On Persevilience with Alastair Campbell

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message! Welcome to the Where Shall We Meet podcast. Our guest this week, back for a second time, is Alastair Campbell, who is co-host of The Rest Is Politics with Rory Stewart. His new book is Persevilience: The Word the World Needs Now, which went straight into the Sunday Times bestseller list. In it he coins a word for “the ability of an individual, group or organisation to turn any situation, setback or meaningful experience into a positive opportunity to grow, to advance and secure their core interests.” His case is that perseverance and resilience are both negative, defensive ideas, and that our time calls for a more positive mindset built on belief and integrity. The book mixes political analysis with personal reflection on grief, disappointment, mental health, friendship, family and love. Campbell was Tony Blair’s press secretary from 1994 and then director of communications and strategy in Downing Street from 1997 to 2003. Before that he was a political journalist for the Daily Mirror. In 1986 he had a psychotic breakdown, and since then he has campaigned on depression and mental health. His other books include several volumes of diaries, Winners and How They Succeed, Living Better: How I Learned to Survive Depression and But What Can I Do?. He supports Burnley football team and plays the bagpipes quite brilliantly. We talk about: Why he wants to coin a word and have it added to the dictionary What persevilience does that resilience and perseverance don’t That “life should be easy” is the real mindset problem The gap between perception and reality Why people who hate you online are the loudest Whether Labour should stop trying to out-Reform Reform The serenity prayer, depression and feeling everything fully Agency and trying to write your own script Let’s begin! Web: www.whereshallwemeet.xyz Twitter: @whrshallwemeet Instagram: @whrshallwemeet