# Nigel Biggar - George Floyd Was the SPARK That Ignited Woke Madness

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-daily-heretic-7574275/nigel-biggar-george-floyd-was-the-spark-that-ignited-woke-madness
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-daily-heretic-7574275/nigel-biggar-george-floyd-was-the-spark-that-ignited-woke-madness.md
Podcast: [The Daily Heretic](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-daily-heretic-7574275)
Published: 2026-07-15T18:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/OTEP5200007097.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/OTEP5200007097.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-daily-heretic-7574275/episodes/nigel-biggar-george-floyd-was-the-spark-that-ignited-woke-madness
Duration seconds: 854

## Resource

Did the death of George Floyd completely transform how Britain talks about empire, slavery, race, and national identity? In this explosive conversation, Oxford professor Nigel Biggar joins Andrew Gold to explain why he believes 2020 marked a cultural turning point that changed universities, media, politics, and public debate forever. 👉 Subscribe to The Daily Heretic now for fearless conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@hereticsclips/videos Nigel Biggar is one of Oxford University’s most respected professors of ethics and public theology — but after arguing that British history contains reasons for both “shame and pride”, he became one of the most controversial academics in Britain. In this focused discussion, Biggar explains how the George Floyd protests accelerated a dramatic shift in public attitudes toward colonialism, British history, empire, race relations, and national identity. Why did statues suddenly become symbols of oppression? Why were institutions scrambling to apologise for Britain’s past? And why did nuanced discussions about empire become almost impossible overnight? The conversation explores colonialism, British Empire debates, slavery, race politics, cancel culture, academic freedom, public morality, identity politics, historical memory, and the growing ideological divide inside universities and media institutions. Biggar reflects on the intense backlash he faced after publicly questioning increasingly one-sided portrayals of British history. From online petitions to professional pressure and the collapse of publishing relationships, he describes what happens when academics challenge dominant ideological narratives. What makes this interview particularly compelling is Biggar’s insistence that history must be approached with complexity rather than m…

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