Democracy in the UK - Full Interview from July 2022 Revisited

What Democracy Looks Like In...

“I find it hard to get too angry about the Monarchy partly because it seems SO miserable. You might be really rich but… You know the reason you were born. You never have to ask what “Why was I even born?”. You were born to be part of the apparatus of state. Your only purpose is to exist and have babies.”

This week I am re-releasing all the interviews from this podcast in their full-length versions. This is in preparation for the last episode of the season, an interview with anthropologist Nicola Sharratt on Democracy in the United States. Look out for that interview, coming later in December 2024.

So here we are returning right back to the beginning! To the pilot episode on Democracy in the UK with John Leighton and Nicola Sharratt (yes, the same!) recorded in July 2022 . A time when Queen Elizabeth was still alive and Boris Johnson was still relevant. Was that only two years ago?

This episode features discussion of certain quirky little features of British political life, such as the Monarchy and the Monster Raving Loony party. But also topics that became regular themes on the podcast. Such as, what is considered an “acceptable” level of corruption in politics, versus a scandalous amount? And who are the non-obvious political actors? Here we talk about the role of Student Unions, for instance.

What Democracy Looks Like In... is a podcast where ordinary voters explain how democracy works in their countries. In each episode an emigrant voter and a voter currently on the ground describe their lived experiences of democracy, of voting, and of trust versus corruption in their home country.

Find out more about the topics discussed in this episode and the series as a whole at ⁠⁠www.democracyinpodcast.com⁠⁠!