Every week Amol Rajan talks to radicals, pioneers and innovators from all over the world. From populism and climate change, to economics and AI... How can their radical ideas help you win the future?
Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.
Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan will be published on Thursdays on BBC Sounds. It will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Thursdays at 11pm. Visualised versions of the podcast will also be available on BBC iPlayer and YouTube.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast.
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Headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh thinks multiculturalism in Britain has led to an excessive focus on our differences rather than what unites us, but she believes schools like hers can change that by teaching traditional values and British culture. Known for enforcing strict discipline at Michaela Community School in north London, Katharine explains why she promotes unity over diversity. She is also critical of those in power who ignore what she sees as the concerns of “white British people”, wh...
Physicist Carlo Rovelli, author of "Seven Brief Lessons on Physics," discusses the surprising success of his book and the evolving frontiers of science, including consciousness and the Big Bounce theory. He offers a critical perspective on AI, highlighting its overhyped nature and the dangers of its competitive military application amidst the West's diminishing global influence. Rovelli emphasizes the urgent need for natural intelligence and international collaboration to tackle existential threats like nuclear war and climate change, drawing parallels to historical intellectual responsibilities.
Edward Enninful thinks fashion risks going backwards on diversity, which is why he’s launched a new media business, EE72, to promote inclusion in an anti-woke era. The former editor of British Vogue talks to Amol about why the industry needs to appeal to all generations – from getting Gen Z on side by tackling fast fashion and affordability, to highlighting the full spectrum of beauty by focussing on ‘women of a certain age’ in the first issue of his quarterly magazine. Amol asks him about the r...
There are some new (and old) faces on the left of British politics hoping to challenge Keir Starmer’s struggling Labour government, but could a party to the left of Labour ever win power? His predecessor Jeremy Corbyn has setup a new party with another former Labour MP, Zarah Sultana, who has declared that “Labour is dead”. And the Green Party of England and Wales has elected eco-populist Zack Polanski, who is urging left-leaning voters to back him rather than waiting around for Corbyn’s party t...
Artificial intelligence is arguably the single biggest force shaping our world today. Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of Anthropic which created AI chatbot Claude, says that this technology has the potential to revolutionise our lives but could also cause us significant harm if we don’t regulate it properly. Amol and Dario discuss how quickly large language models (LLMs) like Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT are developing, the threat they could pose to white-collar jobs and how his company’s chatbo...
Could finding religion allow Gen Z to better find their place in the world? That is the assessment made by Jordan Schwarzenberger, the manager of Europe’s biggest YouTube group Sidemen and advisor to Downing Street’s Small Business Council. He converted to Catholicism in 2020 after being a devout atheist all his life. He now argues that we're too obsessed with pleasure and that in turning our backs on the Catholic Church we have become a less moral society. Jordan tells Amol about how he came to...
With audiences increasingly turning to echo-chambers on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for their entertainment and away from traditional mass-media, is there anything that can bring communities together again? Jordan Schwarzenberger manages Sidemen, Europe’s most popular YouTube collective – and recently went viral with a thesis over what he described as “the death of monoculture”. The Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur and member of Downing Street’s Small Business Council tells Amol why he thinks G...
Homelessness is on the rise in Britian with record numbers of people living in emergency accommodation. Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, Chief Fire Officer of the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, spent time sleeping rough on the streets of Newport in Wales as a teenager. Now, she is working to end homelessness and stop people getting stuck in poverty. Amol and Sabrina discuss what can be done in schools to prevent homelessness, the stigma facing homeless people and how to stop professions from being do...
Conspiracy theories have flooded the internet in recent years and a growing number of people are avoiding mainstream news. Eliot Higgins, founder of the open source investigative organisation Bellingcat, thinks this is partly down to a lack of trust in institutions, which is leading to a crisis of democracy in Britain and elsewhere. He discusses why we need to spend less time online, improve media literacy and how Bellingcat has built a community of open source investigators on Discord. Eliot al...
Only one in three children in the UK enjoy reading in their spare time – the lowest rate recorded in 20 years, according to a survey for the National Literacy Trust. Best-selling children’s author Katherine Rundell, whose books include Impossible Creatures and The Explorer, says that represents a crisis of reading which will make it harder to tackle disinformation. She thinks every school should have a library that is subject to an Ofsted inspection and literacy should be included in teacher tra...
Ever since Labour won a landslide victory at the general election, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives have been fighting for the soul of the political right in Britain. Now a new right-wing think tank is putting together a suite of potential policies for a future Reform government. Dr James Orr, an associate professor of the philosophy of religion at Cambridge University and friend of US Vice President JD Vance, chairs the advisory board of that new think tank - the...
Serious pollution incidents by water companies in England rose by 60% last year, but the best-selling author Robert Macfarlane says there is a way to save our rivers. Days after a long-awaited review of the water sector in England and Wales was published, Amol sat down with Robert for a conversation about the state of rivers globally, why some are dying and how we can save them. From President Donald Trump's dismantling of the Clean Water Act in the US to the dying River Wye, Robert takes us on ...
The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson recently warned that Britain’s declining birth rate could have “worrying repercussions for society.” Demographer Paul Morland agrees. He says the trend towards an older society with fewer young people risks serious social and economic consequences. The author of 'No One Left' tells Amol that he would change the tax system to benefit parents, subsidise childcare and rethink the way we teach sex education in our schools. They also discuss immigration and ...
The singer, songwriter and political activist Billy Bragg thinks there’s a crisis of accountability in politics (23:51). To fix it, he says we need to reform the House of Lords (27:55) and redefine what liberty means in the age of social media (25:17). A socialist and anti-racism campaigner who grew up in a community where the main employer was the local Ford car factory (3:35), Billy talks to Amol about class in modern Britain (15:47) and sets out the challenges facing democracy today (20:38). ...
Is there a better way to handle divorce and family separation in the courts? Lady Hale thinks there is. The former president of the UK’s Supreme Court explains why there needs to be a more streamlined approach and how cuts to legal aid have impacted the family justice system (14:37). She also talks to Amol about the rise of authoritarianism (27:42), assisted dying (31:39) and whether lawyers should still wear wigs (42:47). GET IN TOUCH * WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 * Email: radical@bbc.co.uk Amol Ra...
More children are being convicted of crime and our prisons are nearly at capacity. But Steve Chalke thinks he has a solution. The founder of the Oasis Charitable Trust, which runs a chain of academies and the UK’s first secure school, works closely with children who have committed the worst crimes. He advocates for radically changing our schools, the education system, and how we rehabilitate our young offenders. Amol and Steve also talk about their shared background, the crisis of masculinity, a...
Leading historian Professor Sir Niall Ferguson explains how patterns from the past can help us understand the future. Amol and Sir Niall discuss the tensions in the Middle East and why he thinks Israel’s strikes on Iran are a victory for the West. They also explore the idea that we're in a new Cold War. And Sir Niall explains why Britain needs a leader like Argentina’s Javier Milei rather than Donald Trump. GET IN TOUCH * WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 * Email: radical@bbc.co.uk Amol Rajan is a present...
Feminist campaigner Laura Bates has fought for women's safety for over a decade. But now her battle against misogyny moved online. She tells Amol how social media platforms are fuelling hatred against women, with algorithms promoting increasingly extreme content. The popularity of figures like Andrew Tate, whose videos are widely available, and offensive material is being pushed to teenage boys and young men, even if they don't seek it out. So how can it be stopped? What responsibility do the bi...
Conversations about tomorrow, from Today. Every week Amol Rajan talks to radicals, pioneers and innovators from all over the world. From populism and climate change, to economics and AI... How can their radical ideas help you win the future? Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan will be published on Thursdays on BBC Sounds starting on 12th June 2025. It will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Thursdays at 11pm. Visualised versions of the podcast will also be available on BBC iPlayer and YouTube. ...
The creator of The Thick of It and Veep discusses the rise of populism and the evolution of political language. And Nick compares Amol to Billie Piper in Dr Who as they announce some news about The Today Podcast regenerating into not one, but two podcasts. Radical with Amol Rajan will be available on this feed, so make sure you hit subscribe on BBC Sounds to make sure you don’t miss an episode. Political Thinking with Nick Robinson is available here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p04z203l T...
Over half term this week Radio 4’s Today is conducting an exciting experiment: asking teenagers to abandon their smartphones for a week. On the podcast Amol discusses the monumental impact the smartphone has had on our lives and what the future of the smartphone might be with Professor Jim Ang, an expert in Human-Computer interaction, and digital regulation campaigner Baroness Beeban Kidron. Amol also takes a moment to pay tribute to his friend, former BBC executive Alan Yentob, who died last we...
It’s the end of an era for Match of the Day – with Gary Lineker hosting for the final time after 25 years in the hot seat. He will now leave the BBC a year earlier than expected in the wake of an antisemitism row. Amol – who recently sat down with Lineker for a long television interview – reflects on the former footballer’s run-ins with the BBC over impartiality and use of social media – and his legacy both as a presenter and a modern celebrity influencer. He’s joined by former culture minister,...
Why does Eurovision find itself at the centre of political controversy when it’s supposed to be non-political? This year, Israel’s participation has been questioned because of its role in the war in Gaza whilst Israeli fans have been warned by their country's National Security Council not to wear Jewish or Israeli symbols while attending Eurovision. Amol is joined by Times columnist (and Eurovision superfan) Fraser Nelson and Dr Dean Vuletic who is a leading Eurovision historian to discuss the p...
On the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Amol and Nick discuss what President Biden told Nick in his first interview since leaving office. They’re also joined by Professor Lucy Noakes, author of The People’s Victory, and Professor Jason Arday, whose work focuses on inequality, race and education, to talk about how we remember World War Two as the wartime generation dwindles and the politics of nostalgia. And Nick and Amol enjoy a vintage Today programme theme song. To get Amol and Nick's take on the b...
Kim Jong Un has confirmed for the first time that North Korean troops have been fighting in Russia against Ukraine. Amol and Nick catch up with Today presenter Anna Foster who is in Ukraine to find out about the reporting she has been doing (3:00). They also speak to Edward Howell, a fellow at Chatham House’s Korea Foundation and lecturer at Oxford University, to discuss the significance of North Korea's admission and whether Donald Trump could rekindle his relationship with Kim Jong Un (16:16)....
In this episode, former Trump advisor Fiona Hill offers a unique perspective on Donald Trump's approach to foreign policy and his attempts to broker a peace deal in Ukraine. She explains how Trump's "monarchical" and often unpredictable negotiation style, combined with his susceptibility to flattery, makes him a target for manipulation by Vladimir Putin. The discussion also delves into Putin's maximalist war aims and the critical challenges Europe faces in redefining its security, especially given the US's shifting role.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing threaten the global economy, but could it escalate into a more serious conflict? Nick is joined by former spy Nigel Inkster, now a senior advisor on China and Cybersecurity at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, to discuss whether it risks becoming a new Cold War (2:25). They also talk about what Chinese President Xi Jinping wants (8:31), his desire to achieve “reunification” with Taiwan (16:32) and whether the UK might have to choose betwee...
The president has paused the introduction of higher tariffs on goods from most countries, but continues to ramp up the trade war with China. What caused the change of heart? Nick speaks to the BBC’s Economics Editor Faisal Islam. (2:19) And before the news about the pause on those tariffs broke Nick was joined by Carla Sands, a former economic advisor to Donald Trump who was US Ambassador to Denmark, to find out what he is trying to achieve with his trade policy. Does the president want things t...
Marine Le Pen has been convicted of embezzling EU funds, potentially ruining her plans to run for the French presidency in 2027. Marine Le Pen was seen as the frontrunner to replace Emmanuel Macron at that election so the judge’s decision to ban her from standing for public office for the next five years has led to a backlash from her supporters and right-wing European allies. Nick and Amol talk to Yascha Mounk, an expert on populism and author of The Identity Trap, about what this verdict means...
Messages accidentally sent to a journalist by senior members of the Trump administration reveal information about strikes on the Houthis in Yemen and what Vice President JD Vance privately thinks about America’s European allies. Nick and Amol talk to James Orr, who Vance once described as his “British sherpa”, about the vice president's views and how much influence he has on President Trump (7:12). And after a huge response to last week’s episode we hear some of your messages about the issues ra...
