Radical with Amol Rajan

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 reflectionsGET 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] 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-rajanAmol 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 generationGET 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.

Historian and The Rest Is History co-host Tom Holland answers your questions about whether Britain is currently in a more precarious state than it was in the 1970s, what definition of ‘radical’ best describes him and if he will ever score a century playing cricket.He also explains why American presidents are often compared to Julius Caesar and faces a question he’s never heard before.GET IN TOUCH* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 * Email: [email protected] 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-rajanAmol 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 and Joe Wilkinson. Technical production was by Mike Regaard. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.

Historian and co-host of The Rest Is History podcast Tom Holland joins Amol to explore the history of radical ideas and what it means to be radical today. Tom explains why Christianity represented such a radical break from what came before, how it shaped secular thought in the West and how that compares to other religions. He also talks about his interest in Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. And Tom discusses the phenomenal success of The Rest Is History, which he presents with fellow historian Dominic Sandbrook. 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, Sophie Millward and Joe Wilkinson. Technical production was by Mike Regaard. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.