“A yearend conversation.”

The Scrum’s founding editors gather to look back and forward.

This afternoon, our last of the year, we convened via Zoom to take a (not so fond) look back at the year that was. We spoke from Washington, Toronto, and Norfolk, Connecticut:

We began—naturally enough, maybe—with a discussion of the current, sorry state of journalism—and the outsized responsibility this imposes on independent media. Lawrence took the occasion to explain why we thought the moment was vitally right to begin publishing on the Substack platform. Hardly could we avoid considering the manifold failures of “progressive” media.

Among our other topics were the incoming administration’s foreign and national security policies, such as we can discern them, the future of U.S.–China policy, the deepening fissure between the U.S. and Europe, and the possibility of another round of forever wars in the Middle East.

The Scrum is now two months running. We’ll feature more podcasts in the year to come. We take New Year’s Eve as the occasion to thank our readers, especially those who have subscribed, and to wish all a fruitful 2021.