Ways to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy

"You're categorised as not being particularly intelligent or able," says Jason Arday, an autistic Sociologist who became Cambridge University's youngest black professor.  Jason Arday was unable to speak until he was 11 and could not read or write until he was 18. As a PE teacher in 2012, he wrote a list of goals he wanted to achieve. One of them was to be a professor at Oxford or Cambridge University. Today on Ways To Change The World, Jason Arday tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy about his journey with Autism, learning to read and write at the age of 18, and why racial profiling is limiting people’s ability to achieve their dreams. Produced by Silvia Maresca and Shaheen Sattar  

At 14, Lemn Sissay inked his initials into his hand with a homemade tattoo. He didn’t write LS, but NG, for Norman Greenwood, which he thought was his name. Except that it wasn’t. His real identity had been withheld from him since he was born. Born in Wigan to an Ethiopian mother, Lemn Sissay was raised in care; first in a foster family and then, from the age of 12 to 18, in a string of children's homes, including the notorious Wood End assessment centre, where he was physically, emotionally and racially abused. Despite going on to become an award-winning and internationally acclaimed poet, the trauma of his harrowing childhood never left him, and has informed much of his work on and off the page. Today on Ways to Change the World, he talks to Krishnan Guru-Murthy about growing up in the care system, finding his identity as a British and Ethiopian man, and why the care system in the UK is failing children in need. Produced by Silvia Maresca

As the third Black woman ever to be elected as an MP, and then instated as a government Minister, Dawn Butler has been vocal on the disrespect that Black women face in politics. As an outspoken campaigner herself, Butler was criticised in 2019 for calling Boris Johnson a liar in the House of Commons. She was subsequently asked to leave the Parliament grounds that day.  Whilst calling for the former Met Commissioner, Cressida Dick, to resign, she ironically found herself being stopped by the police whilst driving with her friend (who is also Black).  After facing a long battle with breast cancer in 2021, she found inspiration to write her first book, ‘A Purposeful Life’, where she draws on the repeated times she’s been called a liar after facing racism and sexism both in politics and outside of it.  In today’s episode of Ways to Change the World, Labour MP Dawn Butler speaks to Krishnan Guru-Murthy about calling Boris Johnson a liar in Parliament, white feminism in the Labour party (and at large) and her ambitions to be the next Mayor of London. Being a Black person in a white-dominated space, she also tells us why wearing a lime-green suit in a sea of grey-suits was her way of realising you don’t have to fit in. Produced by Silvia Maresca

“The police haven’t changed,” says American rapper Ice Cube, marking 35 years since the release of the track “F*** Tha Police” that cemented his status in musical history alongside the hip hop group N.W. A. Ice Cube is regarded by hip-hop critics and fans as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. He was first famous for the N.W.A album, Straight Outta Compton, then became a solo artist, actor, producer and owner of a new basketball league, BIG3. Today on Ways to Change The World, Ice Cube tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy about his journey through 50 years of Hip Hop, his thoughts on the American government and why he thinks AI is an existential threat.   Produced by Shaheen Sattar  

Gina Martin is best known as the driving force behind the Voyeurism Act, which made upskirting, or the taking of pictures under a person’s clothing without permission, a criminal offence in England and Wales, after she was assaulted at a music festival. The gender equality activist is now working to teach people how to challenge problematic statements such as ‘boys will be boys’ and ‘not all men’, and have constructive conversations on social justice issues. Today on Ways to Change the World, Gina Martin tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy about the lessons she has learnt since changing the law on upskirting, the importance of trans voices, the online abuse she has received and why the conversation around masculinity needs to change. Produced by Silvia Maresca

‘This earth that we love is in grave danger because of us,’ reads the first line of Sir Ben Okri’s poem, ‘The Broken’.    The poet and Booker-prize winner, who has long been a vocal environmental activist, has seen the effects of the climate catastrophe firsthand, as a young boy growing up in Nigeria, but is optimistic that it’s not too late to reverse the damage that’s been done to our planet.   Today on Ways to Change the World, Ben Okri tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy about the urgent need for action on climate change, the importance of disruptive protests like Just Stop Oil, and why artists like him should use their voice to encourage people to rise up to the challenge.   Produced by Alice Wagstaffe and Silvia Maresca

When he fled his war-torn hometown of Damascus, Imad Al Arnab spent three dangerous months smuggled in lorries trying to reach Europe. He arrived in the UK in the autumn of 2015 with a fake passport and just £12 in his pocket.   Now, the Syrian chef has opened his own restaurant in Soho, and written a cookbook that is as much a celebration of his homeland as a reflection of his experience as a refugee.   Today on Ways to Change the World, Imad Al Arnab joins Krishnan Guru-Murthy to talk about fleeing Syria and his journey from losing everything in the war to rebuilding a life in the UK.   Produced by Annie La Vespa, Silvia Maresca and Alice Wagstaffe

Brought up on a council estate in the East End of London, the son of a single mother whose own father was a bank robber and whose mother once shared a prison cell with Christine Keeler, Wes Streeting MP owes his life to a fry up.   His working class background and the challenges he experienced growing up in poverty now inform the Shadow Health Secretary’s mission in politics, to ensure others like him have similar opportunities.   Today on Ways to Change the World, Wes Streeting joins Krishnan Guru-Murthy to talk about his journey from a Stepney council estate to the Labour frontbench in Westminster, his optimism that poverty is a trap we can escape and his vision for an NHS ‘fit for the future’ on the eve of the 2024 UK general election.   Produced by Silvia Maresca   Warning: The following contains language that some viewers might find offensive

When Evgenia Kara-Murza and her husband Vladimir parted ways in April 2022, she had no idea that would be the last time they’d see each other.   Vladimir, a long-time Russian opposition activist, was arrested in Moscow later that month and is now serving 25 years in prison for his public criticism of President Vladimir Putin and Russia's war on Ukraine. Since then, Evgenia has taken up the mantle of his activism, travelling around the world to speak out against his detention and the crimes of Putin’s authoritarian regime.   Today on Ways to Change the World, Evgenia Kara-Murza joins Krishnan Guru-Murthy to talk about her fight to free Russia’s political prisoners, the toll Vladimir’s detention has taken on their family and whether she can envisage a future in a free, democratic Russia.   Produced by Silvia Maresca

For a generation growing up in the rural US state of Virginia, opioid addiction isn't an abstraction - it's neighbours, parents, and friends.   Writer Barbara Kingsolver wanted to give these ‘lost boys’ of Appalachia a voice; to tell the story of the children forced into a life of foster care because their parents are dead, in prison or too incapacitated by addiction.   Today on Ways to Change the World, the award-winning author joins Krishnan Guru-Murthy to talk about America’s opioid crisis, the devastating impact it has on rural communities and how she set out to write ‘the great Appalachian novel’, tracing back the steps of Charles Dickens.   Produced by Silvia Maresca