The most important tool for pushing back against social authoritarianism or elite hysteria is freedom of speech.

Saying the unsayable, rejecting censorship, that is the absolute starting point.

I think the death of wokeness has been greatly exaggerated. It's still out there. It is still in the institutions.

You have to be the most privileged, ensconced, cosseted

to be able to spend your every waking hour talking about an apocalypse.

And an apocalypse is going to come about because of industry or manufacturing, work, transport, all these wonderful developments of modernity and you see them only as a threat to your incredibly comfortable way of life in the country.

It's the ultimate luxury belief.

Hello everyone. A natural hush has fallen out.

Thank you all so much for coming to this very special Spike supporters event to celebrate the brilliant new book, vibe shift that revolt against

wokeness, greenism and technocrity, written by this man right here, Brendan O'Neill.

My name's Tom Saiter. I'm editor of Spite. Thank you all so much for being here. Thank you also

for being Spike supporters for donating to us every month, for making sure that we can

produce the magazine,

put on events like this, we really wouldn't be here without you.

Thank you also to Harry and everyone else at the Tea House Theatre,

which on top of being a brilliant venue, a brilliant bar,

is also a real champion of freedom of speech, willing to host even miscreants like us. If anyone went to our last event,

you'd know how difficult it is for us to find venues. We had to hold it in a second backup place

because the first one took against us. So thank you very much to them. And without further ado,

would you join me in welcoming the man of the hour, the author of Vibisheft, Brendan O'Neill.

So we're going to have a chat up here for about half an hour or so, and then we'll go straight

out to the audience for your questions, so work out what you want to ask.

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