POLEMICIST, alt right protagonist and modern day messiah are all labels given to Dr Jordan Peterson by his huge legions of lovers and haters.

A Canadian clinical Psychologist and Professor of Psychology, he rose to prominence following a series of viral YouTube videos, including his fiery interview with Channel 4 News journalist Cathy Newman, which now has over 12 million views.

In 2018 he published his self-help bible, 12 Rules For Life, An Antidote To Chaos, via Penguin Random House. The book has sold two million copies and topped bestseller lists across the world, being translated into several languages.

The atmosphere at his sold out New Theatre show, on October 26, was electric prior to Peterson’s entrance.

One of the prime criticisms of Peterson is that he speaks for straight, white males of a certain attitudinal bent, and given the remarkably diverse audience of a range of ages, genders and ethnicities, this view is demonstrably false.

The mixed crowd is warmed up handsomely by American comedian and journalist Dave Rubin, who himself racks up millions of views for his popular Rubin Report interview series on YouTube. Peterson enters the stage lithe, pin stripe-suited and every bit as charismatic as one would hope having seen him online.

Peterson’s talk takes Rule 8 from his 12 Rules – Tell The Truth, Or, At Least, Don’t Lie – as the starting point for him to articulate central elements of his philosophically informed psychological concepts for self-betterment. Peterson’s brilliance is his ability to take up complicated metaphysical concepts either from Biblical stories or experimental psychology and extrapolate them into meaningful, pragmatically useful rules for life, he covers humorous personal familial anecdotes, fascinating examples from experimental psychology and even the compositional techniques of Bach and the ethics of sportsmanship.

Peterson is a much needed antidote to the ever-encroaching chaos and nihilism of the modern world. Long may his star continue to shine.

SEBASTIAN REYNOLDS 4/5