Why Didn't the Tories Just Do That?

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There were people within the Tories who had a very different vision. Why did they fail so badly? I think there are several reasons. The older elites don't want this. It's an assault on their intellectual capital and reputations. They can't acquire skills without taking too much out of their worldview. Other reason is that the populists made errors themselves. In order to have a revolution you need cadre. You need ephemeral opportunists, ephemeral ideologues. Scaramucci lasted what three days or something, 72 hours.

Freddie Sayers meets philosopher John Gray.

John Gray was the prophet of the postliberal age, describing global capitalism as a false utopia as early as 1998. In his most recent writing, he has returned to geopolitics, and has described the populist moment, the pandemic, and the growing threat of superpower conflict as existential threats to the liberal, technocratic order.

Amid this chaos, Rishi Sunak — former Goldman Sachs banker — has become Britain’s new prime minister. Has the technocratic order of the 2010s returned? Or has the modern world moved beyond its reach?

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