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Here we are. A couple of pints. Great. Neck oil, yeah? As requested. So, what did you get up to

this weekend? Well, funny story, actually. I befriended this panda, discovered he had a beautiful singing voice, taught him out to harmonise. We got a record deal, went on tour, went platinum in Basingstoke, then broke up due to creative differences. Right. So that's why there's a panda giving you the finger from across the street then. That's right, brother. Stick your neck out.

Beavertown. Never normal.

Visit drinkaware.com.com.U.K. Enjoy Beavertown beer responsibly.

The History of Ideas podcast.

Today, in our history of bad ideas, I'm talking to the historian of ideas Ben Jackson

about a word, an idea, a concept that has had a very checkered history. It's meritocracy. It started out as satire.

It became a very successful political slogan. In some ways, it still is a successful political slogan.

But today, we increasingly don't know what to think about it. We're going to try and make sense of where the idea of meritocracy

came from, but also what it means in 2025. Ben, we're talking about an idea today, which is in some

ways quite unusual for a series about the history of bad ideas because it was conceived as a bad

idea. And one of the unusual things about meritocracy it was conceived as a bad idea. And one of the unusual

things about meritocracy is started life as a bad idea and somehow it morphed into what for

many, but not everyone, for many people became a good idea. And we're here to, in a way, revive

the origins of this word and to think about the ways in which it might still

be a bad idea. So we should probably start at the beginning with its origin. I don't think Michael

Young, who wrote the book The Rise of the Meritocracy in 1950, I don't think he was the first

...