Whenever I visit a country I try to pitch high and meet the president or prime minister. In Australia this proves tricky. At the start of the week Malcolm Turnbull and I are on for lunch, but commitments force me to call off. By the end of my visit he is no longer prime minister. One of his excellent predecessors comes to see me at my hotel. At first I marvel at the ease with which former prime ministers can move about in Australia. But I soon wonder if people are unfazed because they reckon it might be their own turn to run the country next.
I am here for ten days. First to do a day-long event in Sydney with Maajid Nawaz, Sam Harris and others. Then a multi-city tour across Australia and New Zealand alongside Harvard’s Dr Cornel West. Some while ago Suzi Jamil of Think Inc asked if I would consider touring down under with a political opponent. I said it would only work if we were searching for points of agreement and didn’t already loathe each other. Dr West found his political feet in black activism and revolutionary socialism, but I have always admired his commitment to ideas. So over the course of a week, in front of thousands of people, we find disagreements on capitalism, identity politics, foreign policy, domestic policy and more. But we speak the same language of ideas and share many of the same concerns and reference points, from Aristotle to Aretha Franklin. We get into a habit that when one cites a thinker in defence of their case, the other cites the same person to make a different point. Most importantly, in politically polarised times, there seems to be value in demonstrating what meaningful face-to-face disagreement might look like.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in