Radical with Amol Rajan

Jenny Krakovsky has spent years trying to get her films made the traditional way. A working-class girl from South London, who was kicked out of school aged 14, she trained as a filmmaker and built a career making documentaries and adverts for high-end brands. But after repeatedly hitting a wall trying to get her feature scripts financed, she decided to take a radical gamble: could she make an enti...

Naomi Klein has been writing critiques of capitalism and globalisation for more than 20 years. But now, for one of the most influential and outspoken figures on the political left, things are getting desperate. In her latest book 'End Times Fascism' she writes about how the global economic order is combining with other powerful forces to hasten the end of the world as we know it. The author and so...

Award-winning journalist and podcaster Gabriel Gatehouse is the new host of Radical, the podcast exploring the people and ideas trying to change the world. At a time of radical change, in politics and technology, in culture and the natural environment, Radical with Gabriel Gatehouse is a twice-weekly podcast where thinkers, innovators and heretics explore bold ideas reshaping our world. Can these...

What if housing, childcare, transport and social care were no longer treated as things to buy and sell but as services everyone was entitled to, regardless of their ability to pay? Social policy analyst Anna Coote believes the market has failed to provide many of life's essentials. Her answer is universal basic services: a system where access to housing, care, education, transport and other necess...

Paul Sagar depends on carers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He could die without them. It's been that way ever since the academic at King's College London fell in a rock climbing accident three years ago and was paralysed from the neck down. His experiences in England's adult social care system - and the stories he has heard from others - have led him to a radical plan for how to address its s...

Politicians are always making decisions that impact future generations, but how often do they really consider whether they are making life better, or worse, for people who haven’t been born yet? Rarely, thinks Sophie Howe, but she is part of a movement aiming to change that. She was the first future generations commissioner for Wales - at the time, the first role of its kind anywhere in the world...

Prepper Mike Chappell is ready for disaster to hit the UK, and he believes everyone else should be prepared too. Mike is worried that blackouts, food supply disruption, and extreme weather could seriously disrupt normal life, potentially leaving people to fend for themselves for weeks or months at a time. He believes those threats are growing and thinks everyone should have enough supplies to last...

Former mortuary technician Kristoffer Hughes wants to bring terramation - or human composting - to the UK. He believes it's a more natural and hopeful way for our bodies to be disposed of, and a more environmentally friendly alternative to burial and cremation. Kristoffer tells Gabriel Gatehouse about the "epiphany" he had when he first witnessed the practice in the USA, his own experience of bein...

Neil Woods is a former undercover police officer who used to infiltrate drug gangs, but he now believes drugs should be legalised and the market regulated by government. He's a board member of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), which campaigns for drug policy reform around the world. In the main episode Neil explained why he thinks prohibition of illicit drugs has failed and outlined h...

As an undercover police officer Neil Woods' job was to infiltrate drug gangs and put their leaders behind bars, but he says his work gradually convinced him that he was doing more harm than good. Since leaving the force he has become one of the UK's foremost campaigners for drug policy reform. Neil tells this week's host, Jenny Kleeman, why he believes the war on drugs has failed, and sets out his...

Sarah Harper is Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford and one of the world's leading experts on demographic change. She challenges the widespread belief that ageing populations are primarily a social and economic burden, arguing instead that longer lives represent one of humanity's greatest achievements and an opportunity to rethink how society is organised. In the last episode, Sar...

This week, James Marriott talks to Sarah Harper, Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford and one of the world's leading experts on demographic change. She challenges the increasingly common narrative that ageing populations represent an inevitable economic and social burden, arguing instead that longer lives should be seen as an achievement that requires us to rethink the way society...

Brendan Simms is Professor of the History of International Relations at the University of Cambridge and the author of The Return of the Great Powers. He challenges the widespread belief that Britain is in terminal decline, arguing that the UK remains one of the world’s four true Great Powers. In the main episode, Brendan explained why Britain’s resources, global reach, reputation and resilience st...

Is Great Britain really still great? Is it in decline, or has the UK underestimated its own status in the world? In his latest book The Return of the Great Powers, Brendan Simms, Professor of the History of International Relations at the University of Cambridge, challenges one of the most deeply rooted current assumptions in British public life and argues that the UK is still a significant player...

Derek Gow is a farmer, conservationist, author and leading rewilding advocate who has become one of the UK's most vocal champions of large-scale species reintroductions. In this special Q&A, he tackles some of your most challenging and provocative questions. In the main episode, Derek explained why he breeds native British species and argued that rewilding is a vital tool in addressing the bio...

This week, John Burn-Murdoch speaks with Derek Gow, the British farmer, conservationist, author and rewilding pioneer who has become one of the UK's most outspoken advocates for large-scale species reintroductions. From his farm in Devon, Derek breeds native British animals, including species that have been absent from the UK for centuries. His goal is to demonstrate what is possible when conserva...

David Runciman, podcaster and former politics Professor, answers Your Radical Questions. In the main episode, David argued that lowering the voting age to six is a true expression of universal suffrage and could help reinvigorate our stagnant democracy. Now, our listeners challenge him on whether kids would just vote how their parents tell them,  and whether there’s any evidence or precedent to su...

This week, guest presenter Sophia Smith Galer speaks to David Runciman, a podcaster and former politics academic, about his radical proposition to lower the voting age to six. It’s a position that has been met with laughter, scorn, and even anger, but he believes it’s not just in accordance with our democratic principles - it could also help give our stale and fractious democracy a much-needed sho...

Writer Lamorna Ash, author of Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever, answers Your Radical Questions. In the main episode, Lamorna told James Marriott what she discovered while travelling around Britain and meeting young Christians across the religious and political spectrum. Now, you ask her why some people under 40 are finding faith in older and more ritualistic churches, and whether Christianity is be...

This week, James Marriott speaks to the writer Lamorna Ash about her journey through the changing world of British Christianity. Raised with little religious belief, Lamorna spent a year visiting churches, festivals, monasteries and Christian communities across the country. What began as an investigation into why young people were rediscovering faith gradually became a much more personal search fo...

Professor David Keith, one of the world’s leading researchers in geoengineering, answers Your Radical Questions. In the main episode, David told Gabriel Gatehouse why deliberately reflecting a small amount of sunlight away from Earth could slow global warming. Now, you ask him whether we could ever know the unintended consequences before trying it, and whether sunlight reflection could be stopped...

What if the answer to climate change is not only to cut carbon emissions, but to make the Earth more resilient using tech? Professor David Keith is one of the world’s leading researchers of geoengineering which aims to do just that. Efforts to capture carbon are already underway, but Professor Keith is particularly interested in sunlight reflection - the controversial idea of cooling the planet by...

On Amol’s last day as the host of Radical, he shares five conversations that really stand out. Matt Clifford, Emma Grede, Jacob Dunne, Katherine Birbalsingh and James Marriott. Next week, Gabriel Gatehouse speaks to Professor David Keith about geoengineering, deliberate large-scale interventions in the Earth’s climate system designed to fight human-caused climate change. If you have a Radical ques...

Sophie Pender, founder of The 93% Club, returns to answer your questions on class, privilege and education. In the main episode, Sophie told Amol why she thinks Britain needs to stop talking politely about social mobility and confront the power of private schools. Now, listeners ask whether class identity has become too slippery, whether people downplay their own privilege, and whether support for...

Sophie Pender grew up on council estates in North London, became the first in her family to go to university, trained as a corporate lawyer - then walked away from a six-figure salary to fight Britain’s class problem. She’s the founder of ‘The 93% Club’, a network for state-educated students and professionals, named after the proportion of people in Britain who go to state schools. But Sophie argu...