How the British Establishment REALLY Works | Aaron Bastani meets Simon Kuper

Simon Kuper has been a journalist at the Financial Times for three decades - so he’s seen up close how Britain works, and who it works for.

In his latest book, ‘Good Chaps: How Corrupt Politicians Broke Our Law and Institutions’, Kuper chronicles changes in the instincts of Britain’s ruling class - and how corruption came to be increasingly normalised.

What do these elites believe? When did those beliefs change? And who are the people, places and policies that led to such shifts? Watch the conversation to find out.

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[NovaraMedia]

Comments referring to audio issues - these have now been fixed.

[jerryalder]

Just to point out that there was not a £3 membership for the Labour Party. In 2015 it was possible to register as a supporter of the LP for £3 and vote in the leadership election. Thousands of people registered and after Corbyn was elected leader many joined the LP paying the normal fees. The Labour Party cleared it's debts quickly and for a short period did not have to rely on big money donors many of which had stopped funding the Party due to Corbyn's leadership. Having the LP funded by it's membership and the trade union movement was good for democracy and a protection against corruption.

[MrGavinBoyd]

In football £250, 000 is called a bung. In politics £250, 000 is called a donation.

[irishsummits]

At 9:30 he says "Britain is a country that for 350 years there's no invasions, no famines, no civil The Irish famine of 1845-1850 happened when Ireland was part of the UK and the civil war in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1998 happened when Northern Ireland was part of the UK. It is astonishing how anything negative 'didn't happen here' and Britain can be cleaved away from the UK when it suits the narrative. I lost confidence in the podcast after that. Also a complete failure to even mention the influence of bad actors from Israel in British politics. I won't be buying his book.

[Yogafran]

Interesting, informative guest & always impressed with Aaron's interviews & research. Amazing to get through a whole interview on corruption in British politics without mentioning the Israel Lobby.

[laogong]

Real estate, rentier capital, neo liberalism, create big money for the few, create big and increasing costs for everyone else

[eleanordoran]

Simon Kuper mentions on several occasions, the typical bad guys of foreign influence (the Russians, Gulf States, oligarchs) but interestingly, he does not mention the US or Israel.

[padraigohooligan]

The basic annual salary of a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons is £91, 346, plus expenses, from April 2024. In addition, MPs are able to claim allowances to cover the costs of running an office and employing staff, and maintaining a constituency residence or a residence in London.

[grahamebell]

The dead children don’t affect me like they used to.

The images. The videos. They still disturb and horrify, but not like they did in the beginning. Not anywhere close.

And, honestly, I hate it. I hate that that part of me has been stolen.

As much as I hated having my heart kicked around all day and having nightmares all night, I’d rather have that than this decreased sensitivity.

People should not become desensitized to such horrors. People should not become accustomed to decapitated babies and small, mangled bodies. To corpses run over by tanks. To body parts carried in plastic bags by loved ones.

These things should jar you. They should rattle you to your core. But they don’t anymore. Not here.

I held onto it for as long as I could. It felt like a solemn duty, to hold on to that part of me that still screamed with an appropriate mixture of grief and outrage at the latest tiny shredded body. But desensitization sets in whether you want it to or not. That’s how they create soldiers, after all.

I hate that these pricks have amputated that part of me, and I hate that I know it will never grow back. I have been permanently disfigured inside, mutated by atrocities, all the way down here safe in the Melbourne suburbs.

And I hate that this is happening all around the world to everyone else who’s kept their gaze fixed on Gaza. All around the world humanity is being mutated. All around the world something sacred is being stolen from the hearts of good people. All around the world people are finding callouses where there used to be tenderness.

And I want my tenderness back, god damn it. I want my tenderness back.

Give me back the nightmares. Give me back the tears. Give me back the dry retching over the toilet, and the shaking under the blankets. Give me back the collapsing onto the couch and not moving for several hours until my system can recover from what my eyes just saw.

I’ll take it. I’ll take it all back again. Just give me back that soft, tender part of myself that has been withered to dust by a live-streamed genocide.

I will take good care of it. I will feed it good things. I’ll give it plenty of sunshine, cupping it delicately in my hands by the window. I will take it for walks, and let it rejoice at the children running and playing, with their parts all together and their insides on the inside.

Don’t leave me hardened and darkened like a soldier. Give me back that soft, sacred part of myself that weeps at the corpses of children, so I can behold the world gently again.

[chadalexander]

PLEASE FIX THE SOUND - Simon's volume is coming through on only the right ear and Aaron's on left. You guys need to mix the volume so it's mono or only slightly panned. I'm sure it's a mistake but makes for a horrible listener experience.

[anthill]

If you ban big donations to the parties you also have to ban politicians being on the advisory boards of big companies while and after they are in office, because that`s how theses companies will otherwise buy their influence. Also personal gifts like vacations, etc.

[desolationroad]

MPs get over £91, 000.00, not £70k. This doesn't include any expenses they claim and is not far off being three times average annual earnings.

[mediastudiesnetwork]

Wonderful guest - I will order the book… fascinating to have British corruption and its history explained so clearly, and with comparison to Europe.

[AtlasCanTakeIt]

...let's get another 50 comments about the audio, guys. I think the horse is still alive.

[garyweir]

This phenomenal episode, ladies and gentleman, is the blueprint for a cleaner politics. Thank you, Aaron, and everyone at Novara.

[roseannemain]

I lived and worked in London in 1980s couldn't begin to even think of it now. Like the comment couldn't even afford the coffee mate!! Too right.

[MrGavinBoyd]

Guardian article 8/2/23 👇
Boris Johnson has received £2.5m as an advance for speeches, meaning he has received earnings, hospitality and donations worth more than £5m over the last six months since leaving office.

[duncanpoundcake]

£70k for an MP? It's £91.346k plus all the goodies. It's more than enough. If you want to earn more, don't be an MP.

[MartinJames]

MP's pay is higher than you said:
April 2024 £91, 346
April 2023 £86, 584
April 2022 £84, 144
April 2021 £81, 932,
April 2020 £81, 932

It hasn't been £70, 000 for a decade.

Chairs of select committees, and even the most junior bag-carrier ministers get considerably more.

[kvelocity]

This needs a reupload after the audio is fixed