Joe Biden, VE Day and the politics of nostalgia
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Amol and Nick discuss what President Biden told Nick in his first interview since leaving office.
They’re also joined by Professor Lucy Noakes, author of The People’s Victory, and Professor Jason Arday, whose work focuses on inequality, race and education, to talk about how we remember World War Two as the wartime generation dwindles and the politics of nostalgia.
And Nick and Amol enjoy a vintage Today programme theme song.
To get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories and insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme make sure you hit subscribe on BBC Sounds. That way you’ll get an alert every time we release a new episode, and you won’t miss our extra bonus episodes either.
GET IN TOUCH: * Send us a message or a voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 * Email today@bbc.co.uk
The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson who are both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.
This episode was made by Lewis Vickers with Izzy Rowley. Digital production was by Izzy Rowley. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.9 | Nick, I think today's podcast is going to be slightly different in tone in a good way |
| 0:09.0 | because I've been thinking a bit about something that happened on Monday, |
| 0:13.0 | bank holiday Monday when I was stationed outside Buckingham Palace, |
| 0:16.6 | and I went to see some of the crowds in the mall. |
| 0:19.9 | We were presenting the Today program from there. |
| 0:21.9 | And it's always that slightly scary moment at the 10 past date. |
| 0:23.9 | You don't know what they're going to say. |
| 0:25.0 | They could say something absolutely off. |
| 0:27.9 | But I met a man called Boyd. |
| 0:29.9 | And he said something that was so interesting on the week that would mark the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of VE Day. |
| 0:38.9 | This is Boyd. |
| 0:40.2 | The sacrifices everybody made 80 plus years ago. |
| 0:44.5 | That's why we wanted to come today because I don't think we're ever going to see anything like this again. |
| 0:48.7 | Why'd you say we're never going to see anything just because of the age of the veterans? |
| 0:51.3 | Yeah, the age of the veterans and obviously, you know, the queens pass in, etc. They've always used to do it every year. I don't think it's going to be |
| 0:59.8 | as big as this. I think there's some real wisdom in what Boyd was saying there. And what he's getting |
| 1:03.9 | at is this idea that the past is fading, that the wartime generation is disappearing, frankly, |
| 1:09.8 | because they're dying. |
| 1:15.2 | And this feeling that we might have to change how we remember the Second World War in the future and that a new generation is going to have a very different connection to Britain's past. |
| 1:20.0 | I listened to that. |
| 1:22.0 | And I felt an echo, weirdly, when meeting Joe Biden, which I did for an interview this week in Delaware, |
... |
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