The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

Episode: The Man Warning The West: I’m Leaving the UK in 2 Years, If This Happens!
Guest: Konstantin Kisin
Date: January 22, 2026

Episode Overview

In this thought-provoking episode, Steven Bartlett is joined by political commentator and Trigonometry podcast host Konstantin Kisin to dissect the collapse of Western global influence, the rise of multipolar world dynamics, and the uncomfortable realities facing the UK and broader West. The conversation ranges from recent international incidents and the decline in Western power, to the looming impacts of AI on employment, and the cultural anxieties driving shifts toward socialism and nationalism. Throughout, Kisin delivers unfiltered insights on how the West lost its edge — and what it would take to recover.

Main Themes & Discussion Points

1. The Decline of Western Power and the Geopolitical Shift

• Collapse of the Post-WWII and Post-Cold War Order
  • Major powers like Russia, China, and the US are jostling for dominance while Europe and the UK have faded in influence.
  • Kisin frames recent crises — from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to US strategy in Iran and Venezuela — as unmistakable symptoms of Western decline.
  • Quote [02:35]:
    “What you're seeing is the final collapse of what people described as the post World War II order... That entire framework that we have had since World War II is disintegrating very rapidly.”
    — Konstantin Kisin
• Trump’s Realpolitik and “Fake Rules”
  • Trump’s foreign policy is described as a direct, even blunt, response to the collapse of mutual restraint and international law.
  • Kisin argues this pragmatic approach is a recognition that the “rules-based order” is over.
  • Quote [00:11]:
    “Trump is acting in recognition of that reality, saying we are not going to play by the fake rules anymore that no one else is playing by anyway.”
    — Konstantin Kisin
• Risks in a Multipolar, Nuclear World
  • The dissolution of a single hegemon introduces instability, heightened risk of regional wars, and nuclear proliferation.
  • Smaller nations may seek nukes as guarantees of security amid the West’s unreliable deterrence.

2. Why the UK and Europe Lost Influence

• Economic and Political Complacency Post-1991
  • Post-Cold War, the West became overconfident, disengaged, and “lost its sense of danger.”
  • EU and UK data point to declining per capita wealth and over-extended welfare states.
  • Self-sabotage through “luxury obsessions” like net zero policies and deindustrialization.
  • Quote [12:38]:
    “Europe is 12% of the world's population, 25% of the world's GDP and 60% of the world's welfare spending... That is a sign that you've got very comfortable.”
    — Konstantin Kisin
• Britain’s Irrelevance in Global Affairs
  • Bartlett points out contemporary events (Iran, Venezuela) occur without UK consultation.
  • “We made ourselves irrelevant,” Kisin asserts, pointing to policy decisions by UK leadership across the spectrum.
  • High debt-to-GDP, record peacetime taxes, mass emigration of entrepreneurs.
  • Quote [18:48]:
    “We're already there. We are irrelevant. We are irrelevant when... Venezuela happens. No one cares about us when Iran gets bombed. No one cares about us.”
    — Konstantin Kisin

3. What the Individual Will Experience

• Tangible Impact of Geopolitics on Daily Life
  • The decline of the West is seen in lower per capita income, underfunded services, and societal malaise.
  • “Symptoms” include housing unaffordability, culture wars, and a shrinking economic pie.
  • Quote [22:09]:
    “You are already poorer today than you were 20 years ago per capita in the UK... that seems to me quite important.”
    — Konstantin Kisin

4. Socialism, Populism, and Cultural Shifts

• The Rise of Socialism Rooted in Economic & Technological Anxiety
  • Transition to AI and robotics will strip away millions of jobs, driving youth toward radical political solutions.
  • Bartlett and Kisin discuss the psychological toll and the failure of the West to create meaningful prospects for the next generation.
  • Quote [25:57]:
    “That produces a tremendous amount of social disease as well.”
    — Konstantin Kisin
• AI & The Coming Dislocation
  • Rapid automation will concentrate wealth, rendering traditional jobs (even medicine) obsolete.
  • Redistribution may become “unavoidable,” with communism/UBI emerging as logical responses.
  • Quote [30:12]:
    “If all the wealth in the world is going to be created by robots, a world in which the products of their labor only accrues to 50 people who had the idea... that's not going to sustain itself.”
    — Konstantin Kisin
  • Memorable Moment [35:14]:
    Elon Musk predicts Optimus robots will outstrip surgeons within 3–5 years.

5. Migration, Demographics, and the Welfare State

• Migration Policies and the Demographic Death Spiral
  • Mass immigration used to “fake” GDP growth while per capita income declines.
  • Societies with more children are “more dynamic,” but birthrates remain low.
  • Kisin criticizes welfare systems that “trap” people and drive out wealth creators through excessive taxation and anti-business sentiment.
  • Quote [47:54]:
    “You have to address the economic side of this as well, of the demographic thing. And the third thing actually is societies with lots of kids are just much more dynamic...”
    — Konstantin Kisin

6. UK Policy, Leadership, and the Entrepreneur Exodus

• Hostile Business Environment
  • High taxes and negative attitudes toward success push entrepreneurs to leave, eroding the tax base further.
  • Notable anecdote: Bartlett calculates that the founder of Revolut's departure (for tax reasons) would cost as much as the annual taxes of a mid-sized city.
  • Quote [59:29]:
    “Rich people leave... I mean, we just saw Revolut... the founder left... credible reports say that because he's leaving, there's going to be a 3 billion pound potential loss of capital gains tax...”
    — Steven Bartlett
  • Kisin notes the top 1% of UK taxpayers pay about 30% of all income tax; when these people leave, everyone else pays more.
• What Would Real Reform Look Like?
  • Policy suggestions: pro-business tax/regulatory climate, strong military, controlled immigration with full integration, alliance with the US.
  • Quote [47:54]:
    “You have to rebuild your military... and then pick a team... The best thing Britain could do is to nurture the alliance with the United States.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On International Order:
  “International law really was that, but even weaker than that, because if you think about what a law is, a law is something that has to be backed by... the legitimate use of force. Now, for international law, there's never been anything that could enforce that law other than the most powerful country.” — Kisin [03:46]

• On AI & Automation:
  “The intelligence part, the brain would cost 20 or $30,000 just for this little robot arm. He goes, now it's like 2 cents... I don't think people understand what's coming.” — Bartlett [28:10]

• On Cultural Change:
  “The only way that these things will truly, fundamentally get better is when they get really, really bad first.” — Kisin [68:22] (on being an 'accelerationist').

• On Leadership & Policy:
  “I am not one of them of any them. I'm just telling you what the policies are that I think would work for our country. If there's a leader who advocates for those policies, that's the sort of leader that I will support.” — Kisin [63:52]

Key Timestamps

• 00:00–03:46: Kisin explains the end of the "rules-based order" and rise of power-centered geopolitics.
• 12:38: How Europe’s economic complacency seeded its decline.
• 18:48: UK irrelevance in global matters.
• 22:09: How Western decline impacts daily life.
• 25:57–32:27: The technological job apocalypse and shifting politics.
• 35:13: Elon Musk predicts AI surgeons outpacing humans.
• 47:54: Kisin outlines a road to recovery—economic, demographic, and military.
• 59:29–61:52: Impactful anecdote: the true cost of entrepreneur exodus.
• 68:22: Kisin’s “accelerationist” stance: only crisis will prompt real reform.
• 78:54–79:25: On the pacifying—and terrifying—role of nuclear weapons in multipolar chaos.
• 82:11: What would drive Kisin to “give up” on the UK.
• 84:10: The danger of policy driven by “what feels good” vs. “what works.”
• 85:10: Critique of the “woke right” and dangers of right-wing populist extremism.
• 88:11–90:52: On happiness, family, and legacy.

Tone & Style

The conversation is candid, direct, and wry, with flashes of humor (notably Kisin’s tongue-in-cheek comments about “re-invading France”). Both Bartlett and Kisin maintain a clear-eyed but not hopeless perspective. Kisin stresses personal responsibility, pragmatic solutions, and warns against ideological dogmatism on both the left and right.

Final Thoughts

Konstantin Kisin paints a sobering portrait of a West that has lost its bearings — adrift amid challenges from adversaries and the self-inflicted wounds of policy fantasies. Yet he remains, if not wholly hopeful, determined: real change is possible if truths are faced and the right leadership emerges. For listeners, the episode offers a bracing call to awareness, underpinned by Kisin’s insistence that “the world’s our oyster” — if only the West collectively wakes up before it’s too late.

Further Resources

• Trigonometry Podcast
• Book: An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West by Konstantin Kisin
• Follow Steven Bartlett: Instagram, LinkedIn