journalism was incredibly cruel. I'm talking about the height of bad tabloid, going through people's bins, hate campaigns against people. And a lot of this “be kind” rhetoric is a response to that and a necessary correction, but I do think there are now, lots of situations in which journalists need to be a bit less kind. That's a terrible quote. [laughter] But do you know what I mean?Henry: I do know exactly what you mean.Helen Lewis: When you have to say, “I know you think you've got this illness, but you haven't.” That's tough.Henry: People need to be more difficult.Helen Lewis: That's always my marketing strategy, yes.Henry: I want to ask if you think that you are yourself a late bloomer? In the tone of voice that you write in, you very often... You write like an Atlantic journalist and there are these moments, I think, of real wit. I don't mean jokey. I mean, clever. And so, a line like, “Your vagina is not a democracy,” is very funny but it's also very...Helen Lewis: It's true.Henry: Sort of Alexander Pope-ish.[laughter]Helen Lewis: That's the best possible reference. Yes, I hope to write very mean epigrams about people, one day.Henry: Please do. But you can also be very jokey like when you said, I think in a footnote, that you don't watch porn because the sofas are so bad.Helen Lewis: True.Henry: Now, there is something in those moments of wit that I think suggest that you could, if you wanted to, go and do something other than what you've already done. Maybe like Charles Moore, you'd become a biographer, or maybe you'd become a novelist, or maybe you'll run a think tank, or maybe you'll set up a newspaper and only employ 16-year-old school leavers, or... I don't know. Is that how you think about yourself or am I...Helen Lewis: You are trying to tell me I need to just grow up.[laughter]Henry: Not at all.Helen Lewis: Stop clowning around like a sea lion for applause after throwing fish.Henry: My theory on Helen Lewis is, you've got all the accolades that someone could want from a journalistic career.Helen Lewis: Not true. I've only ever won one award for journalism and you'll love this, it was Mainstream Video Games Writer of the Year.Henry: Oh my god.Helen Lewis: That's it. From the Games Awards in 2013, which I only remember this because every so often my publisher will put award-winning journalist as a merit that I have. Not really gov, not if I'm honest. You're right though. I have one of the plum jobs in journalism which is I work three days a week at the Atlantic, and then I make radio documentaries on the side and write books, and that is a position which is enormously enviable. But I have also... So I've moved away from column writing, in the last couple of years — I used to write a regular op-ed column — because I found it a deeply unsatisfying form. And I think, when you do jokes, you begin to realize that you can actually just say stupid, easy clap lines and with sufficient confidence, and people will respond to them, and after a while, you begin to hate yourself for doing that.[laughter]Well, that's one of the reasons I again... Like getting off Twitter. You know what I mean? You see some of those accounts that just exists to do lazy little dunks about the people that are appointed, that are sort of designated hate subjects. So if someone gets designated as a hate subject, then you can say nasty things about them and then everybody will applaud you. And I fundamentally revolt from that and I don't like it.I think that as a journalist, you should always try and be at right angles to whatever the prevailing opinion is. And actually as I've got older, I value the sort of... The people I think of as contrarians who I think really believe it rather than the people who are doing it for effect. Someone like a Peter Hitchens. He's got a whole ideology that's very much not mine and a set of interesting opinions and he believes them, and he truly argues them, and although they... Whether or not they're popular or unpopular is of no interest to hi

Topic: In Britain, Rising Prices and Shortages Evoke 1970s-Style Jitters   Long lines at gas stations, rising fuel prices, empty shelves in supermarkets and worries about runaway inflation. 加油站大排長龍，燃料價格上漲，超市貨架空無一物，大家憂心通貨膨脹失控。 Britons have emerged from 18 months of pandemic-imposed hibernation to find their country has many of the same afflictions it had during the 1970s. There is nothing Austin Powers-like about this time machine: Unlike the swinging '60s, the '70s were, by all accounts, some of the bleakest days in postwar Britain; even contemplating a return to them is enough to make leaders of the current government shiver. 英國人從疫情造成的18個月冬眠中醒來，發現國家遭遇許多與1970年代相同的痛苦。這次時光機器情節跟電影「王牌大賤諜」毫無相似之處：不同於動盪的1960年代，人們都說1970年代是戰後英國最淒涼的日子。只是想到要回到當時，就足以讓現任政府領導人不寒而慄。 The sudden burst of doomsaying in Britain is rooted at least as much in psychology as economics. While there is no question the country faces a confluence of problems — some caused by the pandemic, others by Brexit — experts said it was far too soon to predict that Britain was headed for the kind of economic malaise and political upheaval that characterized that decade. 英國突然爆發的末日預言，源自心理學的份量跟經濟學一樣多。無疑地，這個國家面臨一系列問題，一些由疫情引起，另一些由英國脫歐造成。專家們說，現在就預測英國將陷入那十年特有的經濟低迷與政治動盪，仍為時過早。 “It's a combination of things that could, in principle, lead to that, but are quite survivable on their own,” said Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at Kings College London. “We always talk about the 1970s, but it's half a century later, and all sorts of things are different.” 倫敦國王學院經濟學教授波特斯說：「原則上來說，這樣的多種因素組合可能導致那種情況，但個別也能發揮作用。我們總是在談論1970年代，但已過去半個世紀了，一切都不一樣了。」 Britain's economy, he noted, has bounced back faster from the pandemic than many experts predicted. The shortages in labor and some goods are likely a transitory effect of reopening much of the economy after prolonged lockdowns. Rising wages and supply bottlenecks are driving up the inflation rate, while the fuel shortages that have closed dozens of gas stations reflect a shortage of truck drivers, not of energy supplies. 他指，英國經濟從疫情中恢復的速度比許多專家預測還快。勞動力和一些商品短缺，可能是長期防疫封鎖後重新開放大部分經濟活動的短暫影響。工資上漲和供應瓶頸正在推升通膨率，而造成數十家加油站關閉的燃料短缺，反映的是卡車司機短缺，而非能源供應問題。 Nor does Britain have the aging industrial base and powerful unions it had in the 1970s. Labor unrest led to crippling strikes that brought down a Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, and one of his Labour Party successors, James Callaghan, after what the tabloids called the winter of discontent, in 1979. 英國也沒有1970年代那樣老化的工業基礎與強大工會。1979年發生小報所稱的「不滿之冬」，勞工騷亂導致嚴重罷工，造成保守黨首相奚斯及他的工黨繼任者之一卡拉漢下台。 And yet the parallels are suggestive enough that the right-leaning Daily Mail warned that “Britain faces winter of woe” — a chilly welcome for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he returned from the United States, having celebrated a new submarine alliance and rallied countries in advance of a U.N. climate change conference in Scotland in November. 然而，一些相似之處足以引發聯想，讓右傾的每日郵報發出「英國面臨災難冬天」警告。對訪美歸來的英國首相強生而言，這是個冷淡迎接，他才剛慶祝新的潛艦聯盟成立，並在11月蘇格蘭聯合國氣候變遷會議前團結各國。 “That is a very easy ghost to resurrect,” said Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to Washington who now sits in the House of Lords. “But these are real problems. You can just see this perfect storm coming.” 英國駐華府前大使、現為上議院議員的達洛許說：「那是個很容易復活的鬼魂，但這些都是實實在在的問題。你可以看到這場完美風暴逼近。」Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5804159   Next Article   Topic: British hospitals use blockchain to track COVID-19 vaccines   Two British hospitals are using blockchain technology to keep tabs on the storage and supply of temperature-sensitive COVID-19 vaccines, the companies behind the initiative said on Tuesday, in one of the first such initiatives in the world. 英國有兩家醫院正以區塊鏈技術來監控武漢肺炎（新型冠狀病毒病，COVID-19）疫苗儲存與供應的動態，這些疫苗對溫度極其敏感。負責該計畫的公司上週二表示，這是此新做法的全球首例之一。 Two hospitals, in central England's Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick, are expanding their use of a distributed ledger, an offshoot of blockchain, from tracking vaccines and chemotherapy drugs to monitoring fridges storing COVID-19 vaccines. 這兩家分別位於英格蘭中部埃文河畔史特拉福及華威的醫院，將分散式帳本（區塊鏈的一種）技術的應用範圍擴大，從追蹤疫苗及化療藥物之動向，到監視儲存武漢肺炎疫苗的冰箱。 The technology will bolster record-keeping and data-sharing across supply chains, said Everyware, which monitors vaccines and other treatments for Britain's National Health Service. Everyware發布聲明表示，這項技術將加強整個供應鏈的紀錄保存與數據共享。Everyware為英國國民保健署監控疫苗及其它藥物之動向。 Logistical hurdles are a significant risk to the speedy distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, but have resulted in booming business for companies selling technology for monitoring shipments from factory freezer to shots in the arm. 物流的障礙對快速配送武漢肺炎疫苗構成了威脅，但提供監控技術的公司卻因此大發利市──它們監控疫苗的運送，從藥廠冷凍庫開始，直到注射入手臂。 Pfizer Inc and BioNTech's shot, for example, must be shipped and stored at ultra-cold temperatures or on dry ice, and can only last for up to five days at standard fridge temperatures. Other vaccines, such as Moderna Inc's, do not need such cold storage and are therefore easier to deliver. 舉例來說，輝瑞公司及德國生物新技術公司所生產的疫苗，其運輸和儲存都必須處於超冷溫度或置於乾冰上，而且在標準冰箱溫度下最多只能保存五天。其他疫苗，例如莫德納公司所生產的疫苗，則不需要這樣的冷藏，因此更易於運送。 Firms from finance to commodities have invested millions of dollars to develop blockchain, a digital ledger that allows secure and real-time recording of data, in the hope of radical cost cuts and efficiency gains. 從金融公司到日用品公司，有許企業已投資數百萬美元來發展區塊鏈。區塊鏈是一種數位帳本，可以安全、即時地記錄數據，以期大幅度削減成本並提高效率。 Blockchain originated from Bitcoin, and it was created for the sake of Bitcoin — Bitcoin being blockchain's first application. A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of its data. 區塊鏈的起源為「比特幣」，為了比特幣而產生了區塊鏈──比特幣為區塊鏈的第一個應用。區塊鏈為以密碼學串接並保護內容的串連文字紀錄（又稱區塊）。每一個區塊包含了前一個區塊的加密雜湊、相應時間戳記以及交易資料，這樣的設計使得區塊內容具有難以篡改的特性。 Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2021/01/25/2003751156   Next Article   Topic: Plastic-Bag Charge in England Prompts Applause, Anger and Humor Some critics predicted chaos, confusion and "bag rage." But while this week's introduction of a 5 pence charge for plastic shopping bags in England did not lead to a nationwide mutiny, as some had warned, it did prove polarizing. Environmentalists, for the most part, praised the government initiative introduced on Monday（Oct.5）, saying it would reduce pollution and waste. After all, it can take 1,000 years for a plastic bag to decompose, according to an estimate by Nick Clegg, who was deputy prime minister at the time the step was announced. Last year, major supermarkets in England handed out roughly 7.6 billion single-use plastic bags, about 140 per person, the government has estimated. 一些批評者預言此事必會引發混亂、困惑及「袋怒症」。實則，英格蘭本周開始每個塑膠購物袋收取5便士並未出現全境性反彈，然而正如部分人士所警告的，它的確引起了兩極化的反應。 環保派多半讚揚政府周一（10月5日）推出的這個行動，表示這將使汙染和廢棄物減少。畢竟，據措施宣布時擔任英國副首相的尼克．克萊格估計，一個塑膠袋可能要長達1千年才能分解。政府估計，英格蘭主要超市去年約發出76億個一次性塑膠袋，平均每人約拿140個。 The government hopes the fee, equivalent to about 8 cents, will help reduce the cost of cleaning up garbage by 60 million pounds, or about $80 million, over the next decade. Stores and supermarkets are being encouraged to donate the proceeds from the bag charge to charitable causes, and are expected to raise 730 million pounds for such endeavors. 政府希望，每個袋子收費約合8美分（台幣2.4元）的作法，能使未來10年的垃圾清理成本減少6千萬英鎊，約合8千萬美元（台幣24億元）。 當局鼓勵商店與超市將塑膠袋收入捐給慈善事業，如此預計可募得7.3億英鎊。 But critics of the new fee say it will stoke mayhem, given the long list of exemptions; shoppers can still get a free plastic bag if they are buying pet fish; raw fish, meat or poultry; unwrapped blades (including axes, knives and razor blades); takeout food; or loose seeds and flowers. There are also worries that customers might verbally abuse supermarket cashiers, and some retailers have provided members of their staff with training on how to cope with angry shoppers. 但批評新費用者說，一長串的豁免項目將引起混亂；若消費者購買寵物魚、生魚、肉或家禽、未包裝的刀片（包括斧頭、刀和刮鬍刀片）、外賣食物或零散的種子和花，仍可拿到免費塑膠袋。也有人擔心顧客會辱罵超市收銀員，有些零售業者已開始訓練員工如何應付憤怒的顧客。 Then there were worries that shoppers would throng the British capital's already harried streets, clutching, for example, jars of tomato sauce. One man who didn't want to pay for a plastic bag for a single item was seen walking down a street in North London holding a package of wrapped salmon. Yet another fear is that there will be a glut of eating at checkout counters as wily consumers try to scarf down food before paying for it. 然後令人憂心的是，消費者將把本已忙碌的英國首都街道擠滿，手上抓著罐裝番茄醬之類東西。有位老兄不想為單一物品付塑膠袋的錢，抱著一袋包裝好的鮭魚走在北倫敦街頭。另有件事讓人憂心，很多人會在結帳櫃檯吃將起來，精於盤算的消費者會試圖把食物吃掉再付帳。 That similar plastic-bag charges exist in the other parts of Britain — Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland — seems to not influence the critics. In Wales, use of plastic bags has dropped 79 percent since a 5 pence charge was put in effect in 2011. The new rules in England apply to retailers with more than 250 full-time employees. Retailers that fail to properly enforce the measure can be fined up to 5,000 pounds. 英國其他地區（威爾斯、北愛爾蘭及蘇格蘭）都收取類似塑膠袋費，但批評者似乎並未因而降低音量。威爾斯2011年開始收取5便士至今，塑膠袋用量減少了79%。 英格蘭新規定適用於全職員工超過250人的零售業者，未適切執行者最高可罰5千英鎊。 Similar efforts to regulate plastic bag have been put in place across the world. In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country to introduce a ban on thin plastic bags amid concerns that they were clogging drainage pipes and contributing to devastating flooding. 規範塑膠袋使用的類似努力已在全球各地實施。 孟加拉2002年成為第一個推出薄塑膠袋禁令的國家，因為擔心塑膠袋堵住排水管且造成毀滅性洪災。 In 2008, Rwanda banned plastic bags outright, helping to solidify its image as one of the most environmentally conscious nations in East Africa. In the United States, many communities have regulated or even prohibited the bags. Since 2007, they have been banned in nearly 100 municipalities in California, including Los Angeles. In 2014, California banned stores from giving out free plastic bags. The law was to take effect in July, but after lobbying by opponents of the bill, including the bag industry, a referendum on whether to repeal the ban is planned for November 2016. 盧安達在2008年完全禁用塑膠袋，鞏固了它東非環保意識模範國的形象。 在美國，許多社區已規範或甚至禁用塑膠袋。2007年起，塑膠袋已在加州洛杉磯等近百城市禁用。加州2014年立法禁止商店發放免費塑膠袋，原定當年7月生效，但在包括塑膠袋產業在內的反對者遊說下，計畫於2016年11月就是否廢除禁令進行公投。 Only a tiny fraction of plastic bags are recycled, while many end up in kitchen cupboards, floating through the air or wasting away slowly in landfills. "Plastic bags end up everywhere — stashed in cupboards, floating down canals, littering our streets or killing wildlife," Friends of the Earth, a British environmental group, said in a statement welcoming the new measure. However, the TaxPayers' Alliance, an anti-tax group, said the new measure would burden families who are already struggling to get by. 只有極小部分塑膠袋被回收再利用，卻有許多最後待在廚房櫥櫃內、飄浮在空中，或在垃圾掩埋場慢慢腐爛。英國環保團體「地球之友」在歡迎這項新措施的聲明中說：「塑膠袋落得到處都是 -- 藏身於櫥櫃內、飄流在運河中、散布在我們的街頭，或殺死了野生動物。」 然而，反稅團體「納稅人聯盟」說，新措施將使那些已在掙扎圖存的家庭負擔更重。 A 2013 study by the Washington-based National Center for Policy Analysis, which champions laissez-faire economics, argued that paper and reusable bags were worse for the environment than plastic bags when it came to energy and water use, and to greenhouse gas emissions. "Every type of grocery bag incurs environmental costs," wrote H. Sterling Burnett, the author of the study. 提倡自由放任經濟的華府美國國家政策分析中心在2013年的研究報告中主張，就能源和水的使用及溫室氣體排放而言，紙袋跟環保袋比塑膠袋更不環保。報告作者史特林．柏奈特寫道：「每種食品雜貨袋都有環境成本。」 Whatever the arguments, the rules have inspired a mix of applause, resentment, fear and no little humor. "Can England cope with the bag charge, or will there be a bagpocalypse?" Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett asked in the British daily The Guardian. "Plastic Bags Chaos Looms," read a headline in The Daily Mail. Chloe Metzger, a 21-year-old blogger and student, wrote on Twitter: "I understand the whole #plasticbags thing but it couldn't be more annoying." 無論主張為何，新規定已引發多種反應，掌聲，怨恨，憂懼，還有不少的幽默。雷亞儂．露西．科斯雷在英國衛報上問道：「英格蘭能處理好塑膠袋收費嗎，或是將出現袋之末日？」每日郵報的標題則寫道：「塑膠袋亂局一觸即發。」21歲的學生部落客克羅伊．梅茲傑在推特上寫道：「我完全明白塑膠袋這檔事，但它讓人煩透了。」 Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/287605/web/

Who killed the Princes in the Tower? The inspiration behind Shakespeare's Richard III, their murder remains one of the greatest mysteries in English history. In the second of two episodes, all eyes turn to Richard III, prime suspect in the disappearance of Edward IV's sons. Tom and Dominic discuss whether Richard likely did kill his nephews, potential other suspects, and whether it was a matter of survival for him to do so.Plus, the greatest question of our time: was Richard III more Raul Castro, Robert Kennedy, or James Callaghan?Producer: Dom JohnsonExec Producer: Tony PastorTwitter:@TheRestHistory@holland_tom@dcsandbrookEmail: restishistorypod@gmail.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

歡迎通勤家族 週一晚上9pm，在Clubhouse上跟我與Peddy一同閒聊、練習英語！快加入 15Mins 通勤學英語直播室吧~   更多通勤學英語Podcast單元: 每日英語跟讀Podcast，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing 精選詞彙 VOCAB Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/vocab 語音直播 15mins Live Podcast, 就在https://www.15mins.today/15mins-live-podcast 文法練習 In-TENSE Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/in-tense 歡迎到官網用email訂閱我們節目更新通知。   老師互動信箱: ask15mins@gmail.com 商業合作洽詢: 15minstoday@gmail.com   每日英語跟讀 Ep.K226: In Britain, Rising Prices and Shortages Evoke 1970s-Style Jitters   Long lines at gas stations, rising fuel prices, empty shelves in supermarkets and worries about runaway inflation. 加油站大排長龍，燃料價格上漲，超市貨架空無一物，大家憂心通貨膨脹失控。 Britons have emerged from 18 months of pandemic-imposed hibernation to find their country has many of the same afflictions it had during the 1970s. There is nothing Austin Powers-like about this time machine: Unlike the swinging '60s, the '70s were, by all accounts, some of the bleakest days in postwar Britain; even contemplating a return to them is enough to make leaders of the current government shiver. 英國人從疫情造成的18個月冬眠中醒來，發現國家遭遇許多與1970年代相同的痛苦。這次時光機器情節跟電影「王牌大賤諜」毫無相似之處：不同於動盪的1960年代，人們都說1970年代是戰後英國最淒涼的日子。只是想到要回到當時，就足以讓現任政府領導人不寒而慄。 The sudden burst of doomsaying in Britain is rooted at least as much in psychology as economics. While there is no question the country faces a confluence of problems — some caused by the pandemic, others by Brexit — experts said it was far too soon to predict that Britain was headed for the kind of economic malaise and political upheaval that characterized that decade. 英國突然爆發的末日預言，源自心理學的份量跟經濟學一樣多。無疑地，這個國家面臨一系列問題，一些由疫情引起，另一些由英國脫歐造成。專家們說，現在就預測英國將陷入那十年特有的經濟低迷與政治動盪，仍為時過早。 “It's a combination of things that could, in principle, lead to that, but are quite survivable on their own,” said Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at Kings College London. “We always talk about the 1970s, but it's half a century later, and all sorts of things are different.” 倫敦國王學院經濟學教授波特斯說：「原則上來說，這樣的多種因素組合可能導致那種情況，但個別也能發揮作用。我們總是在談論1970年代，但已過去半個世紀了，一切都不一樣了。」 Britain's economy, he noted, has bounced back faster from the pandemic than many experts predicted. The shortages in labor and some goods are likely a transitory effect of reopening much of the economy after prolonged lockdowns. Rising wages and supply bottlenecks are driving up the inflation rate, while the fuel shortages that have closed dozens of gas stations reflect a shortage of truck drivers, not of energy supplies. 他指，英國經濟從疫情中恢復的速度比許多專家預測還快。勞動力和一些商品短缺，可能是長期防疫封鎖後重新開放大部分經濟活動的短暫影響。工資上漲和供應瓶頸正在推升通膨率，而造成數十家加油站關閉的燃料短缺，反映的是卡車司機短缺，而非能源供應問題。 Nor does Britain have the aging industrial base and powerful unions it had in the 1970s. Labor unrest led to crippling strikes that brought down a Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, and one of his Labour Party successors, James Callaghan, after what the tabloids called the winter of discontent, in 1979. 英國也沒有1970年代那樣老化的工業基礎與強大工會。1979年發生小報所稱的「不滿之冬」，勞工騷亂導致嚴重罷工，造成保守黨首相奚斯及他的工黨繼任者之一卡拉漢下台。 And yet the parallels are suggestive enough that the right-leaning Daily Mail warned that “Britain faces winter of woe” — a chilly welcome for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he returned from the United States, having celebrated a new submarine alliance and rallied countries in advance of a U.N. climate change conference in Scotland in November. 然而，一些相似之處足以引發聯想，讓右傾的每日郵報發出「英國面臨災難冬天」警告。對訪美歸來的英國首相強生而言，這是個冷淡迎接，他才剛慶祝新的潛艦聯盟成立，並在11月蘇格蘭聯合國氣候變遷會議前團結各國。 “That is a very easy ghost to resurrect,” said Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to Washington who now sits in the House of Lords. “But these are real problems. You can just see this perfect storm coming.” 英國駐華府前大使、現為上議院議員的達洛許說：「那是個很容易復活的鬼魂，但這些都是實實在在的問題。你可以看到這場完美風暴逼近。」Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5804159

This evening James Callaghan continues our new series in Hebrews 'Keep running with eyes fixed'. Today's passage is Hebrews 1:5-14 with the title 'Christ Superior to Angels'. The service is also available on the Oakhall Church YouTube channel.

This morning we have an all age BIG Event following our Holiday Bible Club led by Dan Hubbard, Charis Larner and James Callaghan. The recording has the reading and teaching with music from the morning. The passage is Philippians 2:5-11.

At our evening service James Callaghan starts our 'Songs for the summer' series in the book of Psalms looking at Psalm 121 with the title 'The Lord, our Keeper'. The service is also available on the Oakhall Church YouTube channel.

Dr Andrew Walker and Ingrid Koehler look at wellbeing and place and discuss the launch of LGIU's new research centre bridging academic rigour and practical local government experience. Features highlights from the launch of the centre with insights from Patrick Diamond, James Mitchell and James Callaghan. See all links mentioned in the show: https://lgiu.org/a-new-settlement-and-new-research-centre/

A titan of British politics shares stories from his fascinating career. David reminisces about Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams and Margaret Thatcher, but also delivers sharp political analysis about Keir Starmer, Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn and Brexit. Oh and explains the differences between The Gang of Four and The Independent Group. As well as founding and leading the SDP, David served as Foreign Secretary under James Callaghan... at the age of 38! His insights on the international stage, include brilliant stories about his encounters with Ronald Reagan, Robert Mugabe and Slobodan Milosevic. This is exceptional from start to finish. Get your tickets for the Political Party Specials at The Garrick Theatre and Vaudeville Theatre here: https://www.nimaxtheatres.com/shows/matt-fordes-political-party-podcast/ Monday 24 May: Peter Mandelson and Sayeeda Warsi Tuesday 25 May: Keir Starmer and Andrea Leadsom - SOLD OUT Wednesday 2 June: Jess Phillips and Esther McVey Subscribe to British Scandal here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/british-scandal/id1563775446 Email the show: politicalpartypodcast@gmail.com Order Matt's book 'Politically Homeless' here: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/2100000262618 Follow Matt on Twitter: @mattforde Follow Matt on WTSocial: https://wt.social/u/matt-forde For the latest UK Government advice on coronavirus go to: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James Callaghan continues our Easter devotional series 'The week that changed the world' looking at Matthew 28:1-10. (There was no Saturday, day 6 Devotional)

As if Brexit and Covid weren't enough, businesses have now had a Budget to deal with. In this episode of the Essex Business Podcast, we talk to people within the business community about how they feel it will affect them, and get an overview of the tax implications. Tej Parikh, Chief Economist at the Institute of Directors reflects on how the Chancellor's Spring Budget could affect the economy, and Rickard Luckin's head of Tax and Financial Planning, Jamie Nice, gives an overview of the key policy announcements and their implications for corporate and personal taxation. We also hear from four businesses owners in the county – Patrik Minder of The Lexden Crown in Colchester, James Callahan from Blue Sky Printing, VIP Security's Darren Hyde and Julie Nel from b4Secure – about how the budget will impact on them. Recorded March 2021 Guest speakers: Tej Parikh, Chief Economist at the Institute of Directors www.iod.com Jamie Nice, Head of Tax and Financial Planning at RIckard Luckin www.rickardluckin.co.uk Patrik Minder, owner of The Lexden Crown www.thelexdencrown.co.uk James Callaghan, co-founder of Blue Sky Printing www.blueskyprinting.co.uk  Darren Hyde, Managing Director at VIP Security Services www.vipsecurityservices.co.uk  Julie Nel, Managing Director and founder of b4Secure can be found at www.b4secure.co.uk 

At our evening Zoom meeting James Callaghan continues our series in Proverbs, looking at Proverbs 16:1-9 with the title 'How to deal with uncertainty'. The service is also available on the Oakhall Church YouTube channel.

This morning, at our live on-line cafe event, we heard Cornel Hrisca-Munn's story; a drummer, bass guitarist and Oxford graduate. James Callaghan introduces the event and Philo Vellacott interview Cornel. The whole service is also available on the Oakhall Church YouTube channel.

Donald Trump’s administration will be remembered for many things, not least the last days of his leadership. He will also certainly be remembered for the relationship with China, which started with trade deals and ended with a threat of unleashing “the dogs of war.” Joe Biden, on the other hand, hated Russia more than he hated China, but such is the atmosphere in the USA now that the Biden administration might be notable for a hostility to both Russia and China at the same time. So, against the background of riots at home, we asked Tom McGregor in Beijing what he thought relations between the new administration and China might be once Biden moves into the White House. James Callaghan was the British prime minister between 1976 and 1979, and he was notable in many regards: a leader who never went to university, a leader with ties to the trade unions, and a leader who never won an election, instead taking over after Harold Wilson stepped down. Dr. Kevin Hickson of Liverpool University has compiled a book of memories of the life and times of the late James Callaghan; he joined Sputnik to tell us about a Labour leader committed to the principles of the Labour movement.

Joining us on the podcast this week are members of the band Slaütter before Slaughter, Martin Moreno alongside Tania Estrada, and our very own producer James Callaghan. They talk about their new Slaütter album and the possibility of touring and much more. LINKSMartin MorenoINSTAGRAM: @martincomicTania Estrada:INSTAGRAM: @taniaestrada334James Callaghan:INSTAGRAM: @universalsmoothnessSlaütter before Slaughter INSTAGRAM: @slautterb4slaughterFelipe Esparza:INSTAGRAM: @FelipeEsparzaComedianRodrigo Torres:INSTAGRAM: @RodrigoTorresJrMartin Rizo:INSTAGRAM: @ComicMartinRizo

In this episode of SDP Talks, William Clouston is joined by Kevin Hickson, Senior Lecturer in British Politics at the University of Liverpool and former SDP Chairman. Kevin and William discuss two influential figures in the Labour party of the 1970s and 80s - Peter Shore, and James Callaghan. Along with discussing the careers and legacies of Shore and Callaghan, Kevin and William also explore ideas or political flash-points from their time that have reemerged in today's political climate. Buy "Peter Shore: Labour's Forgotten Patriot": https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785904736/ Buy "James Callaghan: An Underrated Prime Minister?": https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08BC7BZMH/ Learn more about the SDP at: https://sdp.org.uk/ The opening and closing music for SDP Talks is "Prelude in C (BWV 846)" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Love this political period...

This evening James Callaghan continues our series, 'A committed God and His uncommitted people' from Malachi. Today we look at Malachi 2:10-16 entitled 'The couples who model unfaithfulness'. Also available on the Oakhall Church YouTube channel.

Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC, often known as Jim Callaghan, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Iain discusses his impact with political analyst Lewis Baston.

Last week on a popular TV quiz show, knowing the answer to the question "Who is the only British politician to have held the four great offices of state?" would have won you half a million pounds. The answer is James Callaghan, MP for southern Cardiff for forty two years and the last Prime Minister from a Welsh constituency. Cardiff councillor and historian Keith Jones makes the case for someone who truly must be one of the great Welsh Political Icons.

This evening, at our live Zoom service, James Callaghan continues our series, Encounters with Jesus, looking at 'The Rich Young Ruler' from Mark 10:17-31. Also available on the Oakhall Church YouTube channel.

This evening, at our live Zoom service, James Callaghan brings the next talk in our series in 1 John, looking at 1 John 2:18-27 with the theme 'Keeping close to Christ'. Also available on the Oakhall YouTube channel.

This evening we join together for our Good Friday, Youth led service via YouTube with James Callaghan leading and speaking from Romans 5:1-11. The whole service is also available on the Oakhall YouTube channel.

In 1978, James Callaghan was Prime Minister of Great Britain while leader of the opposition, Margaret Thatcher, hovered in the wings. The brutal Khmer Rouge regime led Cambodia under leader Pol Pot. But in the sheltered world of the Gloucestershire countryside, I was 11 and, at the turn of the year, had been at “the big school” for 6 months. I was becoming aware of the importance of music and that it gave me an identity that was more than just “child of my parents”. Unfortunately, as I would only learn later in life, my choices in music did not mark me out as “one of the cool kids”. See if you can spot which music I liked at the time and what I learnt to love later in life. Musically, the year started with an ending...

Boris Johnson has now been in hospital for a couple of days, and there's no word on when he'll be coming out. The government says he's “stable and in good spirits”, but he's suffered breathing difficulties and received what Downing Street calls “standard oxygen treatment.” Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, is in charge for the moment – but what if this goes on longer? We speak to Lord Owen, the former foreign secretary under James Callaghan, to ask how governments work without a Prime Minister, and what lessons we can learn from history? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This evening James Callaghan brings the message from 1 Samuel 29 and 30 with the title 'Strength in The Lord'.

I sjette afsnit om de britiske statsledere efter 1945 kan du høre en samtale mellem instituttets professor Peter Nedergaard og postdoc Rune Møller Stahl. Peter og Rune taler om James Callaghan, som var premierminister i perioden 1976 til 1979.

This evening James Callaghan continues our series in 1 Samuel speaking on chapter 22 with the title 'Refuge found in the one taking refuge'.

This evening we resume our series in 1 Peter with James Callaghan speaking on chapter 3:1-7 with the title 'The impact of unfading beauty'

This evening James Callaghan continues our series in 1 Samuel looking at chapter 20 with the title 'David and Jonathan'.

This evening James Callaghan continues our series in 1 Samuel looking at chapter 16 with the title 'The Lord anoints David as King'.

This evening our Good Friday service is led by the young people with a drama followed by James Callaghan bringing the message from Philippians 2:5-11.

This evening James Callaghan starts our series in Hebrews looking at chapter 1:1-14 with the title 'Jesus' great identity'

This evening James Callaghan starts our new series in 1 Peter looking at chapter 1:1-6 with the title 'To God's elect exiles'.

This evening James Callaghan continues our series in 1 Samuel looking at chapter 14:1-23 with the title 'A Leader who trusted God'.

This evening James Callaghan continues our series in 1 Samuel with the title 'The Leader the people wanted' looking at chapter 8:1-22.

This evening James Callaghan continues our series in 1 Samuel with the title 'The Leader the people wanted' looking at chapter 8:1-22.

This evening we have an all age service with the talk in two parts: James Callaghan brings the last part of our series from Philippians 4:10-23 with the title 'The partnership that shares in suffering' and Dan Hubbard brings a conclusion to the series.

This evening we have an all age service with the talk in two parts: James Callaghan brings the last part of our series from Philippians 4:10-23 with the title 'The partnership that shares in suffering' and Dan Hubbard brings a conclusion to the series.

This evening our new youth worker, James Callaghan, continues our series in Philippians with a message from Philippians 2:12-30 with the title 'The mindset of Christ lived out'.

This evening our new youth worker, James Callaghan, continues our series in Philippians with a message from Philippians 2:12-30 with the title 'The mindset of Christ lived out'.

This morning we are commending Dan Hubbard as our Ministry Assistant and James Callaghan as our Youth Leader. Phil Vellacott commences our new series in 1 Kings, today the talk is from 1 Kings 17 with the title 'When God's word speaks'.

This morning we are commending Dan Hubbard as our Ministry Assistant and James Callaghan as our Youth Leader. Phil Vellacott commences our new series in 1 Kings, today the talk is from 1 Kings 17 with the title 'When God's word speaks'.

Luke and Andrew review this weekend's SNL debate send-up, then they have their own debate over whether anonymous authors have a right to keep their identities hidden. Plus, why Luke will probably skip tonight's VP debate, and a letter from a listener who has - undebatably - the worst friends ever. Thanks to James Callaghan and Patricia Middleton for supporting today's show!

Politician Lord David Owen; singer and harmonicist Paul Jones; sound artist Amie Slavin and origami expert Samuel Tsang join Libby Purves Amie Slavin is a sound artist. She is the director of the Sonophilia Festival - Lincoln's Festival of Sound - which will offer eight days of live music, sound art installations and other activities across the city. Born with a rare form of eye cancer she lost her sight in 1997 and uses her work to stimulate audiences to appreciate the various ways in which sound can represent and illuminate ideas, issues and voices. Sonophilia Festival: Lincoln's Festival of Sound is at various venues across Lincoln. David Owen was foreign secretary under James Callaghan from 1977 until 1979 and later co-founded and went on to lead the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He now sits as an independent social democrat in the House of Lords. In his new book, Cabinet's Finest Hour, he writes about the cabinet meetings of 1940 and examines how Churchill's coalition government worked behind closed doors to bring the war to an end. Cabinet's Finest Hour - the Hidden Agenda of May 1940 by David Owen is published by Haus Publishing. Samuel Tsang has been practising origami since he was old enough to fold. A London city worker by day and origami ninja by night, his book explains how origami can help concentration and memory and lead to mindfulness - or mindFOLDness as he puts it. The Book of Mindful Origami and The Magic of Mindful Origami are published by Yellow Kite. Paul Jones is lead singer of the Manfreds and former lead vocalist and harmonicist of Manfred Mann. Formed in 1962, Manfred Mann's hits include Do Wah Diddy; Pretty Flamingo; Sha La La; and 5-4-3-2-1. Paul turned to acting in 1966 appearing in films and on stage at the National Theatre in the Beggar's Opera and Guys and Dolls. Maximum Rhythm and Blues with the Manfreds is on tour. Producer: Paula McGinley.

The 1979 election inaugurated the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, the longest continuous premiership since that of Lord Liverpool (1812-27), and an 18 year period of Conservative government. It occurred after the 'winter of discontent', marked by public sector strikes which destroyed the Labour government's social contract. James Callaghan, defeated Labour Prime Minister, declared before the election that it marked a sea-change in British politics. Was he right?The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-general-election-1979Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,700 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.ukTwitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

“A primary function of a university must be to engage in research. It can discharge its responsibility to train future researchers only if it is itself a place where research is done. And research is the guarantee of its academic standards ... One good scientist attracts another. They attract good students too.” Sir Albert Sloman, 1963 Reith Lectures Three of the University’s most influential early academics talk about the impact of their work – in computer science, sociology and science. - Tony Brooker was the founding Professor of Computer Science, and credited with creating the world’s first publicly available computer language. He talks of the days when there were no computer terminals, and students had to use punch cards which “invariably had mistakes” at first and would “produce garbage” as a result. Later, he says, Essex scored a coup in getting the PDP-10, the first time-sharing computer in the country. - Dennis Marsden was an early sociologist, and co-author of Education and the Working Class, described by the Times Higher Education in its obituary of Marsden as “the single most influential book in its field in the 1960s and early 1970s” , as a key source for Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys). He went on to produce pioneering studies of fatherless families and the unemployed, and talks here of how he “got very good at talking my way off doorsteps, indoors”. - Sir John Ashworth was founding Professor of Biological Sciences and went on to become the government’s Chief Scientific Officer. Baroness Blackstone apparently thought he was “absolutely nuts” when he told James Callaghan’s Cabinet that micro-chips would “revolutionise everything”. He speaks of how a conversation in a becalmed boat off Clacton led him to that Cabinet meeting, and how “it’s all come about, even more radically and more quickly than I had anticipated”.

Farmers in Ontario are diversifying into farming for biogas. It uses cow manure and grease from the restauraunt industry to create methane which is then burned to produce heat and power. James Callaghan is a fifth generation dairy farmer who is about two hours east of Toronto. He never thought he would be selling electricity to the grid as part of his business but Ontario's feed-in tariff makes it easier for him to implement this technology. See video, blog and photos. http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/31-biogas-closing-loop-cow-poop

Antony Jay’s Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations – entitled Lend Me Your Ears – is now in its fourth edition. To mark its publication, I went to interview Antony – perhaps best known as the co-author of the “Yes, Minister” series – at his home in Somerset. You can hear the whole interview by clicking here; or you can listen to highlights by clicking on the links below. My first question was: what makes a quotation a political quotation? Click here. Politics is a field more prone than most to misquotation. Antony Jay discusses a notorious quote attributed to James Callaghan, which he never in fact said. Click here to find out what it was. What are the challenges of pinning down who said what in the modern world of 24-hour news, blogs and soundbites? Click here. Was there such a thing as a Golden Age of political phrase-making? Click here to hear Antony Jay’s view. Who are some of Tony’s personal favourites among the many thousands of writers and politicians in the book? Click …

This coming week, on the 20th of October, Chancellor George Osborne will be unveiling the results of the Comprehensive Spending Review, and what’s expected to be the most savage cuts ever to public services in England. In politics, however, things are seldom new. You just need a long enough memory to recall previous booms, cuts and recessions. And, as they say, those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. For that reason this episode features a protest album that was recorded in 1977. The Cuts Show, by “CounterAct” was a touring review made to educate people .. especially students .. about the public sector cuts being made at that time by James Callaghan’s Labour Government. The show was accompanied by a protest album .. omitting the show’s narrative, but including all the songs. Listen carefully to the lyrics, because it’s all there .. the need to satisfy financiers, threats to welfare and health spending, education, scapegoating.. and more. The show was produced 33 years ago, yet it could have been today. It even features a nod to David Cameron's 'Big Society' The performance was recorded at Riverside Recordings and featured Rich Armitage, Will Ashton, John Gill, Ruth Law, Chris Reason, Dave Simmonds, Steve Skinner and Caroline Stephens.

Continuing last year's series of lectures, delivered by distinguished guest speakers, to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the War, looking at change in Britain through the eyes of the UK's Prime Ministers....

Sir James Callaghan has the distinction of being the only politician to have held the four highest offices in the state. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, before becoming Prime Minister in 1976. In an interview with Michael Parkinson recorded in April 1987, he looks back on his career and chooses the eight records to take to the mythical island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Jupiter Symphony: 3rd Movement by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Telescope and a star-gazing book

Sir James Callaghan has the distinction of being the only politician to have held the four highest offices in the state. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, before becoming Prime Minister in 1976. In an interview with Michael Parkinson recorded in April 1987, he looks back on his career and chooses the eight records to take to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Jupiter Symphony: 3rd Movement by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Telescope and a star-gazing book