I listened to the first of the BBC Reith lectures for this year last night.
The lecture was given by Dutch historian Rutger Bergman.
The lecture I listened to was well worth my time. So too, to my surprise, was much of the Q&A. Maybe that was because I noted that many of the themes I have been discussing here of late were echoed and supported in the lecture, saying which, there was a massive economic hole in the middle of the arguments. In fact, the subject was just not there.
In case you do not have time to listen, I did a TL;DR (too long; didn't read) on the transcript, producing this with ChatGPT. It's a good summary. The lecture is better.
The Survival of the Shameless
Rutger Bregman begins by insisting that honest analysis requires starting with the misery. Ours is an age of moral collapse amongst elites — one where power is accumulated not through competence, courage, or service, but through shamelessness.
First, he argues that modern elites increasingly resemble those of past declining empires. Like Rome, we see politicians who perform instead of govern. Like late-stage Venice, Europe risks complacent stagnation — rich, beautiful, but irrelevant. Wealth is inherited. Innovation stalls. Regulation replaces ambition. Young talent is wasted on consultancies and finance.
Second, he says this decay is cultural. Where previous generations wanted meaning, purpose, and social contribution, today's most privileged young people are guided toward money, status, and self-preservation. The corporate world pretends virtue while extracting rents and destroying value. Universities funnel their best students into what Bregman calls the Bermuda Triangle of BS jobs: consultancy, finance, and corporate law.
Third, he warns that this vacuum of meaningful leadership creates dangerous political possibilities. A generation disillusioned by elite cowardice is now vulnerable to a new authoritarianism: a tech-fuelled, post-democratic fascism that openly despises democracy and bets on public apathy. History suggests that declines can turn very dark, very fast.
Finally, the problem is not simply personal greed. It is the abandonment of any idea that the purpose of power is to serve society. Bregman argues that we have taught ambition without ethics, privilege without responsibility, intelligence without integrity — and that collective misery is the consequence.
His conclusion is stark but hopeful: moral renewal is possible. History has seen it before. The task is to rediscover a form of ambition rooted in courage, virtue, and public purpose.
Because if the shameless continue to rule, decline is not where we end — it is where we begin to fall.
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“Universities funnel their best students into what Bregman calls the Bermuda Triangle of BS jobs: consultancy, finance, and corporate law.”
100% correct, played out on a regular basis – I have seen 1st hand good students getting good degrees from 1st class unis’ going into bullshit (but well paid) jobs that contribute NOTHING to society. Indeed I have far more respect for those on the edge of the law:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/dec/04/the-long-read-snail-farm-tax-avoidance-scheme-terry-ball
quite simply, hilarious.
“collective misery is the consequence”.
Apologies for posting twice. Readers may (or may not) have been following the saga of forzen Ruzzian assets ()Euro150bn) held by the Belgian company Euroclear. The idea is that these be used to help Ukraine. Reasonable, given the circs.
The current Belgian government claims that it would be liable to Ruzzia is such assets were seized/used & has been delaying for more than 6 months (during which time some 10s of thousands of Ukrainains have been killed/maimed). Not discussed is the reality that the Belgian state gets revenue from taxing these assets – which help its budget balancing problems. The current Flemish nationalist prime minister Bart de Wever does not give a shit about Belgian liabilities wrt Ruzzia – but is very happy to keep tax revenues flowing from Euroclear. Greed/self interest.
on-going collective misery for Ukraine the price for Belgian government greed.
Agreed
A bit stood out for me in the discussion.
“resistance ( to the Nazi occupation) was like a virus that spread. That explains why it wasn’t spread out evenly across the country inwhich I was born, the Netherlands. And you know what? The most predictive factor was whether people had been asked to join the resistance. So, in 94% of all cases, when
people… I’ve been asked to do the right thing, they said yes. So that’s how I believe that
moral revolutions can happen.’
We live in the day of social media and fewer people go to meetings now-esp. since the lockdowns
BUT we can still engage in personal conversations. So write to MPs, comment on social media and talk to people. This blog gives us a lot of information to use.
We thought that was fascinating.
This is why I promote agency.
Aah, that takes me back about 40 years to when I used to subscribe to The Listener, in the days when the BBC did public service broadcasting to educate and entertain and had the courage to antagonise the government of the day, and employ people like Brian Redhead…
Reading the Reith Lectures after a hard day with my hand up bovine backsides or straining my back trimming cows feet, the Reith Lectures were the highlight of my week.
As I might occasionally have mentioned – MORALITY!! 😉
(and I don’t mean sex or Christofascism or “Victorian values” or “getting back to basics”).
That’s some evenings sorted for the next few weeks.
🙂
Robert _ I did not know you were a vet! – our Ukranian family are vets (mum & dad both). When the mother stayed with us, she often fixed us up – animals after all & her knowledge of plants and herbal fixes – impressive.
Ref cows: my partner & I once watched awe struck at a cow, in a farmers garden (next to a MTB route) giving birth to twins. Most impressive.
No holiday is complete unless I can find some cows to talk to.
If you are ever stressed, find a field of cows, lean over the gate (straw in mouth optional), and watch the nearest cow chewing the cud (for about 15mins minimum). Their brain waves go into an equivalent of non-REM sleep, a sort of zen state, and pretty soon so do yours. It’s free, non-addictive, but does produce methane although if it comes from eating grass, it could be thought of as biofuel.
Sorry, offtopic…
And, if you want them to come over and have a chat just play them some music. You have to choose with care. Something like a Back string quartet never fails. They like jazz too. Dave Brubeck works well. And it’s not just cows. It also works with water buffalo, and many horses. ‘Pop’ rarely does. Just saying…
The lecture sums up the modern public sector quite adequately to me. In search of ‘market solutions’ we have allowed standards to drop terribly and presentation and perception rule – not reality.
It is no wonder we are in a mess.
🙂
I worked in local government in the late 90’s when Labour introduced ‘Best Value’ as a means of ‘driving up standards.’ I argued endlessly with my manager the waste of time in inventing and monitoring ‘performance targets’ that were utterly meaningless whilst refusing to call the communities and individuals I worked with ‘customers.’ One of our targets was the production of a Cultural Strategy for which the LA paid a ridiculous sum to outside consultants. I grumped my way through the whole process, the final straw was the obvious cut and paste job in the report that called us several times by another authority’s name. The strategy went into a dark draw and I got on with the perfectly adequate plan I had to manage and fund the service. Best Value, the introduction of market forces and language into local government, whilst undermining the perfectly adequate skills, knowledge and experience of staff. Makes me so so sad.
As I have said several times this morning in: so much to agree with. Thank you.
Shamelessness in British politics is now rife. Today we have a report in the press that Reformski has accepted a donation from a British citizen living in Thailand who appears to have been actively helping Putin through the use of crypto-currency:-
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/21/cryptocurrency-farage-donor-used-for-russian-war-effort
Historian criticises BBC for removing Trump line from Radio 4 lecture
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvdzdnnp8xo
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/27/bbc-donald-trump-corruption-line-removed-from-rutger-bregman-reith-lecture
BBC tells staff they cannot quote Trump line removed from Reith lecture
Journalists not allowed to repeat Rutger Bregman’s corruption claims against US president in coverage of edit
Interesting – and frightening – to compare these with the Civilisation programmes on the falls of Rome and Egypt. The parallels are far too close for comfort.
While I was listening to the lecture I recalled the power of the general population when they are properly informed. The tolpuddle Martyrs came to mind. This is what ChatGPT summerises…
Over 800,000 people signed a petition, and a massive demonstration of approximately 30,000 people marched through London in protest against the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ transportation to Australia
. These actions led to their eventual pardon and return home.
Agreed
I listened to the talk and fully agreed, especially his point on BS jobs. Bright students being seduced by money into the City where morals are soon trumped by money. Engineers are a particular favourite and as a result are sucked away from more productive sectors that really would create wealth rather than just extract it. The drivers of financialisation across both public and private sectors where the only success criteria is the short term extraction of profit.
Just think, if Hitler had had access to better lawyers, he could have stopped all those nasty speeches of Mr Churchill’s being reported by the “BBC Home Service” when John Snagge read the news – and those defamatory songs about his genitalia – and the Dads Army signature tune – didn’t they contravene BBC Guidelines?
Poor man, he only had the Luftwaffe, and the V1/V2 threat, the Wehrmacht and the U boat fleet, so the BBC went ahead and did their job, even AFTER the Blitz and the Battle of Britain.
It makes you think doesn’t it…
(Don’t tell him Pike!!)
Superb made me chuckle after my evening shift
and many other good comments on Richard’s good summary, thank you for reminding me it’s Reith season