Thinking Class

John Gillam

Thinking Class is a weekly long-form interview podcast exploring the cultural, historical, and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, and the Western world. Hosted by John Gillam, the show brings together historians, philosophers, theologians, economists, and public intellectuals for conversations that go beyond the news cycle by examining the deep roots of the West's present predicament and asking what genuine recovery might require. Guests have included David Starkey, Lord Jonathan Sumption, Lord Nigel Biggar, Robert Tombs, Peter Hitchens, Lionel Shriver, Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Stock, Carl Trueman, and many others. If you value serious conversation about Britain, the West, and the forces shaping our future, then this is the show for you. New episodes every week.

  1. prije 2 d

    #142 - Nathan Pinkoski - France Sacrificed Free Speech To Keep The Peace. Britain Did The Same. Now Neither Has Either.

    Nathan Pinkoski is a Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute, the translator of Eric Zemmour’s The Suicide of France, and author of the forthcoming Silent Revolution: The End of the Liberal West. He writes for First Things and Compact and publishes the Substack Lament for the Nations. In this conversation, we think out loud about: — Why Zemmour’s Suicide of France sold half a million copies and what it tells the English-speaking world — How the 1968 revolution conquered society rather than the state — and nobody noticed the difference — The 10% threshold: when the foreign-born population reaches a certain level, free speech is the price of keeping the peace — How Britain could dismantle its entire progressive legal architecture in a single statute — and why France, Canada, and America cannot — Pierre Trudeau’s constitutional coup: how Canada became the end game of perverted Westminster, and why only Tony Benn and Enoch Powell saw it coming — The three deaths of the father: de Gaulle, paternal authority, and the gold standard — and why the West no longer produces leaders — How Vichy was weaponised to impose collective guilt on the French people and delegitimise national sovereignty — Why the smartphone killed assimilation and the Ellis Island myth is dead — Why the only way to save the West is Christian revival Find Nathan Pinkoski: Substack: lamentforthenations.substack.com X: x.com/npinkoski The Suicide of France: available from Encounter Books Related episodes you might enjoy: — France Is Fracturing Along Ethnic And Religious Lines. Britain Is Next: [LINK] — R.R. Reno — What Happens When The West’s Strong Gods Return: [LINK] — The West Killed God. Then It Killed Man: https://youtu.be/zwhbWVc1PgU — How Ireland Changed Beyond Recognition: [LINK] The Call of England — a documentary series retracing a 1927 journey through England: Episode 1: https://youtu.be/muBQWIP6ZQQ Episode 2: https://youtu.be/jbVZfSR3ZF4 Albion Institute — a formation institution for the civilisational inheritance of the English-speaking peoples. Co-founded with Lord Nigel Biggar CBE. albioninstitute.org Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, the Anglosphere and the wider West. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingClass ✍ Substack: https://thinkingclass.substack.com 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37vvzrlxpo8eORDoTDRtbH 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-class/id1717021615 🐦 X: https://x.com/thinkingclasses New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

  2. 20. kol

    #141 - R.R. Reno - What Happens When The West’s Strong Gods Return And Find Nobody Home

    R.R. Reno is the editor of First Things, the most important journal of religion and public life in America. He is the author of Return of the Strong Gods, In the Ruins of the Church, and a forthcoming rock climbing memoir. He has taught theology at Creighton University and has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Commentary. In this conversation, we think out loud about: — What the strong gods look like when they return to a country that no longer has any gods at all — and whether there is a floor below which even the strong gods cannot reach — Why Christianity remains a contested but robust force in American public life while Britain's established church has been abandoned by its own people — How Blair's open society theology disfigured Britain's understanding of itself — Pierre Manent's argument that the modern West has irreversibly chosen the city of man over the city of God — Why the first duty of the sovereign is to preserve the realm — not because it is conducive to greater utility but because the realm has intrinsic value — Alex Karp's observation that Europeans no longer believe their civilisation will last — Why multiculturalism is a theory designed to explain how disintegration is actually the birth of something new — and why it cannot work — The Parmenidean resurgence: classical schools, elite religious revival, and the young men turning to rigorous Christianity — Why Trump is the Vishnu of early 21st century politics — the great destroyer after whom someone must build Find R.R. Reno and First Things: Website: firstthings.com Subscribe: firstthings.com/subscribe X: x.com/raborenn Related episodes you might enjoy: — Carl Trueman — The West Killed God. Then It Killed Man. Now Something Darker Is Coming: https://youtu.be/zwhbWVc1PgU — Iain McGilchrist — There Is A Great Deal Of Ruin In The Western World And This Is Why: https://youtu.be/yrlmkVl86-0 — Pierre d'Alancaisez — The Custodians Of Beauty Became Its Gravediggers: https://youtu.be/KXn2z3mfCDk The Call of England — a documentary series retracing a 1927 journey through England to discover what remains of the national inheritance: Watch Episode 1 here: https://youtu.be/muBQWIP6ZQQWatch Episode 2 here: https://youtu.be/jbVZfSR3ZF4Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, the Anglosphere and the wider West. Hosted by John Gillam.  ▶ YouTube ✍ Substack 🎧 Spotify 🍎 Apple 🐦 X New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

  3. 13. kol

    #140 - Stephen Blackwood - The Man Who Built A University Because The West Forgot What Education Is For

    Stephen Blackwood is President and Founder of Ralston College in Savannah, Georgia. The Chancellor is Dr Iain McGilchrist. He is on the advisory board for the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC).  This episode is supported by Aquinas Tuition, which provides bespoke academic tutoring for children who deserve to be stretched, not managed. In this conversation, we think out loud about: — What Blackwood saw inside the Western university system at its highest level that made him believe the existing institutions could not be saved — How Boethius took the seeds of civilisation and cast them into the future from a prison cell — and why that matters now more than ever — Why "the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be lit" and why Ralston brings students to Samos, Greece, to light them on fire — The deathbed test: did I live as I should have lived? And why no culture that fails to help its people answer that question deserves to endure — Why the universities are the most upstream influence over the degradation of Western culture — The difference between legal protection of free speech and a culture of genuine truth-seeking — What Tocqueville saw in America that Britain is losing, which is to say self-governance as the precondition for democracy — Why Roger Scruton was right that a culture is just the things we have loved, and transmitting it is just teaching others to love them too — What growing up as the eldest of ten on a Canadian farm taught Blackwood about human nature, duty, and what a human being at full gallop looks like Find Stephen Blackwood and Ralston College: - Website: ralston.ac - Podcast: The Ralston College Podcast - YouTube Related episodes you might enjoy: — Iain McGilchrist — There Is A Great Deal Of Ruin In The Western World And This Is Why — Carl Trueman — The West Killed God. Then It Killed Man. Now Something Darker Is Coming — Pierre d'Alancaisez — The Custodians Of Beauty Became Its Gravediggers Watch The Call of England, a documentary series retracing a 1927 journey through England to discover what remains of the national inheritance: Watch Episode 1 hereWatch Episode 2 hereThinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, the Anglosphere and the wider West. Hosted by John Gillam.  ▶ YouTube ✍ Substack 🎧 Spotify 🍎 Apple 🐦 X New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

  4. 6. kol

    #139 - Tom Ough & Calum Drysdale - How Britain Forgot How To Build And Why The Consequences Are Coming

    Tom Ough is Senior Editor at UnHerd and author of The Anti-Catastrophe League. Calum Drysdale is an engineer and writer. Together they host Anglofuturism — a podcast exploring ambitious, outlandish, and remarkably achievable ideas to revitalise Britain from their thatched space station. Robert Jenrick declared himself an Anglofuturist at a 2025 conference. Curtis Yarvin has appeared on their show. In this conversation, we think out loud about: — What Anglofuturism actually is — and whether the Britain it imagines is one that also knows who built it and why it matters — Whether you can be an Anglofuturist without being a cultural conservative — and whether material renewal without cultural renewal is just efficiency — Whether Britain can become Europe's energy powerhouse — offshore wind, Rolls-Royce SMRs, North Sea oil, battery storage — without paving over the green and pleasant land — Whether population growth is necessary for prosperity — or whether a high-tech, high-skill country can stabilise its population and still thrive — Why the technocratic class that would need to deliver the Anglofuturist future is the same class that produced the decline — and whether it can be removed — The demographic question that Anglofuturism cannot avoid — and what "a future that feels like home" requires — Whether beauty is a non-negotiable — and who decides what beautiful means when the institutions that once knew have been captured — What the ordinary Briton, the CEO, and the Prime Minister should each do on Monday morning Find Anglofuturism: Substack: anglofuturism.substack.com YouTube: youtube.com/@anglofuturism Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/0PxQEO62ESL7DYmZHLgQID Related episodes you might enjoy: — Pierre d'Alancaisez — The Custodians Of Beauty Became Its Gravediggers: https://youtu.be/KXn2z3mfCDk — William Clouston — Why British Politics Governs Against The National Interest: https://youtu.be/Rm2Qp-1qnJw — Michael Lind — Why America & Britain Keep Betraying Their Working Class: https://youtu.be/YN212csIsvU — Jonathan Rose — What The British Working Class Lost And Who Is Responsible: https://youtu.be/OKHcEo2QrJg — Lord Tony Sewell — Life At The Bottom In Broken Britain: https://youtu.be/WKf26_Va_yM The Call of England - a documentary series retracing a 1927 journey through England to discover what remains of the national inheritance: Watch Episode 1 here: https://youtu.be/muBQWIP6ZQQWatch Episode 2 here: https://youtu.be/jbVZfSR3ZF4Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, the Anglosphere and the wider West. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingClass ✍ Substack: https://thinkingclass.substack.com 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37vvzrlxpo8eORDoTDRtbH 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-class/id1717021615 🐦 X: https://x.com/thinkingclasses New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

  5. 30. srp

    #138 - Ricardo Duchesne - The Greatness And Ruin Of Western Civilisation

    Ricardo Duchesne is a Puerto Rican-born Canadian historical sociologist. He studied history at McGill University, received his PhD in Social and Political Thought from York University (awarded the Doctoral Prize for best dissertation of the year), and served as professor of sociology at the University of New Brunswick until his retirement in 2019. His major works include The Uniqueness of Western Civilisation, and Greatness and Ruin.  In this conversation, we think out loud about: — What made the West so continuously innovative across thousands of years — from the Indo-Europeans through Greece and Rome to the modern era — Why the Faustian drive — the relentless urge to create, discover, and push beyond every known boundary — appears unique to European civilisation — The discovery of the thinking self in ancient Greece and why self-consciousness and reason developed differently in the West — Why the very qualities that made the West great — rationalism, individualism, universalism — contain the seeds of its own unravelling — How liberal progressivism evolves logically from John Locke through John Stuart Mill to open borders and multiculturalism — Why capitalism and liberalism together have created a system that structurally resists reform — Whether civilisational recovery is possible — or whether we are witnessing an irreversible decline Find Ricardo Duchesne: X: x.com/dr_duchesne Books: https://link.amazon/B00NSP1LA Related episodes you might enjoy: — Iain McGilchrist — There Is A Great Deal Of Ruin In The Western World And This Is Why: https://youtu.be/yrlmkVl86-0 — Carl Trueman — The West Killed God. Then It Killed Man. Now Something Darker Is Coming: https://youtu.be/zwhbWVc1PgU?si=za3CftJjNxgiKXBd — Jonathan Rose — What The British Working Class Lost And Who Is Responsible: https://youtu.be/OKHcEo2QrJg?si=BR4hwL26sdoMS8_4 — Pierre d'Alancaisez — The Custodians Of Beauty Became Its Gravediggers: https://youtu.be/KXn2z3mfCDk?si=AHSHOEcfvNNKYq7G The Call of England — a documentary series retracing a 1927 journey through England to discover what remains of the national inheritance:  - Watch Episode 1 here: https://youtu.be/muBQWIP6ZQQ?si=T1W7cpepCo-qCwmv - Watch Episode 2 here: https://youtu.be/jbVZfSR3ZF4?si=Sblz4ZW_U2Gh8RWV Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, the Anglosphere and the wider West. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingClass ✍ Substack: https://thinkingclass.substack.com 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37vvzrlxpo8eORDoTDRtbH 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-class/id1717021615 🐦 X: https://x.com/thinkingclasses New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

  6. 23. srp

    #137 - Clement Knox - The American Founders Didn't Invent A New Civilisation But Defended An English One

    Clement Knox is a writer and historian. He is the author of The Scramble for America: How the United States Conquered a Continent (William Collins, 2026), and writes at Past Notes on Substack. Two hundred and fifty years ago, the United States was thirteen coastal colonies clinging to the Atlantic seaboard. Within a single lifetime, it became a continental empire stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific — and the founding generation openly called it exactly that: an empire. This conversation asks how it happened, and who actually did it, because the people who crossed the Appalachians, fought the wars, and settled the frontier were not a random sample of humanity. They were the descendants of specific English and British folkways, and their story tells us a great deal about the inheritance they carried across the ocean. In this conversation we think out loud about: Why the founding generation openly called their own project an empire — and why that fact became invisible to later AmericansFrederick Jackson Turner's argument that America only became culturally distinct once settlers crossed the Appalachians and had to build civilisation anewDavid Hackett Fischer's four British folkways and which of them actually drove the push westwardWhy the Scots-Irish Borderers who settled Appalachia resemble the Bedouin of Arabia more than they resemble the East Coast settlements they left behindThe recurring tension between liberty and order in the Anglo-American character, from the Whiskey Rebellion to the modern dayGeorge Washington as a land speculator and enclosure man who died the richest man in the country — the story behind the mythWhy neither the settlers nor the Native Americans held a monopoly on civilisation or savagery, and what a forensic reading of the primary sources actually showsWhy Clement changed his mind about universalism — and what that means for how the modern world's institutions were builtAnd if you haven't already, go and watch The Call of England — my documentary series retracing H.V. Morton's 1927 journey to find out what's left of the old country. Episode one and two are live now on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCHptEOmbMRzSV7TQqVMJxAVohAEnvLdA&si=VcpwRhAUmrcrWOTm Find Clement Knox: Substack: https://clementknox.substack.comRelated episodes: — Gary Gerstle — The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: https://youtu.be/KbCyaKcj0E8?si=jtY9S8tX493eqUkz — Michael Lind — Why America & Britain Keep Betraying Their Working Class: https://youtu.be/YN212csIsvU?si=a9BsVmo0sqGI-qoy — David Starkey — Britain as a Disaster Since 1945: https://youtu.be/aI3tBbqMmXY?si=SI9B_qVavRQH-EGb — Katharine Birbalsingh — She Told 4,000 People The West Is Committing Suicide: https://youtu.be/L60dtIoALgA?si=yXhD5G8C-4zEueiR Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical, and moral forces shaping England, Britain, and the wider Western world. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingClass ✍️ Substack: https://thinkingclass.substack.com 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37vvzrlxpo8eORDoTDRtbH 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-class/id1717021615 🐦 X: https://x.com/thinkingclasses New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

  7. 16. srp

    #136 - Katharine Birbalsingh - Why Britain Stopped Believing Children Need Discipline

    Katharine Birbalsingh is the headmistress and founder of Michaela Community School in Wembley, and a former UK Social Mobility Commissioner. She built the most successful school in Britain from nothing — in one of London's poorest boroughs — by insisting on the things the educational establishment now treats as radical: discipline, gratitude, knowledge, and the belief that every child is capable of excellence. Her results are extraordinary. Almost nobody in the profession will copy her. In this conversation, we think out loud about: Why Katharine believes children are born naughty rather than good — and why saying so out loud triggered a national media stormWhy the most progressive schools in Britain are often the expensive private ones, not the state schools everyone assumes are failingWhat actually happens inside a school that treats children as capable of excellence rather than victims of circumstanceThe ARC speech that caused a stir — on minoritarian victimhood, institutional shame, and why she thinks a certain group of people in Britain need to simply "take a break"Her real disagreement with Connor Tomlinson — whether ancestry or shared values are what actually holds a nation togetherWhy she believes schools now shape children more powerfully than families do — and what that means for the future of the countryFind Katharine Birbalsingh: - Strictly Education: https://www.youtube.com/@StrictlyEdPod - Michaela School: https://www.michaela.education/ Related episodes: - Lord Tony Sewell — Life At The Bottom In Broken Britain: https://youtu.be/WKf26_Va_yM?si=AjIKvZdCndHSyTx4 - Frank Furedi — In Defence of Populism: https://youtu.be/qTdxAR40T4E?si=MREy9eLow-XGWoS4 Jonathan Rose — What The British Working Class Lost And Who Is Responsible: https://youtu.be/OKHcEo2QrJg?si=cE6cr_Ypgs6geVyh The Call of England — a documentary series retracing a 1927 journey through England to discover what remains of the national inheritance. Watch Episode 1 here: https://youtu.be/muBQWIP6ZQQ?si=y2zHLbn8juRbQidl Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, the Anglosphere and the wider West. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingClass ✍ Substack: https://thinkingclass.substack.com 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37vvzrlxpo8eORDoTDRtbH 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-class/id1717021615 🐦 X: https://x.com/thinkingclasses New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

  8. 9. srp

    #135 - Pierre d'Alancaisez - 'I Helped Build The Cult Of Contemporary Art And Then I Walked Away'

    Pierre d’Alancaisez is a writer, curator, and researcher working with the multiple politics of the arts. He is the resident art critic for the English magazine The Critic, and his writing has appeared in outlets such as ArtReview, The Spectator, and Compact.  *NOTE: If you downloaded this before 11th July, there are sync issues on the audio, therefore please re-download for a better listening experience*. In 2024, he co-founded Verdurin, a space for experimentation in aesthetics, learning, and the difficult conversations which drive today’s culture. Pierre previously directed waterside contemporary, a gallery that tested social and political questions in the art market. He curated exhibitions with artists who included Turner Prize nominee Oreet Ashery and has commissioned works with artists such as Mirza and Butler which traveled to Artes Mundi and Sydney Biennale. Having trained in the sciences before coming to artistic practice, Pierre also worked on cultural exchange and engagement strategies in higher education and the charity sector and has held senior positions in publishing and financial services. Pierre writes for The Critic and runs Verdurin, a London-based salon, publisher, and events series. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms. Find Pierre D'Alancaisez: Personal website: https://petitpoi.net/Verdurin website: https://verdur.in/Substack: https://verdurin.substack.com/profile/notesX: https://x.com/verdur_inYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@verdurinRelated episodes: — #127 Jonathan Rose — What The British Working Class Lost And Who Is Responsible: https://youtu.be/OKHcEo2QrJg?si=DY2XKBvRopuluvM- — #106 Carl Trueman— The West Killed God. Then It Killed Man. Now Something Darker Is Coming: https://youtu.be/zwhbWVc1PgU?si=xGJ4g5784J9qGcZd — #130 Iain McGilchrist— There Is A Great Deal Of Ruin In The Western World And This Is Why: https://youtu.be/yrlmkVl86-0?si=k6egq2NGvyo1mnxU Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical, and moral forces shaping England, Britain, and the wider Western world. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingClass ✍️ Substack: https://thinkingclass.substack.com 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37vvzrlxpo8eORDoTDRtbH 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-class/id1717021615 🐦 X: https://x.com/thinkingclasses New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

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Opis

Thinking Class is a weekly long-form interview podcast exploring the cultural, historical, and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, and the Western world. Hosted by John Gillam, the show brings together historians, philosophers, theologians, economists, and public intellectuals for conversations that go beyond the news cycle by examining the deep roots of the West's present predicament and asking what genuine recovery might require. Guests have included David Starkey, Lord Jonathan Sumption, Lord Nigel Biggar, Robert Tombs, Peter Hitchens, Lionel Shriver, Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Stock, Carl Trueman, and many others. If you value serious conversation about Britain, the West, and the forces shaping our future, then this is the show for you. New episodes every week.

Informacije

  • Autor
    John Gillam
  • Aktivne godine
    2023. - 2026.
  • Epizode
    141
  • Ocjena
    Korektno
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Thinking Class
  • Web‑stranica emisije
    Thinking Class

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