Radical with Gabriel Gatehouse

As school attendance falls and concerns grow about children’s mental health and special educational needs, is it time to rethink what education should look like? Clinical psychologist, Naomi Fisher believes the problem may not lie with children struggling to attend school, but with a system that is failing to meet their needs. Specialising in trauma and neurodiversity, she has spent years working with children and families who struggle with mainstream education. She has also chosen to home educate her own children.

Drawing on her professional and personal experience, Naomi argues that rising levels of school avoidance should be seen as feedback about the education system, rather than a problem with children’s behaviour. She explains why she believes families should have far greater freedom over how their children learn, and what a more flexible education system could look like. Her radical thought is that while every child deserves an education, not every child needs to go to school.

Series Producer: Simon Tulett

LISTEN:

Listen to Radical every Thursday on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also listen on your smart speaker. Just say: "Ask BBC Sounds to play Radical".

WATCH:

You can also catch Radical with Gabriel Gatehouse on YouTube at www.youtube.com/bbcnews.

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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 entire feature film with AI, using only her laptop, in just a few weeks?

Jenny tells Gabriel about the tech behind the female-driven 1960s crime caper, how she documented the process online, and how she then found herself at the centre of a fierce debate about the future of cinema. She explains why she believes AI could be a democratising force for filmmaking, giving outsiders the chance to bypass industry gatekeepers and tell stories that Hollywood might never make.

Series Producer: Simon Tulett

LISTEN:

Listen to Radical every Thursday on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also listen on your smart speaker. Just say: "Ask BBC Sounds to play Radical".

WATCH:

You can also catch Radical with Gabriel Gatehouse on YouTube at www.youtube.com/bbcnews.

GET IN TOUCH:

• WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480

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 social activist tells Gabriel Gatehouse about the religious fundamentalists, tech bros and white supremacists that keep her up at night, and her ideas about how to stop them - including dismantling capitalism, and why it hasn't happened yet.

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 ideas, and the people driving them, really change the world? And if so, will it be for better, or worse?

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 necessities are free or genuinely affordable.

She tells Gabriel Gatehouse about a proposal that challenges the assumption that markets are the best way to allocate resources. From housing shortages to childcare costs, Anna explains what universal basic services would mean in practice and whether Britain could ever afford them.

WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 

Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday.

Series Producer: Simon Tulett

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 spiralling costs, staff shortages, and increasing demand. Paul thinks that, before they go to university, students should be offered the chance to volunteer in the care sector for at least a year, in exchange for a discount on their future university tuition fees.

Gabriel Gatehouse hears Paul's remarkable story and puts his solution to the test: how many teenagers would actually go for it, and would they make a big enough difference?

This episode was recorded before Andy Burnham announced plans to end the pensions triple lock by 2030 to help fund a National Care Service in England.

WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 

Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday.

Series Producer: Simon Tulett

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 - and her job was to make sure that decisions taken by the Welsh government would benefit its people in the long-term.

She tells Gabriel Gatehouse about some of the key things she made happen, and one big thing she stopped happening, as well as her current work to encourage other countries to appoint future generations commissioners. Also, she explains why she thinks it’s sometimes necessary to put the needs of the unborn over those of the living, at least in the short-term.

WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 

Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday.

Series Producer: Simon Tulett

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 them at least two weeks - a message he spreads on his YouTube channel, UK Urban Prepper.

The UK government recently urged people to stock up on tinned food and bottled water to build resilience in case of a national emergency, so have preppers like Mike been right all along?

Gabriel Gatehouse asks Mike what exactly he is prepping for and gets some tips on how to start building a stockpile. Plus, does the prepper mindset leave any room for community spirit, or is it all about looking after yourself?

- WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 

Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday.

Series Producer: Simon Tulett

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 being 'buried alive' in a terramation facility, and what human compost can actually be used for.

The practice isn't legal in the UK yet - the Law Commission has suggested it could be explored as an option in England and Wales - but how much appeal would it really have, how much would it cost, and is it safe?

- WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 

Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday and Monday.

Series Producer: Simon Tulett

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 his plan for the government to source and supply drugs like cannabis, cocaine and heroin through pharmacies or via sales in regulated shops.

In this special Q&A, Neil answers your questions on minimum ages for these drugs, the experiences of other countries, and the thorny moral question.

- WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 

Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday and Monday.

Series Producer: Simon Tulett