Thinking Class

Thinking Class is a weekly long-form interview podcast exploring the cultural, historical, and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, and the Western world. Hosted by John Gillam, the show brings together historians, philosophers, theologians, economists, and public intellectuals for conversations that go beyond the news cycle by examining the deep roots of the West's present predicament and asking what genuine recovery might require. Guests have included David Starkey, Lord Jonathan Sumption, Lord Nigel Biggar, Robert Tombs, Peter Hitchens, Lionel Shriver, Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Stock, Carl Trueman, and many others. If you value serious conversation about Britain, the West, and the forces shaping our future, then this is the show for you. New episodes every week.

Thinking Class is a society podcast hosted by John Gillam, with 139 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

John Gillam hosts Thinking Class, a society show with 139 episodes published.

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  Thinking Class

  #140 - Stephen Blackwood - The Man Who Built A University Because The West Forgot What Education Is For

  Aug 13, 20261h 3m

  Stephen Blackwood is President and Founder of Ralston College in Savannah, Georgia . The Chancellor is Dr Iain McGilchrist . He co-founded Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) with Jordan Peterson, John Anderson and many more. This episode is supported by Aquinas Tuition , which provides bespoke academic tutoring for children who deserve to be stretched, not managed. In this conversation, we think out loud about: — What Blackwood saw inside the Western university system at its highest level that made him believe the existing institutions could not be saved — How Boethius took the seeds of civilisation and cast them into the future from a prison cell — and why that matters now more than ever — Why "the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be lit" and why Ralston brings students to Samos, Greece, to light them on fire — The deathbed test: did I live as I should have lived? And why no culture that fails to help its people answer that question deserves to endure — Why the universities are the most upstream influence over the degradation of Western culture — The difference between legal protection of free speech and a culture of genuine truth-seeking — What Tocqueville saw in America that Britain is losing, which is to say self-governance as the precondition for democracy — Why Roger Scruton was right that a culture is just the things we have loved, and transmitting it is just teaching others to love them too — What growing up as the eldest of ten on a Canadian farm taught Blackwood about human nature, duty, and what a human being at full gallop looks like Find Stephen Blackwood and Ralston College: - Website: ralston.ac - Podcast: The Ralston College Podcast - YouTube Related episodes you might enjoy: — Iain McGilchrist — There Is A Great Deal Of Ruin In The Western World And This Is Why — Carl Trueman — The West Killed God. Then It Killed Man. Now Something Darker Is Coming — Pierre d'Alancaisez — The Custodians Of Beauty Became Its Gravediggers Watch The Call of England, a documentary series retracing a 1927 journey through England to discover what remains of the national inheritance: Watch Episode 1 here Watch Episode 2 here Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, the Anglosphere and the wider West. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube ✍ Substack Spotify Apple X New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

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  Thinking Class

  #137 - Clement Knox — Why America Was Always An Empire

  Jul 23, 20261h 6m

  Clement Knox is a writer and historian. He is the author of The Scramble for America: How the United States Conquered a Continent (William Collins, 2026), and writes at Past Notes on Substack. Two hundred and fifty years ago, the United States was thirteen coastal colonies clinging to the Atlantic seaboard. Within a single lifetime, it became a continental empire stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific — and the founding generation openly called it exactly that: an empire. This conversation asks how it happened, and who actually did it, because the people who crossed the Appalachians, fought the wars, and settled the frontier were not a random sample of humanity. They were the descendants of specific English and British folkways, and their story tells us a great deal about the inheritance they carried across the ocean. In this conversation we think out loud about: Why the founding generation openly called their own project an empire — and why that fact became invisible to later Americans Frederick Jackson Turner's argument that America only became culturally distinct once settlers crossed the Appalachians and had to build civilisation anew David Hackett Fischer's four British folkways and which of them actually drove the push westward Why the Scots-Irish Borderers who settled Appalachia resemble the Bedouin of Arabia more than they resemble the East Coast settlements they left behind The recurring tension between liberty and order in the Anglo-American character, from the Whiskey Rebellion to the modern day George Washington as a land speculator and enclosure man who died the richest man in the country — the story behind the myth Why neither the settlers nor the Native Americans held a monopoly on civilisation or savagery, and what a forensic reading of the primary sources actually shows Why Clement changed his mind about universalism — and what that means for how the modern world's institutions were built And if you haven't already, go and watch The Call of England — my documentary series retracing H.V. Morton's 1927 journey to find out what's left of the old country. Episode one and two are live now on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCHptEOmbMRzSV7TQqVMJxAVohAEnvLdA&si=VcpwRhAUmrcrWOTm Find Clement Knox: Substack: https://clementknox.substack.com Related episodes: — Gary Gerstle — The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: https://youtu.be/KbCyaKcj0E8?si=jtY9S8tX493eqUkz — Michael Lind — Why America & Britain Keep Betraying Their Working Class: https://youtu.be/YN212csIsvU?si=a9BsVmo0sqGI-qoy — David Starkey — Britain as a Disaster Since 1945: https://youtu.be/aI3tBbqMmXY?si=SI9B_qVavRQH-EGb — Katharine Birbalsingh — She Told 4,000 People The West Is Committing Suicide: https://youtu.be/L60dtIoALgA?si=yXhD5G8C-4zEueiR Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical, and moral forces shaping England, Britain, and the wider Western world. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingClass ✍️ Substack: https://thinkingclass.substack.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37vvzrlxpo8eORDoTDRtbH Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-class/id1717021615 X: https://x.com/thinkingclasses New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

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  Thinking Class

  #136 - Katharine Birbalsingh - Why Britain Stopped Believing Children Need Discipline

  Jul 16, 20261h 6m

  Katharine Birbalsingh is the headmistress and founder of Michaela Community School in Wembley, and a former UK Social Mobility Commissioner. She built the most successful school in Britain from nothing — in one of London's poorest boroughs — by insisting on the things the educational establishment now treats as radical: discipline, gratitude, knowledge, and the belief that every child is capable of excellence. Her results are extraordinary. Almost nobody in the profession will copy her. In this conversation, we think out loud about: Why Katharine believes children are born naughty rather than good — and why saying so out loud triggered a national media storm Why the most progressive schools in Britain are often the expensive private ones, not the state schools everyone assumes are failing What actually happens inside a school that treats children as capable of excellence rather than victims of circumstance The ARC speech that caused a stir — on minoritarian victimhood, institutional shame, and why she thinks a certain group of people in Britain need to simply "take a break" Her real disagreement with Connor Tomlinson — whether ancestry or shared values are what actually holds a nation together Why she believes schools now shape children more powerfully than families do — and what that means for the future of the country Find Katharine Birbalsingh: - Strictly Education: https://www.youtube.com/@StrictlyEdPod - Michaela School: https://www.michaela.education/ Related episodes: - Lord Tony Sewell — Life At The Bottom In Broken Britain: https://youtu.be/WKf26_Va_yM?si=AjIKvZdCndHSyTx4 - Frank Furedi — In Defence of Populism: https://youtu.be/qTdxAR40T4E?si=MREy9eLow-XGWoS4 Jonathan Rose — What The British Working Class Lost And Who Is Responsible: https://youtu.be/OKHcEo2QrJg?si=cE6cr_Ypgs6geVyh The Call of England — a documentary series retracing a 1927 journey through England to discover what remains of the national inheritance. Watch Episode 1 here: https://youtu.be/muBQWIP6ZQQ?si=y2zHLbn8juRbQidl Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical and civilisational forces shaping England, Britain, the Anglosphere and the wider West. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingClass ✍ Substack: https://thinkingclass.substack.com 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37vvzrlxpo8eORDoTDRtbH 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-class/id1717021615 🐦 X: https://x.com/thinkingclasses New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

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  Thinking Class

  #135 - Pierre d'Alancaisez - How The Custodians of Beauty Became Its Gravediggers. A Former Art Dealer Explains.

  Jul 9, 20261h 8m

  Pierre d’Alancaisez is a writer, curator, and researcher working with the multiple politics of the arts. He is the resident art critic for the English magazine The Critic , and his writing has appeared in outlets such as ArtReview , The Spectator , and Compact . In 2024, he co-founded Verdurin , a space for experimentation in aesthetics, learning, and the difficult conversations which drive today’s culture. Pierre previously directed waterside contemporary , a gallery that tested social and political questions in the art market. He curated exhibitions with artists who included Turner Prize nominee Oreet Ashery and has commissioned works with artists such as Mirza and Butler which traveled to Artes Mundi and Sydney Biennale. Having trained in the sciences before coming to artistic practice, Pierre also worked on cultural exchange and engagement strategies in higher education and the charity sector and has held senior positions in publishing and financial services. Pierre writes for The Critic and runs Verdurin, a London-based salon, publisher, and events series. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms. Find Pierre D'Alancaisez: Personal website: https://petitpoi.net/ Verdurin website: https://verdur.in/ Substack: https://verdurin.substack.com/profile/notes X: https://x.com/verdur_in YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@verdurin Related episodes: — #127 Jonathan Rose — What The British Working Class Lost And Who Is Responsible: https://youtu.be/OKHcEo2QrJg?si=DY2XKBvRopuluvM- — #106 Carl Trueman— The West Killed God. Then It Killed Man. Now Something Darker Is Coming: https://youtu.be/zwhbWVc1PgU?si=xGJ4g5784J9qGcZd — #130 Iain McGilchrist— There Is A Great Deal Of Ruin In The Western World And This Is Why: https://youtu.be/yrlmkVl86-0?si=k6egq2NGvyo1mnxU Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical, and moral forces shaping England, Britain, and the wider Western world. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingClass ✍️ Substack: https://thinkingclass.substack.com 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37vvzrlxpo8eORDoTDRtbH 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-class/id1717021615 🐦 X: https://x.com/thinkingclasses New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

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  Thinking Class

  #134 - Frank Furedi — The West Is Crushing Democracy In The Name Of Defending It

  Jul 2, 20261h 3m

  Frank is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent and the author of twenty-eight books on the cultural forces shaping Western societies, including his most recent, In Defence of Populism. Frank is also a Senior Fellow at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Brussels. In this conversation Frank and I think out loud about: the spirit of populism, why the credentialized class fears it how anti-populists restrict democracy while claiming to defend it why fascism and populism are not just different but opposite why nostalgia underpins cultural continuity why 60% of the crisis starts in the schools whether assimilation is possible in a normless society and why to be a real conservative you must be very radical. Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical, and moral forces shaping England, Britain, and the wider Western world. Hosted by John Gillam. ▶ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingClass ✍️ Substack: https://thinkingclass.substack.com 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37vvzrlxpo8eORDoTDRtbH 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thinking-class/id1717021615 🐦 X: https://x.com/thinkingclasses New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.

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