We are joined by Dr Lee Jones, Reader in International Politics at Queen Mary University of London and founder of The Full Brexit, as we discuss the reopening of pubs, the Immigration Bill passing through the House of Commons, Boris’ “New Deal” and the situation in Hong Kong. We then chat with Lee about The Full Brexit and the left-wing case for leaving the EU, his career in Academia, the woke culture in universities and the challenges facing Higher Education. We also discuss Croydon Council and the potential for an elected mayor.
iTunes:
“It’s not just about hindsight, if we had been more bold and if the government had been willing to face down public opinion more,,kl not panicked into a total lockdown, then I think we could have had this calibrated policy from the beginning.”
“That was the advice they were getting from the scientific experts at the time that lockdown wouldn’t be effective, airport screening wouldn’t be effective, banning flight wouldn’t be effective. So when the government was saying it was being guided by the science it was true, people didn’t believe them but it was true….. then they abandoned that.”
“There will be political pressure on politicians to solve the underlying weaknesses in training and education, which there won’t be when there is a steady supply of unlimited immigration from the continent.”
“It was going to be a much more interventionist government, that was much more comfortable with state intervention in the economy and didn’t just want to leave everything to the market.”
“I also think tinkering with the planning system is not going to solve the housing crisis. If you look between 2011 and 2016 there were 280,000 homes that weren’t built despite having planning permission. So you have to ask why. Instead of trying to deregulate the planning system you have to say why were we giving planning permission when the homes don’t get built.”
“We need to stop trying to squeeze tiny flats onto every brownfield site we can find, round the back of the supermarket, and start thinking about expanding into new dormer settlements.”
“Migrants whether they’re economic migrants or refugees, tend to be better off on average. Because if you’re really dirt poor you can’t leave, you’re stuck. You don’t have any resources, you’ve got nothing to sell, you have no assets you can’t pay the people smugglers to get you out.”
Interview
“The EU is anti-democratic, not non democratic, it’s anti-democratic, it shifts policy making from spheres of domestic public political contestation like parliaments, into spaces of private interstate diplomacy and it locks in rules and laws that can’t be challenged or changed”
“Universities as institutions campaigned openly for remain, surveys suggest 90% of academics voted for Remain, and academics are a core part of the bitterest and most anti-democratic opposition to Brexit”
“Unfortunately there isn’t really very much of a principled commitment to free speech on University campuses, it’s a major problem. I think we’re quite likely to see government intervention around this at some point, but they’ll never be taken seriously as being committed on grounds of principle as well as prosecuting a culture war, until they also wind back Prevent.”
“it’s not a majority of people, it’s a very vocal minority who cower others into submission”
“if you want to make students happy when they are coming and spending a lot of money buying a degree, then the easiest thing to do here is to make sure they get a good mark. If you want to make sure you have a high value added score, also give them a good mark. This is why there is rampant grade inflation”
Dr Lee Jones is on Twitter and online. The Full Brexit is online, on Twitter and on Facebook.
