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Radio 4,25 Nov 2025,56 mins

Moral Maze debate: Rutger Bregman鈥檚 call for a moral revolution

The Reith Lectures

Available for over a year

The Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, whose 麻豆社 Reith Lectures start this week, is calling for a moral revolution to change our societies for the better, charting how small groups of committed people 鈥 abolitionists, suffragettes, and temperance activists 鈥 have brought about positive social change. Politics, Bregman argues, is in trouble in an age of apathy and backsliding democracy: 鈥淭he moral rot runs deep across elite institutions of every stripe鈥, he says, 鈥渋f the right is defined by its shameless corruption, then liberals answer with a paralyzing cowardice鈥. So where might our moral salvation come? What are the deep values that underpin our contrasting political worldviews 鈥 left and right 鈥 and which should we look to prioritise now? Does any part of the political spectrum have the greatest claim to morality? Chair: Michael Buerk Panel: Matthew Taylor, James Orr, Mona Siddiqui and Tim Stanley. Witnesses: Tim Montgomerie, Eleanor Penny, Joanna Williams, Paul Mason Producer: Dan Tierney.

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