Ep 1: The liberal despair of Rafael Behr
nickcohen.substack.com
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Writers and columnists Nick Cohen and Rafael Behr discuss the events that have shaped our world and dominated their personal and professional lives. Rafael discusses his new book - Politics - A Survivor's Guide.
Rafael discusses how the impact of #Brexit and the wave of nationalist fervour in its wake has shaped his attitude to politics and the UK.
Ep 1: The liberal despair of Rafael Behr
Rafael - as I am sure he is aware - is not the only one in despair. I find myself wishing that I had been born in 1955 instead of 1965 and that everything was still in black and white. Being born 10 years early would mean I would probably have a house bought and paid for, a decent private pension and a state one to pay for the bills. Instead I’m facing the prospect of my retirement age being extended by another year - like my sister was a few years ago - presumably in the hood that I shuffle off this mortal coil before ‘they’ pay out. ‘They’ couldn’t lie in their bed straight.
The point Behr makes early on about politics being boring and most ppl not feeling the need to be deeply engaged is an important one
If the last 8 years have taught us anything it’s that the conventional wisdom of the late 90s/early aughts was completely wrong, instead of low voter turnout showing that ppl hated politicians and were upset about what politicians were doing, it showed the opposite, that in fact ppl were generally kind of happy with their lives and the direction of the country so didn’t feel the need to obsess about it.
Since 2016 I’m sure we all know friends and family who used to think we were kind of weird for caring about politics who now obsessively tweet and Facebook post about politics, we’ve seen voter turnout increase and increase, does anyone think ppl are happier with politics and the country today than they were around the turn of the millennium