When you live in a country, it is all to easy to see all its faults and shortcomings in horribly clear HD, and much of the national conversation can revolve round these points – what is wrong, when it went wrong, whose fault it is and how to fix it. This book forms a useful corrective. Witty, wise and broad-brushstroke, it explains chapter-and-verse why West, if we should by chance have forgotten, is best.
Kisin’s own backstory is relevant here. He was sent away from Russia at the age of thirteen, to Clifton College, a boarding school in Bristol. Bristol was chosen because his grandfather had already emigrated to the city. The young Konstantin, with little to no English, was thrown in at the deep end. Although he clearly missed his family, he was still grateful for the new start they had given him. His grandmother was born in a gulag: a Soviet prison camp. He himself, although young, had seen what it meant to live without basic necessities. And so, as the family explained, ‘we are not sending you to Britain to be a Russian in Britain – we are sending you to Britain to become British’.
Having dropped out of Edinburgh University, Kisin made a career as a stand-up comedian before gaining notoriety and hitting the headlines when he refused to sign a multi-page ‘be kind’ disclaimer prior to appearing at a ‘woke’ university event. John Cleese came to his support … the case was noticed internationally … and the stage was set: KK left comedy for politics (if you could say his life was ever really apolitical), setting up the successful podcast ‘ TRIGGERnometry’ with another stand-up, Francis Foster.
These three threads – the Soviet family background, the comedy career and the political questioning – form the backbone of the book. Others could have written some of the content, maybe, but few – if any – could have expressed it so drily, amusingly and truthfully, with so much personal and philosophical understanding. The honesty is almost searing at times.
It’s divided into eleven sections:
- Trust me – West is best
- A reality check for Westerners
- Stop feeling guilty about race, whiteness and slavery
- Free speech – and why it matters
- How language is used to conceal the truth
- Why we need journalists, not activists
- The c word (capitalism)
- The other c word (comedy)
- An immigrant’s view on immigration
- Should I go back?
- Ten ways to destroy the West
It’s perhaps worth detailing the headings in part 11, ‘Ten ways to destroy the West’, as those are the ones we need to watch out for, as we face our uncertain future. They are:
- See everything in terms of race, always
- Embrace self loathing
- Make everything political (and yes – I mean everything)
- Get your political opinions from celebrities
- Remember: truth is a lie
- Promote socialism through bad capitalism
- Start a battle of the sexes
- Drink the Kool-Aid of cultural relativism
- Encourage porous borders
- Be a useful idiot
How much more Puffinesque could you get, eh? This book, slim though it is, will probably not tell any reader of this blog anything new they did not already suspect. But it is expressed in such a down-to-earth, entertaining and persuasive way that it is worth reading just for the enjoyment alone. And it would make a terrific present for any woke friends, acquaintances or family members who need a short, sharp wake-up call.
‘The freedom to say what you think is the one thing people can’t take away from you’, Kisin’s grandfather used to tell him (he’d obviously never met Keir Starmer). ‘The only person who can do that is you. Be kind, speak the truth and don’t be afraid’.
Amen to that.
© foxoles 2025
