New Culture Forum

Dr. Philip Kiszely, lecturer in cultural history at the University of Leeds, is this week's guest on "So What You're Saying Is..." (#SWYSI). In a recent article for Spiked Online Dr. Kiszely argued that we are now at a tipping point in our cultural history which requires us to stand up against the dangerous identitarian narrative we have seen most visibly during the BLM protests of recent months but which now also permeates much of wider society. The simplistic "hero" and "villains" version of history we are seeing today is all about division. History is far too complex to interpret in this way yet these tropes have become deeply embedded not only with the younger generation but apparently also amongst the older middle classes. This identitarian narrative, especially its attempt to racialise history, is dangerous to society and needs to be countered with more inclusive approaches. --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) AUDIO: If you prefer Audio you can subscribe on itunes or Soundcloud. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-923838732 itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/s... SUPPORT/DONATE: "So What You're Saying Is.." is still very new and to continue to produce quality programming we need your support. Your donations will help ensure the show not only continues but can grow into a major online platform challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in our institutions, public life and media. PAYPAL/ CARD PAYMENTS - ONE TIME & MONTHLY: You can donate in a variety of ways via our website: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/#do... It is set up to accept one time and monthly donations. ABOUT THE SHOW: So What You're Saying Is... (SWYSI) is a weekly discussion show with experts and significant figures from the political, cultural and academic worlds. The host is Peter Whittle (@PRWhittle), Founder & Director of The New Culture Forum, a Westminster-based think tank that seeks to challenge the cultural orthodoxies dominant in the media, academia, and British culture / society at large. JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Web: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk F: https://www.facebook.com/NCultureForum/ Y: http://www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum T: http://www.twitter.com/NewCultureForum (@NewCultureForum)

Dr. Niall McCrae is a senior mental health lecturer at King's College London and co-author of "Year of the Bat: Globalisation, China & the Coronavirus". Dr. McCrae argues that the Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to an illiberal and authoritarian global social hygiene regime. To quote: "I remember in January watching news clips from Wuhan in China, where the coronavirus outbreak began. At a police road block on a dual carriageway, a man on his way to work wound his window down and his forehead temperature was taken. He was ordered out of the vehicle, to be immediately taken into quarantine. He protested, and was beaten to the ground and pummelled by thuggish police. "Such abuse of human rights couldn’t happen in the West, could it? Well, look at the state of Victoria in Australia. The governor, nicknamed Kim Jong Dan, has imposed a severe lockdown with ruthless policing. A man heavily fined for taking out his rubbish without a mask. A young woman throttled by a male officer for the same offence. A pregnant woman arrested at home in front of her children for incitement. Inciting what? Encouraging Facebook friends to attend a freedom protest. "A long-running cartoon in the satirical Viz comic is the "Bottom Inspectors". The hygiene Gestapo who check you’ve wiped yourself properly. In the latest edition they look even more sinister, with their Covid-19 visors. Who would have believed we’d be living this dystopia. "This Covid regime is for controlling us, not the virus. But why are so many people in favour of this denial of basic liberties? This is about social class and morality. The supposedly liberal, progressive establishment is imposing its authority on the "great unwashed" You need to be told to wash your hands, to keep your distance, and to muzzle yourselves. "Of course mask-wearing isn’t based on science. It’s not much more effective than a string vest to stop mosquito bites, but masks have become a moral fault line. Sophisticated middle-class people wear them as a means of virtue-signalling. The wearer is a GOOD person, unlike the selfish ignoramuses who reject what the Guardian describes as ‘our shared reality’. "This is Cultural "Mask-ism" "The pandemic has exposed the fallacy of liberal progress. The harshest Covid-19 discipline is in countries led by left-of-centre leaders, such as Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand. Because they care. Meanwhile supposedly authoritarian presidents such as Donald Trump and Jaio Bolsanora prefer less extreme restrictions. "Our establishment is keen to instil a new normal. There’s scant opposition from politicians, trade unions, students, human rights campaigners, celebrities. Rock stars and actresses seem unperturbed at this indefinite loss of limelight. Instead of speaking out, they’re all conformists. Not edgy at all. "Look on Twitter and you’ll see middle-class snobs celebrating the aggressive policing of anti-lockdown protests, and the persecution of Piers Corbyn. "These fraudulent liberals have no respect for Enlightenment values – freedom of speech subverted by cancel culture. Democracy – they tried to overturn the EU referendum result. And equality before the law - the blatant hypocrisy in promoting Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion demos while accusing lockdown protestors of killing people. "The masked moralisers are neither liberal, nor hygienic. Our pavements are strewn with discarded face masks. Who’s really being irresponsible? "Cicero asserted ‘The health of the people is the highest law’. The Chinese Communist Party has shown how to exploit this noble duty for totalitarian ends. How sad that the civil democracies of the West chose to follow Beijing, and to trash individual liberties for a rigid collectivism." --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications)

Andrew Klavan, host of The Daily Wire's "The Andrew Klavan Show", returns to #SWYSI to chat about America's intensifying culture wars and what might happen if Donald Trump loses the upcoming election. Speaking from L.A, Andrew explains how Covid, BLM & woke virtue signalling have made the city almost intolerable to live in. He laments that across the US -- but particularly in increasingly lawless cities run by the Democrats -- the police are being attacked and prevented from maintaining law and order. Unfortunately, continues Andrew, America has also succumbed to "the Long March through the institutions", and so the violence of the far left is ignored and overlooked by the mainstream media, who focus instead on the violence of extremists on the right. Even worse, the media say that the left's violence is justified -- something we have never witnessed before. If Trump is re-elected Andrew is hopeful there will be a reckoning with these institutions and a clearing out of their houses -- as we've seen with Trump's war on "critical race theory". However if Trump loses he fears that these institutions will become increasingly extreme in their bias. The end result, Andrew fears, is that America may risk its unique freedoms -- such as a level of freedom of speech that even advanced democracies such as the U.K. do not have. --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) AUDIO: If you prefer Audio you can subscribe on itunes or Soundcloud. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-923838732 itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/s... SUPPORT/DONATE: "So What You're Saying Is.." is still very new and to continue to produce quality programming we need your support. Your donations will help ensure the show not only continues but can grow into a major online platform challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in our institutions, public life and media. PAYPAL/ CARD PAYMENTS - ONE TIME & MONTHLY: You can donate in a variety of ways via our website: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/#do... It is set up to accept one time and monthly donations. ABOUT THE SHOW: So What You're Saying Is... (SWYSI) is a weekly discussion show with experts and significant figures from the political, cultural and academic worlds. The host is Peter Whittle (@PRWhittle), Founder & Director of The New Culture Forum, a Westminster-based think tank that seeks to challenge the cultural orthodoxies dominant in the media, academia, and British culture / society at large. JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Web: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk F: https://www.facebook.com/NCultureForum/ Y: http://www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum T: http://www.twitter.com/NewCultureForum (@NewCultureForum)

On this week's #NCFNewspeak, student writer & commentator Freya Laidlow-Petersen argues for an end to the politicisation of our schools and the degeneration of our education system -- where teachers too often see themselves as "agents of social change". The "decolonise the curriculum" movement is not simply a spontaneous off-shoot of this year’s events. For example, “Global Education for All” is one of the United Nations’ agendas to be fulfilled by 2030. It sounds wonderful but a closer look at what this agenda actually entails, Freya argues, reveals less of a movement to truly educate and inspire children around the world, and more of a push to standardise children with the same worldview and the same limited knowledge and capacity for independent thought. Around the world, education policy makers seem set on this course of action. Douglas Bourn, the Director of the University College London Development Education Research Centre, released a document entitled “Teachers as agents of social change”. Bourn considers politicisation to be an essential aspect of the schooling system he and other education leaders envisage – he says that “whilst there have been debates about the need for teachers not to be political, this is an impossible demand because refraining from taking a political stance is itself a political act”. He mentions the Global Teachers Award which includes activities for teachers to “measure changes in attitudes of their pupils” Freya believes it is too simplistic therefore to put the decline of our schools solely down to the notion of most teachers being left-wing. We have had “Conservative” ministers of education for the past decade, with the so-called “global dimension” being incorporated into the national curriculum from September 2013, under the former Conservative education minister, Michael Gove. For Freya, the result of this is firstly politicisation, which is the inevitable result of the gradual centralisation and standardisation of the system over the years. The other issue is the steep decline of intellectual aspiration in many schools. This decline is partly due to the limiting curricula, and partly due to certain teaching methods which have taken hold in the classroom. Our mainstream schools, Freya concludes, do not effectively nurture education, but often tend to stunt children in their cognitive ability, give them a disjointed view of the world, and withhold the joy and wonder of real learning. --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Web: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk F: https://www.facebook.com/NCultureForum/ Y: http://www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum T: http://www.twitter.com/NewCultureForum (@NewCultureForum)

On this week's #SWYSI we interview Inaya Folarin Iman, Director of The Equiano Project, Board member of the Free Speech Union and outspoken critic of Black Lives Matter and identity politics. Inaya is a columnist with Spiked Online and appears frequently in print (Telegraph, Spectator, Daily Mail etc) and as a media commentator. The Equiano Project seeks to facilitate conversations about and promote the values of freedom, humanism and universalism: https://www.theequianoproject.com/about --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) AUDIO: If you prefer Audio you can subscribe on itunes or Soundcloud. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-923838732 itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/s... SUPPORT/DONATE: "So What You're Saying Is.." is still very new and to continue to produce quality programming we need your support. Your donations will help ensure the show not only continues but can grow into a major online platform challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in our institutions, public life and media. PAYPAL/ CARD PAYMENTS - ONE TIME & MONTHLY: You can donate in a variety of ways via our website: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/#do... It is set up to accept one time and monthly donations. ABOUT THE SHOW: So What You're Saying Is... (SWYSI) is a weekly discussion show with experts and significant figures from the political, cultural and academic worlds. The host is Peter Whittle (@PRWhittle), Founder & Director of The New Culture Forum, a Westminster-based think tank that seeks to challenge the cultural orthodoxies dominant in the media, academia, and British culture / society at large. JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Web: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk F: https://www.facebook.com/NCultureForum/ Y: http://www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum T: http://www.twitter.com/NewCultureForum (@NewCultureForum)

On this week's #NCFCounterCulture, the authors of "Moralitis: A Cultural Virus" discuss their book, which they describe as an "antidote" to the illiberal and authoritarian ideology they argue is spreading through our society and its institutions like a mental infection. Treatment and protection against this groupthink "virus" is crucial to reviving the Enlightenment values of liberty, reason and truth -- and restoring our nation and society to good health. The panel: * Dr. Niall McCrae, Senior Lecturer in Mental Health at King's College London & Co-author of "Moralitis: A Cultural Virus" * Robert Oulds, Director of The Bruges Group & co-Author of "Moralitis: A Cultural Virus" * Marc Sidwell, Journalist, Deputy Editor of "Smith" Magazine and author of "The Long March Through The Institutions" (published by the New Culture Forum) * Rafe Heydel-Mankoo of the New Culture Forum, Historian & Broadcaster --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) AUDIO: If you prefer Audio you can subscribe on itunes or Soundcloud. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-923838732 itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/s... SUPPORT/DONATE: The New Culture Forum channel is still very new and to continue to produce quality programming we need your support. Your donations will help ensure the show not only continues but can grow into a major online platform challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in our institutions, public life and media. PAYPAL/ CARD PAYMENTS - ONE TIME & MONTHLY: You can donate in a variety of ways via our website: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/#do... It is set up to accept one time and monthly donations. ABOUT THE SHOW: So What You're Saying Is... (SWYSI) & NCF CounterCulture are weekly discussion shows with experts and significant figures from the political, cultural and academic worlds. The host is Peter Whittle (@PRWhittle), Founder & Director of The New Culture Forum, a Westminster-based think tank that seeks to challenge the cultural orthodoxies dominant in the media, academia, and British culture / society at large. JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Web: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk F: https://www.facebook.com/NCultureForum/ Y: http://www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum T: http://www.twitter.com/NewCultureForum (@NewCultureForum)

This week on #SWYSI, Peter Whittle speaks with Nick Buckley MBE, the award-winning founder of the ground-breaking charity Mancunian Way, who was sacked from his position in June after criticising the far-Left political agenda of the Black Lives Matter campaign. Mr Buckley was dismissed by the trustees of the charity he founded nine years ago, after an online mob accused him of ‘inappropriate’ and ‘insensitive’ views and demanded his removal. Mr Buckley, who was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List for his work with vulnerable youngsters across Manchester, wrote a blog post that sparked uproar for warning of the ‘neo-Marxist’ policies of Black Lives Matter UK – which include tearing down capitalism and abolishing the police – and saying they risked dividing communities. Campaigners branded him a racist and launched an online petition demanding that he be sacked. He was dismissed within days. --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) AUDIO: If you prefer Audio you can subscribe on itunes or Soundcloud. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-923838732 itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/s... SUPPORT/DONATE: "So What You're Saying Is.." is still very new and to continue to produce quality programming we need your support. Your donations will help ensure the show not only continues but can grow into a major online platform challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in our institutions, public life and media. PAYPAL/ CARD PAYMENTS - ONE TIME & MONTHLY: You can donate in a variety of ways via our website: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/#do... It is set up to accept one time and monthly donations. ABOUT THE SHOW: So What You're Saying Is... (SWYSI) is a weekly discussion show with experts and significant figures from the political, cultural and academic worlds. The host is Peter Whittle (@PRWhittle), Founder & Director of The New Culture Forum, a Westminster-based think tank that seeks to challenge the cultural orthodoxies dominant in the media, academia, and British culture / society at large. JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Web: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk F: https://www.facebook.com/NCultureForum/ Y: http://www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum T: http://www.twitter.com/NewCultureForum (@NewCultureForum)

This week's #NCFCounterCulture panel discuss the concept of "decolonising education". Panel: Katharaine Birbalsingh Calvin Robinson Alice Grant Rafe Heydel-Mankoo --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) AUDIO: If you prefer Audio you can subscribe on itunes or Soundcloud. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-923838732 itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/s... SUPPORT/DONATE: "So What You're Saying Is.." is still very new and to continue to produce quality programming we need your support. Your donations will help ensure the show not only continues but can grow into a major online platform challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in our institutions, public life and media. PAYPAL/ CARD PAYMENTS - ONE TIME & MONTHLY: You can donate in a variety of ways via our website: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/#do... It is set up to accept one time and monthly donations. ABOUT THE SHOW: So What You're Saying Is... (SWYSI) is a weekly discussion show with experts and significant figures from the political, cultural and academic worlds. The host is Peter Whittle (@PRWhittle), Founder & Director of The New Culture Forum, a Westminster-based think tank that seeks to challenge the cultural orthodoxies dominant in the media, academia, and British culture / society at large. JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Web: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk F: https://www.facebook.com/NCultureForum/ Y: http://www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum T: http://www.twitter.com/NewCultureForum (@NewCultureForum)

Andrew Doyle, creator of "Titania McGrath" (a parody of a militant social justice warrior) and co-creator of "Jonathan Pie", returns to the "So What You're Saying Is..." (#SWYSI) sofa to discuss "Titania's" hilarious new book: "My First Little Book of Intersectional Activism" Doyle wrote the book as a parody of the many heavily-politicised woke childrens' books that are currently being published in an attempt to indoctrinate our children. To quote: "Aimed at activists from the age of six months to six years, Titania's book will help cultivate a new progressive generation. In a series of groundbreaking and poignant chapters, she will take you on a journey with some of the most inspiring individuals in history, such as Emmeline Pankhurst, Meghan Markle, Nelson Mandela, Hillary Clinton and Joseph Stalin." Whilst his book is humorous, Doyle wrote it to help expose a serious issue that extends far beyond childrens' books: namely, the flagrant indoctrination of children in the education system, where children are taught pseudo-history and controversial theories about gender, white privilege etc. Some are even told to ignore their parents' views where those views contradict classroom teaching. Such biased teaching, Doyle argues, is very likely illegal according to the 1996 Education Act. Yet our politicians remain silent on this issue. "My First Little Book of Intersectional Activism" is available from Amazon and all good bookshops: https://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Little... --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) AUDIO: If you prefer Audio you can subscribe on itunes or Soundcloud. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-923838732 itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/s... SUPPORT/DONATE: "So What You're Saying Is.." is still very new and to continue to produce quality programming we need your support. Your donations will help ensure the show not only continues but can grow into a major online platform challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in our institutions, public life and media. PAYPAL/ CARD PAYMENTS - ONE TIME & MONTHLY: You can donate in a variety of ways via our website: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/#do... It is set up to accept one time and monthly donations. ABOUT THE SHOW: So What You're Saying Is... (SWYSI) is a weekly discussion show with experts and significant figures from the political, cultural and academic worlds. The host is Peter Whittle (@PRWhittle), Founder & Director of The New Culture Forum, a Westminster-based think tank that seeks to challenge the cultural orthodoxies dominant in the media, academia, and British culture / society at large. JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Web: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk F: https://www.facebook.com/NCultureForum/ Y: http://www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum T: http://www.twitter.com/NewCultureForum (@NewCultureForum)

With the release of the paperback version of his best-selling book "The Madness of Crowds", Douglas Murray returns to the #SWYSI sofa to chat with Peter Whittle about the current state of the culture wars in Britain and the West. Murray believes the heart of the current #BLM problem we see in the USA is that America's youth are taught that their country has committed more harm than any other. As we've seen, this lamentable view is very real and present in the UK, too. Such ignorance, Murray continues, is most present amongst the members of the elite, whose children have been expensively educated to believe clear and blatant falsehoods. Although some thought the issue of trans in sports was the "tipping point" that would cause society's pendulum to swing back to a more sensible state of affairs, Douglas Murray argues that recent history is littered with similar "tipping point" moments (not least in the area of Islamic terrorism) and that these have proved, at best, damp squibs. Nevertheless, Murray does believe the voices of opposition to such madness are growing, hearteningly from the left, too. He highlights the importance of people like JK Rowling making their voices heard to "argue the truth". To preserve their sanity, Douglas suggests people try their best to depoliticize their lives. He believes that young people have been misled by thinking that purpose in life is achieved through political activism. If one thinks that everything in life is politics, then those who disagree become unmentionables -- people who have bad intentions. That causes a harsh division that is not healthy or sustainable. Douglas Murray's book may be purchased here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Madness-Crow... --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) AUDIO: If you prefer Audio you can subscribe on itunes or Soundcloud. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-923838732 itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/s... SUPPORT/DONATE: "So What You're Saying Is.." is still very new and to continue to produce quality programming we need your support. Your donations will help ensure the show not only continues but can grow into a major online platform challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in our institutions, public life and media. PAYPAL/ CARD PAYMENTS - ONE TIME & MONTHLY: You can donate in a variety of ways via our website: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/#do... It is set up to accept one time and monthly donations. ABOUT THE SHOW: So What You're Saying Is... (SWYSI) is a weekly discussion show with experts and significant figures from the political, cultural and academic worlds. The host is Peter Whittle (@PRWhittle), Founder & Director of The New Culture Forum, a Westminster-based think tank that seeks to challenge the cultural orthodoxies dominant in the media, academia, and British culture / society at large. JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Web: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk F: https://www.facebook.com/NCultureForum/ Y: http://www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum T: http://www.twitter.com/NewCultureForum (@NewCultureForum)