Marc Stears on the Importance of a Stumbling Squirrel

This week’s guest on Ratio Talks is a political theorist, leader of the UCL Policy Lab, and former speechwriter to ex-Labour Party leader Ed Milliband.

Marc Stears grounds his work in the meaning that we all find in our ordinary lives. The proposition is set out in his book Out of the Ordinary, an analysis of the work of British writers such as George Orwell, J.B. Priestly, Dylan Thomas, D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf.

The most vivid representation of the idea is Dylan Thomas’ insistance that a stumbling squirrel is at least as important as Hitler’s invasions. When Thomas was writing, politicians understood the importance of everyday life. The relentless centralisation of power has loosened the connection. Democracy is suffering as a result.

During the conversation Marc and I mentioned several books, TV shows and podcasts including:

Peter Mair, Ruling the Void: The Hollowing Out of Western Democracy, Verso Books

James Graham’s TV series Brian and Maggie on Channel 4

Ordinary Hope: A New Way of Changing Our Country and Ordinary Hope: A Mission to Rebuild from the UCL Policy Lab

Richard Galpin’s work on conversations as discussed in a previous podcast

Marc’s book Out of the Ordinary: How Everyday Life Inspired a Nation and How it Can Again, was published by Belknap/Harvard in 2021. It is beautifully written and full of love for life and culture.

We are joined at the end of the conversation by Alice Robson, Head of Communities at The Winch, a well established and highly esteemed civil society organisation, deeply rooted in community in Swiss Cottage North London. Alice links Marc’s words to community work, and reflects on what she learned as one of Marc’s students.

Ratio Talks is available on Substack, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and is engineered by Nik Paget Tomlinson. Get in touch with us any time by messaging us on the Substack.

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