
S11, Ep3 How to Fail: Ed Miliband
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
The Influence of Family History
The speaker reflects on the impact of their parents and their upbringing, discussing the sense of duty instilled in them and the weight of responsibility they felt. They also contemplate the balance between nurturing their children's curiosity while allowing them to be kids.
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us. Most of the population of the United States have already moved on from wokeness. They hate it. But the institutions have just completely locked in on it. And so it's got this like zombie character where it's dead, but its body is still lumbering around eating brains. The universities will begin to reform when they realize that the product they're producing doesn't sell. I think what we're seeing is the death of an attempted cultural revolution. Is it done? No. Are there risks? Yes. But it's taken a blow and maybe a mortal one. Dr. James Lindsay, welcome back to Trigonometry. Yeah, great to see you guys again. Great to
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see you. Thanks for coming on. I think there's a very obvious question that has to be asked in the wake of the Trump, not just election, but the sweep that's happened
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in recent weeks. Is this the end of wokeness? No. I mean, I wish I could say it is. In a way, I mean, I hate to be this way, right? It's a complicated subject because most of the population of the United States, but not necessarily other countries, have already moved on from wokeness. They hate it. But the institutions have just completely locked in on it. And so it's got this like zombie character where it's dead with the, you know, it's animating spirit is dead, but its body is still lumbering around eating brains. And so it's like a zombie ideology. And so in a sense, wokeness as a popular movement kind of already died. It became a liability, I think, for the Harris campaign and the Biden administration for that. And I think it's something we're all trying to move away from very quickly, except, like I said, our institutions aren't letting us. And now, so we have to look forward to a Trump administration that is not just aware of the problem of wokeness, but Trump campaigned actively on dismantling that institutional power that they've achieved, at least within what he can reach within the government. That's not going to touch the state government of California. That's not going to touch local governments. That's not going to touch too much with the schools, at least not everywhere. All these kind of public institutions, it's an open question is whether it'll affect the ESG environment that's leading the corporations to pick it up. The S is woke in ESG. Are the corporations going to change their tune? Are they kind of realizing, in my, by the way, experience with that, this is, I think, a turn of phrase that you guys will appreciate, that the stage has lost the room. So if you go to like these conventions industry conventions the stage is up there we're going to be the most sustainable cruise ship line in the history of cruise ships and the room is sitting there and these are professionals you know of in the industry sitting there saying this isn't going to work so it's this weird zombie position now and uh the left isn't going to let go of it that absolutely certain. They're already trying to figure out ways to double down. The primary explanation, at least in the immediate wake of Trump's election, has been that Latinos are now white supremacists. They have one hammer.
I absolutely loved this interview. Whatever your preconceptions about politicians, please set them aside, because you're about to meet Ed Miliband: former leader of the Labour Party, current shadow business secretary, fellow podcaster and author of a new book, Go Big: How To Fix Our World.
Ed joins me to discuss his failure to win the 2015 general election, suffering from anxiety, failing to get the degree he worked so hard for and a failure to keep his late father, the noted Marxist academic Ralph Miliband, alive. We touch on his family history - both his parents escaped Nazi Germany and many of his relatives were killed in the Holocaust - and we consider whether carrying the hopes and dreams of previous generations makes him feel more duty-bound to succeed. Along the way, we discuss therapy, competitive swimming with Alastair Campbell, political optimism, the power of big ideas, bacon sandwiches, Ed-stones, Milibae, sibling rivalry (yes, I do ask him how things are with his brother David), Boris Johnson, fatherhood and why he'll never win an argument with his wife.
Ed, thank you for coming on How To Fail with such a generous spirit and for engaging so brilliantly with the premise. You're a mensch.
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Go Big: How To Fix The World by Ed Miliband is out now and available to order here. You can listen to Reasons To Be Cheerful, his excellent podcast, co-hosted with comedian Geoff Lloyd here.
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My new novel, Magpie, is out on 2nd September. I'd love it if you felt like pre-ordering as it really helps authors! You can do that here.
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Naomi Mantin and Chris Sharp. We love hearing from you! To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Ed Miliband @ed_miliband
Ed joins me to discuss his failure to win the 2015 general election, suffering from anxiety, failing to get the degree he worked so hard for and a failure to keep his late father, the noted Marxist academic Ralph Miliband, alive. We touch on his family history - both his parents escaped Nazi Germany and many of his relatives were killed in the Holocaust - and we consider whether carrying the hopes and dreams of previous generations makes him feel more duty-bound to succeed. Along the way, we discuss therapy, competitive swimming with Alastair Campbell, political optimism, the power of big ideas, bacon sandwiches, Ed-stones, Milibae, sibling rivalry (yes, I do ask him how things are with his brother David), Boris Johnson, fatherhood and why he'll never win an argument with his wife.
Ed, thank you for coming on How To Fail with such a generous spirit and for engaging so brilliantly with the premise. You're a mensch.
*
Go Big: How To Fix The World by Ed Miliband is out now and available to order here. You can listen to Reasons To Be Cheerful, his excellent podcast, co-hosted with comedian Geoff Lloyd here.
*
My new novel, Magpie, is out on 2nd September. I'd love it if you felt like pre-ordering as it really helps authors! You can do that here.
*
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Naomi Mantin and Chris Sharp. We love hearing from you! To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
*
Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Ed Miliband @ed_miliband
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