William Clouston is the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the United Kingdom and a member of the advisory board for Restore Britain.

Firas Modad is an analyst and political economist focused on the Middle East and global geopolitics. He runs his own consultancy, Modad Geopolitics, helping companies and investors understand the commercial impact of political, economic, and security risks they face. Firas Modad is a host on Podcast of the LotusEaters.

Britain built its economy on the assumption that global stability was permanent. The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed for nearly three months. William Clouston and Firas on what is actually happening, how Britain ended up this exposed, what a sane government would do, and what the crisis reveals about a deeper civilisational loss of will.

We think out loud about:
- What the Strait closure actually means militarily and whether it will ever reopen
- How Britain ended up with no strategic reserve, no energy self-sufficiency, and no industrial base
- Why successive governments stopped thinking like custodians of a nation
- What a sane government would actually do on energy, manufacturing and borders
- The ideological double whammy: free trade purism and net zero combined are lethal doe Britain
- How the financial sector was ideologically captured and failed to see the crisis coming
- Whether the integrated global economy is finished and what will replace it
- How the faith crisis underpins the nation's morale crisis and why power stations alone will not fix it
- What ordinary people should actually begin doing differently in their own lives in response

Follow their work:
- SDP Investment State Green Paper: https://www.sdp.org.uk
- Firas Modad Geopolitics: https://modadgeopolitics.com
- The Lotus Eaters: https://lotuseaters.com

Related episodes:
- #126 Gary Gerstle — The Iran War Is Ending The Global Economy: https://youtu.be/KbCyaKcj0E8?si=Hzc1TNvhkuK90Wa- - #109 William Clouston — Why British Politics Governs Against The National Interest: https://youtu.be/Rm2Qp-1qnJw?si=5W0MSjBKe0tyFj1k
- #112 Firas Modad — Britain Is Losing Control At Home And Abroad: https://youtu.be/KMOwGx9ZtMI?si=MKl__0WCHBbdRnmu

Thinking Class is a long-form interview podcast on the cultural, historical, and moral forces shaping England, Britain, and the wider Western world. Hosted by John Gillam.

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New episodes every Thursday at 3pm.