Since I first saw a video clip of his outrageous television clash with Gore Vidal (Google: Vidal Buckley crypto-Nazi), I have been fascinated with William F Buckley. He was many unpleasant things; maybe Vidal touched a nerve with the crypto-Nazi attack line. But, my God, he was prime time.
This week, our editor-at-large and my fellow Two Matts podcaster Matthew d’Ancona makes the case that it was Buckley who invented politics as entertainment … and, in doing so, changed the world for ever. It’s a brilliant read. I thought I was well up on the Buckley backstory, but Matthew’s piece is illuminating – on both a personal level and in terms of the long-term consequences. Without Buckley, there’s no Trump.
There may well also be no Farage, another beneficiary of our age’s predilection for political showmanship. It won’t come as a surprise to readers to learn how Farage’s recent foray into nativism/natalism is underpinned by racism. Our political editor, James Ball, explains the insidious nature of this latest tactic from Reform’s leader. To channel the old joke: How do you know when Nigel Farage is being a bigot? Well, you know the punchline.
In our Arts & Culture section, Jamie Klingler discovers a Netflix boxset that is a shocking exposé on the state of misogyny among young men in the so-called manosphere. And it’s NOT Adolescence. The series Forever goes in hard on the stuff Adolescence missed – particularly the pornification of sex. Jamie’s own experience of being the victim of deep-fake porn is recounted with such brave honesty and insight that it’s, within a field of huge competition, my must-read of the week.
Our cover story this week is a revealing interview by Paola Totaro with Philip Low, one of Elon Musk’s oldest friends – no more. Philip has seen Musk go from an open, curious and fallible entrepreneur to a demented and dangerous narcissist. As one of the world’s leading neurotechnologists, Philip is uniquely qualified to assess the degeneration of Musk … and how he will react now that Trump has spurned him. It’s a fascinating read.
Meanwhile, in her regular Dilettante column, Marie Le Conte takes a clear-eyed look at Trump and Musk and draws the only logical conclusion: actually, it’s men who are too emotional to handle power. Watching the two man-babies go at each other like Year 6 squabblers, it’s hard to disagree.
The Nigel Warburton headline on the cover of this week’s magazine – How to Make the Perfect Cosmopolitan – is somewhat misleading. If the first thing you thought of was the vodka/Cointreau/cranberry cocktail, then I’m sorry … this cosmopolitan is the kind Diogenes of Sinope had in mind. The Cynic philosopher coined the term close to 2,500 years ago.
As Nigel writes:
“Cosmopolitans see ourselves as citizens of this global village, and that makes every other human being our fellow citizen, towards whom we have responsibilities and obligations. But we also recognise that […] we are entitled to live in very different ways from one another. We have biology in common, but our cultures and traditions are very different. Peaceful co-existence depends on recognising that.”
If you want a founding principle for The New World magazine, reader, look no further.
I hope you are enjoying The New World. Thank you to all those who wrote in offering praise – and even bigger thanks to those who offered criticism! We know that losing the “European” in the masthead meant a lot to many of you. All I can say is that, as the guy who came up with the name back in 2016 and has put everything I have into making what we do an exceptional bastion of progressive liberal journalism and ideas, I am sure it’s the right thing to do – always looking forward, always reaching out, always seeking to understand and explain this extraordinary time in human history we occupy. I’m delighted and humbled to have you with me on the journey.
