Episode details

Radio 4,11 Sep 2025,70 mins,
Identity Politics: Why the Left Needs to Stop Fighting Culture Wars (Ash Sarkar)
Radical with Amol RajanAvailable for over a year
There are some new (and old) faces on the left of British politics hoping to challenge Keir Starmer’s struggling Labour government, but could a party to the left of Labour ever win power? His predecessor Jeremy Corbyn has setup a new party with another former Labour MP, Zarah Sultana, who has declared that “Labour is deadâ€. And the Green Party of England and Wales has elected eco-populist Zack Polanski, who is urging left-leaning voters to back him rather than waiting around for Corbyn’s party to get off the ground. The journalist and political commentator Ash Sarkar has written a book called ‘Minority Rule’, which argues that the Left has become bogged down in identity politics and needs to stop fighting the culture wars so it can focus on building a broad coalition of support. A contributing editor at left-wing media organisation Novara Media, Ash discusses the radical potential for a Marxist approach to contemporary British politics and why she thinks Karl Marx would’ve loved Twitter. She also talks to Amol about why she can’t think of a ‘dumber group of people’ than Keir Starmer’s cabinet and what lies behind the recent success of Nigel Farage's Reform UK. GET IN TOUCH * WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 * Email: radical@bbc.co.uk Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ iPlayer: /iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and editor at The Independent. Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Grace Reeve and Izzy Rowley. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Mike Regaard and Dafydd Evans. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
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