Funny and well delivered, the conversations went quickly
Presented by: Adelaide Festival
Reviewed: 3 March, 2024
Chaired by four-time Walkley award winner and 7.30 presenter Sarah Ferguson, with an introduction by the Premier of South Australia Peter Malinauskas, The Rest is Politics was bound to get political. If you have not heard of the podcast (same title), it is one of the UK’s leading political podcasts.
Presented by Labour’s former press secretary and senior advisor to Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell, and ex-Tory cabinet minister and Ondaatje Prize of the Royal Society of Literature Rory Stewart, the podcast is broadcast twice weekly. Launched two years ago, its strength lies in the breadth of its discussions as the two hosts come from entirely different political perspectives, providing listeners with thoughtful and thorough analyses on local and international politics. In short, they successfully embody the forgotten art of ‘disagreeing agreeably’. Not only that, the duo make news entertaining and informative.
Demonstrative of how far reaching their podcast is, the Adelaide Town Hall was packed on Sunday evening — it was a sold-out event. As promised it began with an introductory speech by Peter Malinauskas, and as a surprise, ended with a duet performance on the bagpipes by Campbell accompanied by James Jeffrey, speechwriter for Labour’s Anthony Albanese. Who would have known about Jeffrey’s other hidden talent? Certainly not me! The ninety minutes in between went very quickly.
In tonight’s show, there were some segments that felt overly focused on internal UK matters; however, for those acquainted with or from the UK, this only would have added to the appeal. As someone with some knowledge but not deeply rooted in UK politics, there were definitely a few quips and references I completely missed. I would have liked a broader international focus or the inclusion of discussions on some political leaders closer to home, or whose persuasions all of us Australians would be familiar with. Trump, Scomo and Arden were mentioned, but only ever so briefly.
The venue itself did run a little cold which was mildly distracting however the audio set up, including the live stream was flawless with no glitches or flaws. Stewart’s personality shone through on the live stream as someone whose intelligence, reflectiveness and wit are to be admired, and Campbell onstage equally adept. The reciprocity of respect the men had for each other created a wonderful atmosphere for us as an audience, as at no point did I start to tune out as it never became acerbic. Ferguson was the perfect chair as she complements their style.
There was a lot of content and the conversation flowed incredibly well, and covered topics such as how Boris Johnson came through the ranks, Brexit (how could it not?) and the complexity of the Gaza strip. One particularly intriguing point raised by Stewart was the idea that politics can sometimes compel good people to compromise their integrity, and how he feels that politics can make good people dishonest. I thought about the quote by Naval Ravikant as he was saying this, where ‘what you think, what you say, and what you do are one’. As Stewart notes, he finds his role now as a political commentator somewhat more freeing than his experience being a politician as it is less confining; there is more alignment between thoughts, considered opinions, and outward dialogue.
This is the type of event that I would attend every year as I would always learn something new and insightful.
Reviewed by Rebecca Wu
Photo credit: Russell Millard
Venue: Adelaide Town Hall
Season: ended
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