Rory has been bled dry on the podcast.
Been listening to TRIP for years, love both it and TRIP Leading. But one of the biggest issues facing the podcast these days is that Rory just... doesn't have much to say anymore that's interesting. What made him interesting initially on the podcast were his roles in parliament, his ministerial positions, his Afghanistan experience, he's mayoral run, his Conservative leadership bid, and those topics have all just been bled dry. There's nothing much more he can provide there that's interesting to the listener.
Where he could be providing some more value is with the connections he's made over the years that can give him insights, and we see glimpses of this from time to time. Unfortunately, his heavy reliance on AI (which seems to do much of his thinking for him these days) means I have to doubt if the opinion he holds has been formed by AI or has been informed by someone in-the-know or with specialist knowledge.
Alistair at least still has a high profile and a large circle of influential people that means when he says something, you know he's considered it from a perspective most of us listeners don't have access to. But with Rory now... what does he provide, except some contrarian heat in some interviews?