Radical with Amol Rajan

It’s the second part of The Today Podcast Live! Recorded in the BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House in London in front of a live audience, Amol and Nick answer more listener questions and they’re joined by former Today programme guest editor James May. James shares his moment of the week and talks about his love of cycling and what’s next as the Amazon series The Grand Tour draws to a close. A...

Hundreds of our listeners assembled in the BBC Radio Theatre for the first ever live recording of The Today Podcast! Nick and Amol were joined on stage by a panel of experts: former Labour deputy prime minister Lord Mandelson; Fiona Hill, Theresa May’s former chief of staff in Downing Street and founder of the Future Resilience Forum; and University of Oxford Professor Jane Green, co-director of t...

Amol and Nick look ahead to the week in which the release of party manifestos could well reset the narrative of the election. They consider what the rise of the right in European elections might mean for the UK with the help of friend of the pod, pollster James Kanagasooriam. Plus Nick talks tactics ahead of his TV leadership interview with Rishi Sunak. Episodes of The Today Podcast during the ele...

Amol and Nick look at two possible game-changers in week two of the election campaign: Nigel Farage returning to lead Reform UK, and Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer facing off in the first head-to-head debate of the campaign. They’re joined by Cleo Watson – a former deputy chief of staff to Boris Johnson in No10 and now a novelist - and Peter Kellner, former president of pollsters YouGov. Episodes of...

In the first of our election campaign Monday bonus episodes, Amol and Nick look ahead to the head-to-head television debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. What can the two leaders learn from previous election debates? How do they deploy the perfect zinger? And how will they judge their performance a success? And they answer a listener question on how much influence the media will play this...

Nick has long thought that the most important question in politics is ‘whose side are you on?’ It turns out Keir Starmer might think the same. On The Today Podcast this week Nick looks into why the Labour leader highlighted that question in his first big speech of the election campaign. Also – why did Starmer tell the BBC that he identifies as a socialist? And what will Diane Abbott do next? And i...

Less than a day after calling the general election, Rishi Sunak kicked off his campaign with a set-piece interview with Nick on Today. Amol and Nick explore what clues it provides for the coming campaign – and Nick talks though his interview strategy. Also, with inflation now down to 2.3% we bring together two of the leading economic thinkers from the left and the right to talk tax-and-spend: Kate...

The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called an election on July 4th. But why did he choose today to do it and what can we expect in the coming weeks? Amol and Nick consider the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s calculation on an announcement that took both of them by surprise. Episodes of The Today Podcast usually land on Thursdays. Subscribe on BBC Sounds to get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stori...

In a week in which Keir Starmer outlines his six ‘first steps for change’ (just don’t call it a pledge card), Amol and Nick look into what defines the Labour leader’s mission – and how left wing he really is. Labour insider and author of Starmer’s latest biography, Tom Baldwin, gives Amol and Nick a behind-the-scenes look into what Keir Starmer is really like and how his working class background h...

Amol asks what the local elections results really tell us about what might happen in a general election and why so many Britons feel skint. Pollster James Kanagasooriam is back in The Today Podcast studio to give his verdict on whether the local election results point to a Labour majority at the general election or a hung parliament. In a week where Britain could come out of a recession Amol asks...

As votes the continue to be counted Amol and Nick give their take on where the election results leave both the Tories and Labour. Pollster James Kanagasooriam, chief research officer with Focal Data who sits on the board of centre-right think tank Onward, is back with some expert analysis. And find out how you can come along to a special recording of The Today Podcast: Live! Regular episodes of Th...

This week we’ve taken inspiration from friend of the podcast, Stephen Fry, who challenged Amol and Nick to look at what the future of AI means for us all – and whether it will herald in a utopian or dystopian future. Dame Wendy Hall, member of UK’s AI Council and adviser to the UN, explains why she is worried that it is too late to prevent AI-generated deepfakes impacting elections around the worl...

In a week where broadcasters with shows hosted by politicians were warned they could face fines if they break impartiality rules during the next general election campaign, Nick looks at the issues it raises about which programmes MPs should be allowed to present. Former ITN chief executive Stewart Purvis tells us why he believes we will “see and hear things on the air we’ve never seen before” in g...

In this bonus episode of The Today Podcast, Amol and Nick take on more of your questions – on politics, AI and their approach to journalism. Friends of the pod Dame Esther Rantzen and Stephen Fry join other listeners in asking Amol and Nick questions like ‘how did we come to have such lightweight politicians in charge?’ and ‘have you done any interviews that went so badly wrong that the memory mak...

How big a social change will Rishi Sunak’s smoking bill prove – and why does he want this to be his legacy? On this week’s podcast Amol and Nick look at what the plan to end smoking for the younger generation – which passed its first parliamentary hurdle this week – says about the direction of the Conservative Party and the control Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has over his MPs. They’re joined by Sir...

In an interview with Nick on Radio 4’s Today this week, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined how Labour would try to plug the gap in NHS funding. The interview raised big political and economic questions about the state of the nation’s finances ahead of the next general election. In The Today Podcast this week, Nick reflects on that interview and why the economic credibility of opposition part...

Two events in the Middle East have grabbed the headlines this week - the killing of seven aid workers, including three British nationals, in Israeli strikes in Gaza and the assassination of three Iranian generals in Syria. But will these events change anything? Nick is joined by former chief of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, almost six months after his first appearance in the wake of the Hamas attacks. Th...

BBC director general Tim Davie has outlined his vision for the future of the BBC. He fired the starting gun on a consultation on the future of the licence fee and spoke of how the BBC could increase its revenue through adverts. So this week Amol and Nick ask, why should you have to pay for the BBC? They speak to Richard Sharp, the former chairman of the BBC, in his first interview with the BBC sin...

In a week where shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves echoed Margaret Thatcher when outlining her vision for the UK economy, we ask, is Labour ready for government? Amol is joined by The Rest is Politics’s Alastair Campbell to talk about Reeves’ speech and whether Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has done enough to signal what his government could look like. Pollster Kelly Beaver, chief executive of Ipsos...

Lee Anderson grabbed the headlines this week as he defected from the Conservatives to become Reform UK’s first MP. This prompted rumours of further red wall MPs thinking about defecting. This week we ask, is there a new revolt on the right? Amol is joined by James Kanagasooriam, the pollster who first identified and the defined the red wall, to look at what will happen in those constituencies in t...

David Neal was sacked last month from his job as Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration for leaking details of critical reports which ministers had not published. In his first broadcast interview since then he tells Amol and Nick why he thinks the Home Office is dysfunctional and in need of urgent reform. He adds that since his dismissal there is now no one in place to monitor how ministers im...

Has Jeremy Hunt done enough with his Budget to change the political and economic weather? Amol and Nick assess the politics of the Chancellor’s speech – possibly his last major intervention before a general election. And they’re joined by Andy Haldane, a former chief economist at the Bank of England and now chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts, to look at what difference the economic measu...

George Galloway is back in parliament with a resounding win in the Rochdale by-election. In this bonus episode of The Today Podcast Amol and Nick discuss what his victory means and how the Israel-Gaza conflict is shaping politics. They also look back Galloway’s fifty years in politics and consider how he will operate in a social media age. Episodes of The Today Podcast land every Thursday and watc...

With pro-Palestinian marches in the spotlight, the prime minister saying mob rule is replacing democratic rule and the government announcing more money to protect MPs whose homes are being targeted, this week Amol and Nick explore where the line stands on legitimate protest. And they look at why Lee Anderson - the MP who lost the Conservative whip after accusing London Mayor Sadiq Khan of being ‘c...

As the fallout continues from the chaos in the Commons over a ceasefire vote, Amol and Nick look at the issues the unprecedented night in parliament highlighted. Labour’s Harriet Harman is in the studio to discuss the safety of MPs. Plus hear some of this week’s coverage of Israel-Gaza conflict from the Today programme. Episodes of The Today Podcast land every Thursday and watch out for bonus epis...