Addiction, Breakdown and Finding Persevilience: Rory Interviews Alastair

Alastair Campbell (0:07)

Welcome to The Rest Is Politics with me, Alastair Campbell.

Rory Stewart (0:10)

And me, Rory Stewart.

Alastair Campbell (0:11)

And this is part one of a mini-series. And this one is about my new work, Persevilience, described as follows in the book, the ability of an individual, group or organization to turn any situation setback or meaningful experience into a positive opportunity to grow, to advance and secure their core interests and beliefs. So why have I invented that word? I've invented that word because I think the world does need that sort of word, because it's about trying to turn, I guess, everything negative into something a bit more positive in our own lives and in the world. I wonder if that's what spin is. Part one is coming up, and part one is going to be a rather weird event where Rory Stewart, you may have heard of him, he presents The Rest Is Politics with me, Alastair Campbell, is going to interview me about whatever he chooses to. We've then got a series of interviews with people who are in the book and who, to me, represent different aspects of what I see as Perseverance.

One, for example, I think is fairly obvious, David Blunkett, former senior cabinet minister, very good friend of mine and who has been blind all his life. Also talked to a former footballer, Clark Carlisle, who was a very good player, played in the Premier League, not least with Burnley, but has several times tried to take his own life, sometimes in really brutal circumstances, but is now in good shape and is the chair of the UK's, one of the leading mental health charities, Mind. Then also, and this will be our first interview when the series goes out, with Kim Leadbeater, who Rory and I have both interviewed on Leading, but who became an MP, not least because her own sister was murdered during the Brexit referendum. We've paired her up with a very, very close friend of mine called Lindsay Nicholson, who is our account in the book, has had more pain, grief, loss, suffering than most human beings could bear. Her account of how she is born is an important part of the book.

I shall now shut up and let Rory take over.

Rory Stewart (2:11)

This episode is powered by Fuse Energy.

Alastair Campbell (2:13)

Most energy companies are counting on you doing absolutely nothing. Not questioning what you're paying, not switching, just letting your tariff roll on, which is costing you hundreds of pounds every year.

Rory Stewart (2:24)

But the apathy goes deeper than our bills. We've almost given up on energy itself.

We seem to all be accepting energy is expensive, the system is outdated, but that complacency is costing us.

Alastair Campbell (2:35)

Fuse Energy does not accept that because the energy transition is not something that just happens somewhere else.

Rory Stewart (2:42)

Fuse is building an energy company which is designed to bring down the cost of energy, and right now its tariffs are up to 100 pounds below the off-gem price cap.

Alastair Campbell (2:52)

So, switching isn't just about paying less, it's about expecting more from your energy company, and it only takes you three minutes.

Rory Stewart (2:59)

Switch to Fuse at fuseenergy.com/politics, use the code POLITICS, and you'll get a free trip plus subscription allowing you to hear all the extraordinary members content that Alastair and I are now producing for you. Visit fuseenergy.com for full terms and conditions. You've written books on different things, I think, that interest you and people. I mean, obviously, they've been your diaries, but there's obviously been a real interest in leadership, vision, management, strategy, communication.

And then somewhere you've begun to center around this word Persevilience. When did you first have this word? When did it first occur to you?

Alastair Campbell (3:41)

When I was writing a book about depression.

And there are some themes that if people have read my book on depression, I've written two now, The Happy Depressive. I guess that's a Persevilience thought, isn't it? The Happy Depressive. Because that basically is me saying, I get depression, but I'm mainly quite happy with my life. And then when I wrote the bigger book about depression, Living Better, I was just trying to wrestle with the idea of what I was saying.

And whether there was a better way of subbing it up. So that's the first time I used the word. It feels to me not like Perseverance, not like Resilience, not like Persistence, but it feels Perseverance. It's more positive. And then it was actually a publisher who said, look, I love your word. And you keep banging on about how you'd like to see it in a dictionary, write a book about what it is and what it means.