麻豆社

Joe Seddon, founder of Zero Gravity, thinks 鈥済eography is destiny in the UK鈥� which is why he has built a tech platform to do something about it.

In this week鈥檚 episode, Amol and Joe dig into the barriers facing young people across the country, from stalled social mobility to uneven access to opportunity.

Growing up in a single鈥憄arent household in Morley, West Yorkshire, he went on to study at the University of Oxford, but he thinks those opportunities are still too rare for people from a similar background. That鈥檚 why his platform connects people from low-opportunity areas with top universities and employers.

But Joe argues that there needs to be 鈥渞adical transparency鈥� in how university degrees are advertised so people know the value of the course they鈥檙e applying to.

And in a blunt message to ambitious people from disadvantaged backgrounds, he admits that the economic reality means that 鈥測ou should think seriously about leaving your hometown.鈥�

TIMECODES

(00:03:46) Social mobility in the UK

(00:11:24) The impact of AI on social mobility

(00:16:49) Can government policy improve social mobility?

(00:18:14) The broken social contract for Gen Z

(00:21:00) Student loan repayments

(00:27:24) Are too many people going to university?

(00:30:49) Joe鈥檚 RADICAL ideas

(00:36:19) Joe鈥檚 journey from West Yorkshire to Oxford University

(00:40:37) Accent bias

(00:46:55) Why 鈥済eography is destiny鈥� in the UK

(00:54:36) What is Zero Gravity?

(01:36:44) Amol鈥檚 reflections

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 麻豆社 iPlayer: /iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan

Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on 麻豆社 Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on 麻豆社 One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the 麻豆社 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 James Piper. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.

Show less