But What Can I Do?: Why Politics Has Gone So Wrong, and How You Can Help Fix It

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Fiona thought we were still going through a period of intense recrimination – she blamed me for bringing so much pressure into the family, I blamed her for forcing me out of the role I felt I was made for – was really trying her best and suggested we go for a walk to talk things over. Again.

What Can I Do?: Why Politics Has Gone So Wrong, and How But What Can I Do?: Why Politics Has Gone So Wrong, and How

With any major change, there will always be a political component. But I think it is incredible what change you can bring about if you get involved on the ground”. As we come to the end of our chat. I ask Campbell whether he agrees with his erstwhile Clinton-era counterpart and political strategist, James Carville, that campaigning is a sacred mix of labour and love. As with any system, proportional representation of course poses risks. Opponents argue that it would open the doors to extremists entering Parliament. But I would respond that we already have extremists in power, and they have been able to gain and wield that power in no small part because of our voting system. Political Strategist, New European editor-at-large, mental health campaigner and co-host of the country’s Number 1 podcast The Rest is Politics, Alastair Campbell comes to UCL for a special opening event of the UCL Political Science, Policy & Practice seminar series for 2023 in partnership with the UCL Policy Lab. UCL Culture Bloomsbury Theatre Discussion/Q&A , Talk Current Students public But What Can I Do? In conversation with Alastair Campbell So if one and 10 are out of bounds, how does the rest of my scale work? Two feels great. I wake, having slept well; Fiona [Millar, a journalist and education campaigner] is alongside me and I feel blessed that she has stayed with me for four decades of considerable ups and downs; I have a day ahead that will keep me busy, motivated, doing something vaguely important. Three and four are slightly downscale variations on the same themes.Most of the newspapers are not really newspapers at all, they are political players as well as spectators and their bias and tendency to sensationalism has grown worse... Our politics is a mess. We have leaders who can't or shouldn't be allowed to lead. We endure governments that lie, and seek to undermine our democratic values. And we are confronted with policies that serve the interests of the privileged few. It's no surprise that so many of us feel frustrated, let down and drawn to ask, 'But what can I do?' That the current government has to be shown the door is surely now clear to all but the most committed Tories. Austerity. Brexit. Covid corruption – a disastrous ABC contributing to, and being topped by, a cost of living crisis that is pushing millions to the brink and beyond, and exposing Rishi Sunak’s regime as horrifically out of touch. So instead of the Tories trying to appeal to the young, they now try to stop them voting, by bringing in unnecessary new rules on voter ID, and allowing older people to use forms of ID the young cannot. At a time when we should be defeating cynicism and apathy, the Tories are trying to create it. At a time when we should be building up our democratic institutions, they are deliberately undermining them. Just the other day, I was doing a debate with Gary Neville for Debate Mate” the charity that pairs working class young people with adults to help them gain confidence in debating. “I was arguing that politics was the best route to changing the world.”

But What Can I Do? by Alastair Campbell review: A doom

Would an Israeli ground invasion shift international perceptions of the conflict? Why is Labour unhappy with the Lib Dems? Is China teetering on the brink of economic chaos?The dynamo I normally feel 24/7 whirring inside me is switched off. Literally, you feel as if there is a power cut. Energy gone. Power gone. Desire gone. Motivation gone. The ability to feel anything other than the numbing pain the cloud has brought into you – gone. Everything gone, gone, all gone. Gary’s argument was fascinating. He argued that much of the change and improvements in Manchester have been made despite politics and not because of it”. Neville stressed that this wasn’t a criticism of the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham. His powers remain limited, and much of this work predates the creation of the mayoralty but has more to do with the passion and brilliance of local campaigners, businesses, and communities. We need more than a change of government. We need a transformation in our politics and our political system. I know my depression will always be a part of me. I’ve accepted that now. I still have suicidal thoughts and dark days, and I always will. But at least now I can recognise them, I feel them coming on, and I can deal with them better than I used to. There may one day be a vaccine for Covid-19. But I doubt there will ever be a vaccine or a cure for depression. It is part of the human condition; it is certainly part of mine. I’ve spent decades learning to live with that. And now, through trial and error, through medication and therapy, through highs and lows, above all through grief and love, I have finally got to know my enemy. I live better for having dealt with it. And I deal with it, through living better. I hope that for some of you out there, this book can help you do the same.

‎The Rest Is Politics on Apple Podcasts

This valuing of those who serve goes beyond the public sector. To those working to bring about change in communities and those outside politics. In the book, Campbell talks about people like Alex Smith, founder of Cares UK. I personally found his insights riveting, his cornucopia of highly pertinent anecdotes both entertaining and didactic, and his sharing of knowledge and understanding profoundly interesting. I put it to him that the book had much to offer a youthful mind, entirely forgetting that it had broadened my own with its penetrating truth : I don’t think it is exclusively aimed at the young. It is aimed at anyone who feels angry and frustrated and is looking to channel their anger and frustration to make change. And I agree that there is way too much cynicism, apathy and dumbing down among all generations. But I do feel we need to get the young interested and engaged, and understanding how politics works both so that they can influence it but also change it.”Our politics is a mess. Leaders who can't or shouldn't be allowed to lead. Governments that lie, and seek to undermine our democratic values. It's no surprise that so many of us feel frustrated, let down and drawn to ask, ' But what can I do?' Campbell is a master communicator. He knows the power words have to change the world. Such is his love of language and the ideas it conveys, he’s even coined his own neologisms. Combining ‘reliance’ with ‘perseverance’ saw him invent a word sitting at the epicentre of his thinking and his book’s can-do optimism - ’Perseviliance’… Perhaps the most important reform needed, however, is a change in how we elect our MPs. There is no such thing as a perfect electoral system. But our first past the post system is so far from perfect that it too must be revised and made fit for the very changed politics of today. To find out more about Policy Lab and get the latest news events, sign up for their newsletter here.

I was wrong about our political system – compulsory voting is

What advice would Campbell give to those following the election campaign today? In his new book But what can I do: why politics has gone so wrong and how you can change it, Campbell attempts to set out the recipe for success. Written as a guide for a new generation of leaders and campaigners, who he thinks could help turn politics around, it’s part campaign tool, part inspirational guide and part support manual. After all, Campbell knows all too well how bruising politics can be. like him or loathe him, his words deserve an audience.It all combines to fuel rather than challenge cynicism and apathy. Yet what I sense going round the country is a real interest in political issues, but something close to disgust at a lot of what politics has become, and the way it is presented to people. I do think that can change, but it needs a lot more than a change of government.Our politics is a mess. Leaders who can't or shouldn't be allowed to lead. Governments that lie, and seek to undermine our democratic values. Policies that serve the interests of the privileged few. It's no surprise that so many of us feel frustrated, let down and drawn to ask, 'But what can I do?' His latest authorial outing, But What Can I Do? was published recently. Part call to arms, part practical handbook, Campbell presents us with his trenchant analysis of why our nation’s politics has become a septic imbroglio threatening to undermine our democratic values, and democracy itself. For Campbell, contemporary political dialogue has been insidiously corrupted by a divisive culture of ad hominem argument, ignored malfeasance and the shrewd promulgation of falsehoods designed to sustain the influence of elitist dissemblers at the expense of the societal good. Just the other day, I was doing a debate with Gary Neville for Debate Mate” the charity that pairs working class young people with adults to help them gain confidence in debating. “I was arguing that politics was the best route to changing the world.” Does the scale help? I find it does. Ruling out one and 10 helps, but I have definitely been at nine. In Australia recently, where I was announced as a global ambassador for Australians for Mental Health, a road transport official talked to me about the official suicide statistics. He said the real figures were totally underestimated “because so many road traffic deaths, which are classed as accidents, are actually almost certainly suicides.” That really resonated with me.