The truth never goes out of style, and First Things relies on readers like you to keep promoting

the truth in public life. For the price of one cup of coffee per month, you can access all our

subscriber perks and support the important work of First Things. Visit Firstthings.com

slash subscribe to gain full access to all of our articles as well as our prestigious monthly print edition.

That's first things.com slash subscribe.

Hello, welcome to the editor's desk.

This is the podcast where we take a closer look at the essays and articles in the latest print issue of First Things magazine.

I'm Rusty Reno. I'm the editor of First Things Magazine.

And I'm here with you today at the editor's desk.

Well, I'm delighted to welcome Louise Perry to the podcast, and she's with me today to talk about her piece in the November 2025 issue, Indigenous London.

Welcome to the podcast, Louise.

Thank you so much for having me. Hello.

Indigenous, that's a striking word, right?

We always tend to think of those in terms of exotic peoples.

Yes, it's a politically provocative word, which I used deliberately.

I didn't use it until the last few paragraphs and then you drew it out with the

headlines, so we're forced to confront it immediately. Yes, I mean, so the piece is about

the working class Londoners traditionally called Cockneys and the fact that they don't now

generally live in London anymore and there has

been this process of displacement which is somewhat under discussed within the British context

and which many American listeners might not know about at all. And yes, I use the word indigenous

because I think that we ought to interpret what's happened in terms of government decision-making as a as as as as a as as a as an as an as an as an as an as an as an

...