2. How to start a moral revolution

The Reith Lectures

BBC

Society & Culture, Science, Government, Technology

4.2 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dutch historian Rutger Bregman gives the second of his 2025 Reith Lectures, called "Moral Revolution."

History, he says can be "a reservoir of hope." He outlines how small groups of people have changed the course of history such as Elizabeth Fry, who brought compassion into the prison system; Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragettes who won the vote for women and Norman Borlaug, whose Green Revolution saved millions from famine. And he argues that this is as relevant now as it ever was: that small groups of committed citizens can still change the world.

The Reith Lectures are presented by Anita Anand and the programme was recorded in front of an audience in Liverpool, who asked questions afterwards.

The series is produced by Jim Frank. The Editor is Clare Fordham. The programmes are mixed by Neil Churchill.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:07.0	My Christmas Mix is pure 90s festive nostalgia.
0:11.1	You know, the Christmas songs you listen to on repeat.
0:14.0	Ho!
0:14.3	Ho! Ho! No, no, no.
0:17.5	I'm all about the big hitting Christmas anthems.
0:20.4	Come on, guys. What about those tunes that really slay? It's Christmas kitchen disco season, surely.
0:26.4	Give me hip-hip-christmas banners every day. Those Christmas tracks that are straight out of lapland.
0:30.9	Get all kinds of Christmassy. Just search Christmas music on BBC Sounds.
0:35.8	Hello, my name is Rocco Brackman, and in my second BBC Radio for a Reith lecture, I'll be
0:40.8	talking about how to start a moral revolution.
0:45.8	Hello, and welcome to the second of this year's Reith Lectures with the Dutch historian
0:51.1	and best-selling author Rutger Bregman.
0:54.4	Now, we're in Liverpool, a city known all over the world for its rich cultural heritage,
0:59.7	particularly when it comes to music and football, of course.
1:03.7	Today, we are in a wonderful old lecture theatre in the Victoria Gallery Museum.
1:09.9	It is really an iconic red brick building in this city. It is part
1:14.4	also of the University of Liverpool. And why are we here? Well, we're here because of our lecturer's
1:19.2	long-standing interest in the abolitionists, the men and women who fought to end slavery. And of course,
1:26.2	Liverpool was a leading European port for the transatlantic
1:29.3	slave trade, and it generated much wealth for this city. In this, the second of four lectures,
1:36.2	Rutger Bregman will reflect on the lessons from history and ask what the abolitionists can teach
	...

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