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He went swimming, like every morning, in an unheated swimming pool
neighborhood. He proudly wears a sweatshirt “Remainer of the year” (“Brexit’s worst opponent of the year”), offered by the “Vote Leave” team, which campaigned for the exit of the European Union during the 2016 referendum. residence in north London, he could talk for hours… Alastair Campbell, 65, ex-director of communications for Tony Blair, assures at the beginning of November “never been so depressed” by British policy.
However, he seems in great shape, all about his new project. The former journalist DailyMirror, editor of the weekly New European, prolific author and passionate advocate for Europe and the left, launched a podcast called “The Rest is Politics” in March with staunch conservative Rory Stewart , who was Theresa May’s Secretary of State for International Development. Since its broadcast, the success has not been denied: the podcast, which comments twice a week on the spot and for about forty-five minutes on national and international news (the fall of Liz Truss, the Brazilian elections, the eventful arrival of Elon Musk at Twitter…), ranks for weeks at the top of Apple’s downloads in the United Kingdom. In October, it accumulated 6 million downloads.
” I can not believe it “, confides this regular on the small screen, who claims to be approached more on the street for “The Rest is Politics” than for his performance as a host in the reality TV show Make Me Prime Minister on Channel 4, in which false aspirants to the post of Prime Minister clash. Among Apple’s podcasts, there is another political program that follows “The Rest is Politics”: “The News Agents”, launched this summer by three former star journalists from the BBC, Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall.
Exchange without getting angry
“People say they are fed up with politics, but these successes show that there are still many Britons who are passionate about the subject, emphasizes Alastair Campbell. They want to be told differently. » With Rory Stewart, they have a principle: exchange without getting angry, respect the opinion of the other. “The media is so polarized now. For some, you are zero, for others, brilliant. We try to be more nuanced, to rely on facts. »
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