Very thoughtful stuff: I suppose somebody like Will Hutton comes to mind as a replacement, though he is perhaps more what the Chinese would call a scholar. I also suppose the question is, why are Anglophone societies offering fewer and fewer means through which those who speak truth to power may reach large audiences as opposed to some tiny substack. Here in New Zealand, where I live, for instance, about half of the broadcast news media ecosystem has simply collapsed since the start of the year, an absolutely unprecedented development, partly caused by competition from social media of course, but not inevitable: rather, it was allowed to happen.