John is joined in conversation by Lord Jonathan Sumption OBE, described by his peers as ‘the cleverest man in Britain’. Sumption’s glittering legal mind provides for insightful and challenging perspectives on various topics including lockdown, climate change, Brexit, and socalled ‘hate speech’.

Lord Jonathan Sumption is a celebrated historian, barrister, and emeritus judge of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. After teaching and researching in medieval history at Oxford University, he pursued an astonishingly successful legal career which resulted in his appointment to the Supreme Court. While practising as a lawyer, Sumption wrote celebrated works of medieval history, most notably four volumes of a planned fivevolume history of the Hundred Years’ War.

Sumption has weighed into public debate over many years, most recently regarding COVID policies in the UK and the demonisation of Western history, particularly since the BLM protests and riots in 2020. His most recent books are Trials of the State: Law and the Decline of Politics and Law in a Time of Crisis.


00:40 Introduction
01:51 What is the rule of law
04:30 The separation of powers
08:37 The problem of activists in judicial systems
12:01 Brexit and its implications on law
16:11 What is driving the increase of laws
20:37 Decline of religion
21:46 Hate speech
26:23 Disengagement between politicians and the public
30:16 High expectations of politicians
32:33 The importance of history
34:54 Overuse of emotive language in crisis
38:25 Climate change and democracy
42:50 Motive behind solutions to climate change
46:31 Inequality
49:10 Implications of lockdown
55:25 The greatest challenge to democracy
57:15 Using history to undermine western culture
1:00:20 The problem of ‘Direct Democracy’
1:03:54 Conclusion

Conversations feature John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, interviewing the world's foremost thought leaders about today's pressing social, cultural and political issues.

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Purchase Lord Sumption's Law in a Time of Crisis here:
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/...