Radical with Amol Rajan

As the government prepares to introduce a strategy to boost fostering in England, Amol speaks to foster carer and author Louise Allen about the crisis in the system and what it will take to fix it.
At the end of March 2024 there were 83,630 children in care in England, of whom 56,390 were being fostered, but there is a shortfall of around 6,000 foster carers nationwide.
In this episode Louise explains why we need to be more honest about the realities of caring for often vulnerable kids and focus on retaining foster carers rather than recruiting new ones.
She also explains why there needs to be more practical support like providing a cleaner for every fostering household so that they can focus on emotionally supporting the children in their care.
(00:03:10) Why is there a fostering crisis?
(00:06:20) Why do we have so many children in care?
(00:08:49) Louise's story: growing up in care
(00:16:13) The effect of smartphones
(00:20:08) Why is there a shortage of foster carers?
(00:23:37) Why do people foster?
(00:27:28) The recruitment process
(00:30:33) Foster care v residential care
(00:33:10) What is the fostering allowance?
(00:39:09) Louise's RADICAL ideas
(00:45:06) The government's fostering reforms
(00:47:30) The importance of giving children social capital
(00:52:19) Amol's reflections
GET IN TOUCH

* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: [email protected]

Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan

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.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Anna Budd. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Dave O'Neill. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.

Professor Helen Thompson, an expert on oil and global politics, answers your questions about Europe’s energy security, whether America would intercept Russian-flagged tankers carrying oil to Cuba and what uncomfortable truth she would inject into political debate.
She also explains how the shift away from burning gas and oil and towards electricity and renewable energies will affect geopolitics?
GET IN TOUCH

* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: [email protected]

Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan

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.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Anna Budd. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Jonny Hall. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.

The capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro by the United States feels like confirmation that we are in a new era of global politics, but what has caused this shift and where does it leave Europe?
Amol speaks to Professor Helen Thompson, an expert on the history of globalisation and author of Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century, about how oil is fuelling competition between the US and China.
They explore how it’s reshaping global power politics, whether it's possible for Europe to decouple from the US and why high levels of national debt threaten to undermine Western economies.
And Helen, who is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge, explains why she thinks there is a case for potentially reversing the independence of central banks like the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England to give politicians more control.
(00:05:11) What is the Western Hemisphere?
(00:07:45) The importance of Venezuela
(00:11:05) How and why Washington is putting pressure on China
(00:19:30) Why Trump is inspired by the US in the late 19th century
(00:25:08) The rules based international order
(00:29:00) Where does Europe fit into this new world?
(00:30:52) Can Europe break away from the US?
(00:33:30) Oil and the Western Economic Crisis
(00:37:40) How is oil effecting power politics today?
(00:40:40) What about renewable energy?
(00:43:58) The coming debt emergency
(00:46:30) Helen's RADICAL ideas
(00:56:02) Amol's reflections
GET IN TOUCH

* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: [email protected]

Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan

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.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Anna Budd. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Jonny Hall. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.

Academic and social media influencer Louisa Munch answers your questions about her left-wing politics, whether online algorithms mean she’s preaching to the converted and what schools should be doing to develop critical thinking skills.
She also faces questions about her support for free university education and whether she feels pressure to bend her politics to suit a more mainstream line of argument.
GET IN TOUCH
* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: [email protected]
Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan
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.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Anna Budd. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Gareth Jones and Dafydd Evans. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.

What is the point of going to university? In this episode, Amol sits down with the critical theorist, academic and social media influencer Louisa Munch who thinks you shouldn’t have to pay for higher education.
With the graduate premium in decline, she explains why people should go to university to gain knowledge rather than get a job because she believes having an informed society is good for everyone in an era of competing narratives about the past.
She also reflects on why people of her generation feel disillusioned and what can be done to give them some hope for the future.
(00:05:04) What is critical theory?
(00:06:06) Why she believes university should be free
(00:12:50) University as a meritocracy
(00:18:45) Is student debt worth it?
(00:22:06) Thoughts on class divide
(00:26:23) Nostalgia and the far right
(00:37:28) Disenchantment about the future
(00:43:32) Nostalgia in contemporary politics
(00:47:30) Louisa's RADICAL ideas
(00:49:08) Political movements of the next generation
GET IN TOUCH:
* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: [email protected]

Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan

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.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Anna Budd. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Gareth Jones and Dafydd Evans. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.