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

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We need big change in the way politics is done. I strongly favour lowering the voting age, compulsory voting, and political education in schools, including primary schools, just on the basics of what politics is and why it matters. Children need to learn how to argue and how to communicate and make decisions. I also think we need greater devolution to the nations and the regions of the UK.” 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.

But What Can I Do? In conversation with Alastair Campbell

But What Can I Do? Why Politics Has Gone So Wrong, And How You Can Help Fix It by Alastair Campbell ( Penguin Random House ) is out now 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. Every morning as I wake, I give myself a number. From one to 10. My depression scale. So much of the day ahead will depend on that first feeling, and the mark I give to my mood. Its three-part structure is a formula for successful campaigning. His audience? Well, the book tour has felt as much like a campaign as a sales drive. Campbell is in a fight to prove that, for all its faults, politics can make a difference in an age of apathy and anger. 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

Echoing my point ut supra, Campbell uses the words of others to both express his argument and lend it borrowed weight. More accurately, inspired by the words of others he admires, his book is sprinkled with quotes from political and cultural giants of both the past, and the present. Obama, Thunberg, Zelenskiy, Julia Gillard and François Hollande all find themselves helping to freight Campbell’s activist cargo. I asked him which of the many quotes he draws upon is his favourite :

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

To find out more about Policy Lab and get the latest news events, sign up for their newsletter here. 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. This interview appears in the latest edition of the UCL Policy Lab magazine. To find out more about Policy Lab and get the latest news events, sign up for their newsletter here. 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.

As such, it was a surprise, as I settle down in his living room to chat, to hear that Campbell now argues that something more than an election campaign is required to change the world for good. For all his vociferous partisanship, which remains undimmed by the years, he insists that the country cannot be turned around with an election win by itself. Analysis The Tory voter ID experiment is like Trussonomics - but based on even less evidence Read More

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This new approach of embracing different experiences and expertise from outside politics and Whitehall feels a long way from top-down targets.That question is the inspiration behind this book. It's a question regularly posed to Alastair Campbell, not least in reaction to The Rest is Politics, the chart-topping podcast he presents with former Tory Cabinet minister Rory Stewart. His answer, typically, is forthright and impassioned. We cannot afford to stand on the sidelines. If we think things need to change, then we need to change them, and that means getting involved.