Why I've been away...
Some quick updates on the Reith Lectures and how to attend or listen
Well that was unexpected.
If you follow me on Twitter X you might have already seen me announce that I have been selected as this years Reith Lecturer by the BBC. The list of recent previous lecturers is so overawing that it seems faintly fantastic - Hilary Mantel, Stephen Hawking, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. And there’s some guy called Robert Oppenheimer.
One thing that has been less common in recent years is lecturers from the social sciences. I think the last political scientist was the political philosopher Michael Sandel and the last social theorist Anthony Giddens. Ideas don’t come much bigger than from these two. And I will also endeavour to lecture about big, important ideas.
But as an empirical social scientist I also hope to draw on my more quantitative research. Fear not, there will be no graphs. That’s the Political Calculus Substack USP. I will, though, draw on my survey research and on fascinating recent research (by others!) in political science and the social sciences more broadly.
The series is titled Our Democratic Future. It is inspired by, but moves beyond, a little book I might have mentioned - Why Politics Fails, which came out earlier this year. I pick four of the big themes from that book - democracy, security, solidarity, and prosperity - and try and address why in each case we seem, today, to be on the edge of crisis and what we might be able to do about that through our political institutions.
There will be four lectures:
The first is The Future of Democracy and will be in London.
The second is The Future of Security and will be in Berlin.
The third is The Future of Solidarity and will be in Sunderland.
The final lecture is The Future of Prosperity and will be in Atlanta.
Exact dates and locations will be announced soon but they will likely be from late October through late November.
Here’s the important bit - if you want to come and see me, tickets open on September the 20th on the BBC website. I think from here. Obviously, I cherish my Substack audience - you are all very welcome. Though, also, you won’t all fit at once.
In terms of broadcast dates, I’ll leave that to the BBC, but my basic understanding is that they will come out weekly on Radio 4 in the days and weeks after the actual lectures are held - so, at the end of the year. They will also be available on the BBC World Service and, for those people who would prefer to hear my dulcet tones on repeat at their convenience, as a podcast on BBC Sounds.
It seems a little superfluous to say this but obviously I am completely humbled to have been asked to do this. And it also means I have to finish writing the lectures! So I wouldn’t expect to hear too much from me on this Substack for a bit. But, fear not, I’m sure I will be back soon with the rich diet of MRP polls, interactive apps, text analysis, complicated historical analogies, and so forth that I have foolishly created as a rod for my own back.
Otherwise, wish me luck.
Here’s the bumph at the end. Why Politics Fails was selected as an ‘unmissable’ politics book in Waterstones’ April monthly newsletter. So, don’t miss it! You can order from Waterstones here. Or a signed copy from Topping here. Or at the behemoth here. North Americans head here.
The paperback will be coming out in the near future but why not indulge yourselves in the wild orange stylings of the hardback, when you remove the jacket. It will brighten your bookshelf. Possibly also your mood - not guaranteed.
And if you don’t subscribe - my Substack is free so please click below.
