About this episode

Adrian Wooldridge discusses the evolution and challenges of liberalism with Andrew Sullivan.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Adrian is a journalist and an old friend. We arrived in America on the same plane in 1984 and spent the first few days together in the same hotel room. After more than 20 years writing for The Economist, he became the global business columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. He’s the author of several books, including The Aristocracy of Talent, and the co-author of many more with John Micklethwait, including The Right Nation . Adrian’s new book is The Revolutionary Center : The Lost Genius of Liberalism . It’s a terrific tonic for a philosophy as vital as it is in eclipse. For two clips of the episode — on how Enlightenment ideas got corrupted, and Big Tech’s threat to liberalism — head to our YouTube page . Other topics: raised in rural Shropshire; his parents both teachers; his dissertation on the 11-plus (an exam that changed my life); when IQ tests were a liberal cause; Luther and the Reformation; the religious civil wars leading to the Enlightenment; Hobbes as a proto-liberal; the humanism of Erasmus; Montesquieu and the spirit of liberalism; John Stuart Mill and utilitarianism; Isaiah Berlin…

People in this episode

Host: Andrew Sullivan

Guest: Adrian Wooldridge

Topics covered

• liberalism
• Enlightenment ideas
• Big Tech
• meritocracy
• consumerism
• political philosophy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Economist, Bloomberg Opinion, EU

Books & works: The Aristocracy of Talent, The Right Nation, The Revolutionary Center: The Lost Genius of Liberalism

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