Episode
We Need to Talk About Class: Is It Time to Abolish Private Schools? (Sophie Pender)
- Podcast
- Radical with Amol Rajan
- Published
- Jul 9, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4160
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002yl32
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Summary
Sophie Pender grew up on council estates in North London, became the first in her family to go to university, trained as a corporate lawyer - then walked away from a six-figure salary to fight Britain’s class problem. She’s the founder of ‘The 93% Club’, a network for state-educated students and professionals, named after the proportion of people in Britain who go to state schools. But Sophie argues that “social mobility” has become too polite a phrase for something much deeper: how much class, accent, money and private education shapes who gets power – and who doesn’t. In Amol’s final Radical interview, Sophie explains why she’s made it her life’s mission to make private schools redundant, why networks matter as much as talent, and what it would take to build an old boys’ network for everyone else. GET IN TOUCH: * WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 * Email: [email protected] Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday and Monday. Amol Rajan presents the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 and hosts University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was the BBC’s media editor and the editor of The Independent newspaper. Series producer: Rufus Gray Producers: Oscar Pearson, Julian Paszkiewicz Digital producers: Leona Gasper, Joe Wilkinson Technical producer: Jonny Hall Senior news editor: Sam Bonham