Thinking Class #093 - George Owers - Britain's 350-Year Culture War: The Birth Of Party Politics
George Owers is an editor, writer, and author of the newly released The Rage of Party: How Whig Versus Tory Made Modern Britain.
In this episode, George and I think out loud about the origins of party politics in Britain, tracing how the Whigs and Tories emerged out of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, how the Whigs’ eventual dominance led to the creation of many of Britain’s most enduring institutions, shaping political life up to the present day, how the parties’ contrasting relationships with the monarchy and their religious differences deepened the divide, and why today's culture wars continue to echo those same historical tensions, whether today's Britain’s political discourse, so often centred on “British values,” can really make claim to a coherent set of values at all, and why a cohesive national identity is essential for sustaining both social democracy and the welfare state and why mass immigration is threatening these and much, much more.
This is a rich and informative discussion — a history lesson in the first twenty minutes, followed by a wide-ranging exploration of how the wounds opened 350 years ago are still being re-litigated in today’s political culture.
You can find George's work here:
- Follow George on X
- Buy his book here
- Read his work on The Critic
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