Who Do We Think We Are?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 30 December 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Four recent by-elections in the UK - Airdrie and Schotts, Hartlepool, Amersham and Chesham, and Batley and Spen - tell us four different stories about who we are and what determines who we vote for.
So how well do we know who we are and how has that ‘who’ changed over the last thirty years?
Joining David Aaronovitch in the Briefing Room are:
James Kanagasoorium, CEO of Stack Data Strategy Paula Surridge, political sociologist from the University of Bristol Rosie Campbell, Professor of Politics at King's College, London Rob Ford, Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester
Producers: John Murphy, Kirsteen Knight and Ben Carter Editor: Jasper Corbett Sound Mix: Graham Puddifoot
Image: Liverpool by night Credit: Jenna Goodwin / EyeEm / Getty
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.1 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. |
| 0:08.0 | The briefing room is the virtual space where a big current topic gets together with you, me and the top experts for 28 minutes. |
| 0:16.2 | This week, the new political geography of Britain. |
| 0:19.7 | Who are we now? |
| 0:22.2 | And how has that changed? |
| 0:31.1 | Something big is changing in British politics, |
| 0:33.4 | and that something is us. |
| 0:37.4 | Recent by-elections all seem to point in different directions, telling us different stories about who we are politically. |
| 0:41.9 | So what is going on with us? |
| 0:44.0 | What can we say about the new political demography of Britain? |
| 0:48.2 | Step into the briefing room, and together we'll find out. |
| 0:55.0 | First, let's go back three decades to 1991. |
| 0:58.9 | The Conservatives are in their third consecutive term. |
| 1:02.0 | There is no Scottish Parliament or Welsh Assembly. |
| 1:05.0 | It has only been 25 years since England has won a major football tournament. |
| 1:09.9 | So who were we then? |
| 1:12.1 | Here's the briefing room's John Murphy. |
| 1:14.4 | This clearly isn't about me, but maybe you remember this. |
| 1:19.0 | I'm two sexy for my shirt. |
| 1:21.7 | Too sexy for my shirt so sexy it hurts. |
| 1:26.1 | Wright said Fred released this in July 1991. |
... |
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