New Times,
New Thinking.

Are ‘Substackademics’ the new public intellectuals? – Audio Long Reads

By Chris Bickerton and Adrian Bradley

Roy Jenkins, while serving as president of the European Commission, used to spend his mornings writing. The heads of state who visited him were often keener to speak about his biographies of Asquith or Gladstone than about new legislation. This integration of politics, scholarship and the media was once a feature of British intellectual life, from AJP Taylor to CP Snow, but today the space to think and work has become ever more constrained. It is difficult to imagine Ursula von der Leyen, the current president of the European Commission, blocking out chunks of her diary for an unfinished novel. 

As our universities and political institutions bow to the pressures of specialisation and professionalisation, where do today’s public intellectuals reside? The answer, often, is on Substack – a platform that allows its authors to monetise content and easily engage with its users. But it is a cut-throat world, and one that requires continual self-promotion. Reliant on crowdfunding, and on relatively closed conversations with like-minded individuals, how healthy is it really for intellectual life?

In this essay, originally published on newstatesman.com on 20 October 2022, the Cambridge history professor Chris Bickerton examines the decline of the public intellectual. You can read the original text here.

Read by Adrian Bradley.

If you liked listening to this you might also enjoy How does a music writer grieve? With playlists, of course

Podcast listeners can get a subscription to the New Statesman for just £1 per week, for 12 weeks. Visit www.newstatesman.com/podcastoffer

How to listen to Audio Long Reads

1. In podcast apps

Audio Long Reads is available to listen on all major podcast players, including Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsYouTube and more.

Give a gift subscription to the New Statesman this Christmas from just £49

Either click the links above to open in your preferred player, or open the podcast app on your device and search for “Audio Long Reads”.

Follow or subscribe in your podcast app to receive new episodes as soon as they publish.

2. On the New Statesman website

The podcast is also available to listen right here on the New Statesman website. Bookmark https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/audio-long-reads, where we will publish new episodes every Saturday morning.

3. On your smart speaker

If you have an Amazon Echo, Google Home or Apple HomePod, ask it to “play the latest episode of Audio Long Reads from the New Statesman”.

The command will also work on other smart devices equipped with Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri.

Content from our partners
Putting citizen experience at the heart of AI-driven public services
Skills policy and industrial strategies must be joined up
How the UK can lead the transition to net zero