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Radical with Amol Rajan

Sunak and Starmer go head to head

Radical with Amol Rajan

BBC

Society & Culture

4.5919 Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2024

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the first of our election campaign Monday bonus episodes, Amol and Nick look ahead to the head-to-head television debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer.

What can the two leaders learn from previous election debates? How do they deploy the perfect zinger? And how will they judge their performance a success?

And they answer a listener question on how much influence the media will play this election.

Episodes of The Today Podcast during the election campaign will land on Mondays and Thursdays. Subscribe on BBC Sounds to get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme. If you would like a question answering, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us Today@bbc.co.uk

The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news 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.

The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Chris Murphy and digital production from Joe Wilkinson.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:04.7

Hello, it's Amol back in the Today Podcast studio.

0:07.4

And it's Nick at home.

0:08.9

And this is exciting, isn't it?

0:10.0

This is our first extra Monday episode of the Today podcast during the election campaign

0:16.0

because as the campaigning ramps up, so are we?

0:18.9

And boy, it is going to ramp up this week,

0:21.2

not least because we get the first prime ministerial debate.

0:25.0

Indeed, every Monday we're going to look at the week ahead,

0:27.1

giving our take on what's happening,

0:29.1

what's been happening over the weekend,

0:30.4

but the things that we're looking out for this week as well.

0:33.2

We're still going to answer your questions

0:34.4

and respond to your voice notes, of course.

0:37.6

So, let's do it.

0:52.7

All right, straight into it then for this first Monday episode during the election campaign of the Today podcast.

0:56.1

This is the week where the TV debates really kick off and they matter, don't they, Nick?

1:00.2

Because there is a fashionable view that TV matters less than it does.

1:03.9

The ratings aren't what they used to be and so on and so on.

1:06.6

It's all happening on Instagram.

1:07.6

And indeed, there is a lot going on on social media.

1:10.3

But of course, TV debates are played out on social media as well as on TV.

...

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