
AntiSocial
Peace talks for the culture wars.
In an era of polarisation, propaganda and pile-ons, AntiSocial offers an alternative: understanding, facts, and respect. Each week, Adam Fleming takes on a topic that's generating conflict on social media, blogs, talk shows and phone-ins and helps you work out what the arguments are really about.
Latest episodes

May 28, 2025 • 6min
Teaching character in schools
Government ministers have been trying to promote grit among young people in England as part of proposals to improve young people's mental health and increase school attendance.
'Grit' is the latest in a lengthy line of interventions from education secretaries who've been keen to emphasise the values they think children should be learning in school. Dr Lydia Marshall, head of research at the education consultancy Oxford Measured, tells Adam about the long and winding history

May 23, 2025 • 54min
Grit and resilience
The government has launched a new initiative to help teachers address a crisis in mental health among young people and a sharp drop in school attendance since the pandemic. The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson says she wants schools to teach children greater "grit and resilience" to handle "life's ups and downs".
It's the latest in a long line of interventions from education secretaries seeking to encourage the values they think children should be learning in school.Is this the promotion of an important life skill or the latest gimmick burdening teachers?Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Josephine Casserly, Viv Jones, Jason Murugesu and Nik Sindle
Editor: Penny Murphy
Production Coordinator: Janet Staples
Studio Engineer: Hal Haines

May 22, 2025 • 5min
Yookay
In the last few weeks Adam has been noticing things popping up on his social media timeline tagged with the word “Yookay”, which is supposed to be a reference to how UK is pronounced in a multicultural London accent. The content is a combination of pictures of streets or public transport and sometimes videos. So what's going on? I spoke to Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan, analyst at the thinktank the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, who researches anti-migrant sentiment online.

May 16, 2025 • 54min
Island of strangers?
Taj Ali, a journalist and historian researching South Asian political activism, and Rakib Ehsan, a researcher focusing on immigration and identity, dive deep into the UK’s contentious immigration rhetoric. They unpack the Prime Minister's warning about becoming an 'island of strangers' and its historical echoes. The duo discusses community responses to racism, the realities of social cohesion, and how political language shapes public sentiment. They advocate for grassroots initiatives that promote understanding amidst the complexities of diversity and integration.

May 13, 2025 • 6min
What are Personal Independent Payments?
A group of Labour MP's say they're opposed to government plans to cut the benefits paid to disabled people, with a lot of the online debate focusing on PIP - Personal Independence Payments. BBC journalist Emma Tracey presents the BBC's disability and mental health podcast, Access All, she explains what these payments are, how they can be used and who is eligible to claim.

May 9, 2025 • 54min
Disability Benefits
There's a row in the Labour Party about cutting the benefits paid to disabled people. Ministers say they're trying to manage a budget that's ballooning. That's partly because of more claims from the young and from people with mental health conditions. But others say that these payments are lifelines for people with both mental and physical disabilities. Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Josephine Casserly, Viv Jones, Bethan Ashmead-Latham and Tom Gillett
Production Coordinator: Janet Staples
Studio Engineer: Hal Haines

May 2, 2025 • 54min
Gentle Parenting
A campaign to get verbal abuse on the agenda has sparked debate with headlines that say shouting at children is as bad as physical abuse.What does the evidence actually say about the words we use when speaking to children? Where did the phenomenon of gentle parenting come from, and how do you do it? And who decides how we treat our kids?Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Lucy Proctor, Josephine Casserly, Bethan Ashmead Latham, Tom Gillet
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Editor: Penny Murphy

Apr 29, 2025 • 7min
The law on single sex spaces
What does the Supreme Court ruling mean for trans people and single sex services? Michael Foran, lecturer in public law at the University of Glasgow, explains.

Apr 25, 2025 • 54min
Sex, gender and the NHS
What does the Supreme Court ruling on biological sex mean for the health service?The UK’s top court says that under equality law a woman is a biological woman and a man is a biological man. It’s sparked discussion about how the NHS accommodates trans people when it comes to single sex spaces, like women-only wards. What do the judgment and equality legislation say about providing services to only one sex? What does NHS policy say and how might it change? And why has the language used by health services become so controversial when it comes to women’s health?Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Simon Maybin, Josephine Casserly, Bethan Ashmead Latham, Tom Gillett
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Editor: Penny Murphy

Apr 22, 2025 • 5min
How jail-time is decided
How much leeway do judges have when sentencing? Professor Julian Roberts of the Sentencing Academy explains what guidelines judges use and how public perceptions sometimes differ from what's actually happening in the courts.