Skip to main content
Radical with Amol Rajan

Radical with Amol Rajan

Podcast | United Kingdom | Centre
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r

Amol Rajan speaks with pioneers and innovators about radical ideas reshaping how we live, work, and govern—from BBC Radio 4 and Sounds.

Engagement Insights

36
Discussions
0
Participants
0
Total Votes
37
Articles

Discussions from Radical with Amol Rajan

Culture

Should Phones Be Banned in Pubs? (Your Radical Questions with Oisín Rogers)

Oisín Rogers takes your questions on how pubs can not only survive, but thrive. In the main episode we heard Oisín’s radical ideas about why he thinks pubs are essential not just for our history and identity, but also for the problems of the modern age. Today, Oisín considers the old-fashioned pub customs some people cherish and others find faintly terrifying: no laptops, no swearing, no sprawling groups and even a landlord who is not desperately pleased to see you. Are these traditions part ...

United Kingdom
Join Discussion
Society

Last Call for the Local: Are Old Pubs the Solution to Modern Crises? (Oisín Rogers)

The British pub has played a huge part in our lives for hundreds of years: it’s a place to eat, drink, grieve, flirt, celebrate and put the world to rights. Yet thousands have disappeared, and many more are fighting to stay open. This week, Amol speaks to Oisín Rogers, co-founder of The Devonshire in Soho. For Oisín, saving pubs isn’t just about nostalgia - it’s about defending the everyday places that make communities feel less isolated and more human. He’s got some radical ideas on how to s...

United Kingdom
Join Discussion
Infrastructure

Can Britain Change Its Ways on Housing? (Your Radical Questions with Shiv Malik)

This week, Shiv Malik, the man behind the proposals for ‘Forest City 1’, takes your questions. He’s a former investigative journalist turned campaigner: instead of writing another book about Britain’s housing crisis, he’s trying to build his way out of it. Forest City is his ambitious pitch for Britain’s first new city in more than 50 years: a million-person settlement east of Cambridge, with around 400,000 homes, new rail links and thousands of acres of new woodland. We hear Shiv talk about ...

United Kingdom
Join Discussion
Infrastructure

The Great British Housing Crisis: Is a Brand New Mega-City the Answer? (Shiv Malik)

This week, Amol is joined by the author and journalist Shiv Malik, to discuss his plan to build a new mega-city from scratch in East Anglia. In 2010 Shiv Malik wrote a book called the Jilted Generation, which argued that anyone born since 1979 has been robbed of their future because of how expensive home ownership has become. Now, he’s dedicating his life to a plan for a new city that he thinks will save Britain, and prove that we can be builders again. Shiv wants to build ‘Forest City’ on 45...

United Kingdom
Join Discussion
Economy

Is Our Idea of Economic Success Completely Broken? (Your Radical Questions with Kate Raworth)

Kate Raworth believes that mainstream economists have got it wrong for decades. For her, reducing everything to a simple measure of gross domestic product and increasing that number every year is a huge mistake that is harming both people and planet. In 2017 she proposed a radical alternative in a book called ‘Doughnut Economics’. It proposes a new economic model that priortises social and environmental needs instead of how much we produce and consume. Many of you asked us to invite her on th...

Global
Join Discussion
Economy

The End of Endless Growth: Should We Put the Brakes on Economic Expansion? (Kate Raworth)

What if growth wasn’t the main goal for economic prosperity? Kate Raworth, the author and economist behind Doughnut Economics, tells Amol why she thinks that measuring success by GDP growth is unsustainable, immoral, and an unfit economic model for the 21st century. Kate’s thesis goes against centuries of economic consensus and has radical ideas for how to overhaul the system by prioritising nature and wellbeing. She argues that real abundance is possible, but only if we learn from nature and...

Global
Join Discussion
Business

Could Ben & Jerry's Be Created Today? (Your Radical Questions with Ben Cohen)

Amol is joined by Ben Cohen, one half of the team behind Ben & Jerry's ice cream, to answer your questions, such as whether ethics is more important to business success than a good product? Can companies be trusted to fulfil corporate responsibilities without government oversight? And how does he square his ethical stance with the fact that his ice cream is an ultra processed food? WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 Email: [email protected] Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Mond...

Global
Join Discussion
Politics

Why Are Young People Abandoning the Political Centre? (Your Radical Questions with Adrian Wooldridge)

Amol puts your Radical questions to Adrian Wooldridge, a Bloomberg columnist and author of ‘Centrists of the World Unite: The Lost Genius of Liberalism’. They discuss individualism and society, a decline in support for the centre ground, the potential dangers of nostalgia, and how the political centre could engage young people. GET IN TOUCH WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 Email: [email protected] Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday. Amol Rajan presents the Today progra...

United Kingdom
Join Discussion
Business

Taking Responsibility: Are We Thinking About Success and Ambition All Wrong? (Emma Grede)

This week, the entrepreneur Emma Grede challenges ‘old thoughts’ about work-life balance, money, motherhood and success. She argues that focus, trade-offs and relentless effort matter more than comfort. From growing up in East London to building global businesses, she makes the case that opportunity still exists, if you’re willing to chase it. But are her ideas liberating - or just unforgiving? Emma Grede is the co‑founder of Skims, created with her husband Jens and Kim Kardashian, and the CE...

Global
Join Discussion
Business

Business Reimagined: Should Firms Have a Purpose Beyond Profit? (Ben & Jerry’s Ben Cohen)

Amol is back from his stint in the Celebrity Traitors castle. He speaks to Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, about what took the ice cream company from a single store in rural America into a billion-dollar business. Ben Cohen argues that most corporations have trained people to believe profit and purpose are from separate worlds – while he says that a company’s values should be as important to its mission as making money. Cohen makes the case that consumers are not just shoppers – they ...

Global
Join Discussion
Economy

How might the rise of AI affect jobs and the economy in our community?

Amol puts your questions, queries, and concerns about AI to Matt Clifford, co-founder of Entrepreneurs First and former AI adviser to Number 10. Matt is a strong advocate for Britain’s rapid uptake of AI to boost the economy, but what are the risks? We asked him about capitalism, tech stifling creativity, universal basic income, how the UK government deals with the speed of AI development, and what the impact on inequality might be. GET IN TOUCH WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 Email: [email protected] Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Monday and Thursday. Amol Rajan presents the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He also hosts University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor of The Independent newspaper. Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Rufus Gray and Oscar Pearson. Technical production was by Ricardo McCarthy. The Senior News Editor is Sam Bonham

Global
Join Discussion
Healthcare

How Close Are We to a Cure for Cancer? (Your Radical Questions with Professor Sir John Bell)

The FT’s John Burn-Murdoch stands in for Amol, joined this week by the immunologist and geneticist Professor Sir John Bell. After talking about the radical change being ushered in by successive medical breakthroughs on the main podcast, Sir John takes your questions on implications of this profound change. Will we see only wealthy people being able to benefit from these revolutionary treatments? What impact will the Trump administration have on the advance of medical science? And just how clo...

United Kingdom
Join Discussion