BBK Politics 50th Anniversary: 6 questions for Birkbeck Politics Staff (Part 5)
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Birkbeck Politics, we asked six questions to our BBK Politics staff, of varying degrees of seriousness. What did our staff say? Find out how Dermot Hodson and Ben Worthy answered below...
Dermot Hodson is Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Politics at Birkbeck.
1.What subject did you teach most recently? Two undergraduate modules: Europe After Brexit and Politics and the Arts.
2.What is your favourite topic to teach and why? I don’t have one favourite but I enjoy topics that situate contemporary events in historical context and can be understood using competing theories. This helps students to think more deeply about what they read in the news and to consider different viewpoints rather than rush to judgement. Brexit had all these elements in abundance and made for some fantastic class discussions this year. I also really enjoyed giving a walking tour of London’s political sculpture in Politics and the Arts. The students brought fascinating insights to our discussions and were unfazed when we startled police officers by walking around Whitehall after dark.
3.Which Birkbeck alumni do you most admire (and why)? I’m proud to have taught students such as Tulip Siddiq, who became a Member of Parliament soon after graduating from Birkbeck, and Claire Ainsley, who is now director of policy for Keir Starmer. But I admire all Birkbeck students for their dedication to their studies and ability to combine work and study.
4.What book should every BBK politics student read? Next week’s preparatory reading – to get the most out of class discussions.
5.Which BBK Politics module (which you don’t teach) would you most like to take? Given a time machine, I’d go back and attend Thomas Hodgskin’s classes on political economy in the 1820s and Ben Pimlott’s module on British politics in the 1980s.
6.How would you sum up BBK Politics in one word? Progressive. Birkbeck is a place where staff and students alike think hard about how to do politics differently and better.
Dr Ben Worthy is the Programme Director for the MSc in Government, Policy and Politics.
1.What subject did you teach most recently? The power of legislatures, as part of our Parliamentary Studies course. Parliaments can have hidden and unexpected influence on politics, by trying, for example, to call referendums or find out if the Prime Minister has lied.
2.What is your favourite topic to teach and why? Northern Ireland. I visited Belfast as part of A-level politics trip in October 1998, just after the Belfast Agreement was signed. I realised there was a whole other side of UK politics in ‘a place apart’ ,as the great Dervla Murphy called it, and learned how political and history blended to create deep, complicated situations. It also taught me how politics can change things for the better, something I try to pass on.
3.Which Birkbeck alumni do you most admire (and why)? Ramsay MacDonald, for his extraordinary ‘log cabin’ story from a croft in Lossiemouth in Scotland to Downing Street (and back again).
4.What book should every BBK politics student read? George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four taught me why politics matters and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o’s A Grain of Wheat, more recently, about why the past matters too. But really you should read what interests you, and read regularly and widely.
5. Which BBK Politics module (which you don’t teach) would you most like to take? I’d say anything from the MSc in Food, Politics and Society, as I like politics and I like food (and society is OK too). Governing by Numbers I should do for the good of my health and Politics and the Arts for the good of my soul.
6.How would you sum up BBK Politics in one word? It seems Ali said ‘groovy’ so I just searched on Thesaurus.com for some synonyms. How about ‘deep’, ‘unorthodox’ or ‘splendid’?