Ep 5: Polly Toynbee on class and her family history of radicals

Nick Cohen talks to Polly Toynbee, celebrated columnist, broadcaster and author about Britain's stubborn class system and the growing gap between the rich and poor under successive Tory governments.Atlantic Books has just published Polly's latest book,  An Uneasy Inheritance, My family and other radicals, which has received rave reviews, not least from Nick himself in a  recent Substack column.Polly explains how - over the years - she has taken a series of blue collar jobs to better understand the lives of working people. She laments how the class system continues to dominate British society and is now a bigger determinate in people's futures than factors such as ethnicity. Polly also discusses the extraordinary radicals from her family history, including her father, the journalist Philip Toynbee,  her grandfather, the historian Arnold J. Toynbee.Support the showListen to The Lowdown from Nick Cohen for in-depth analysis of the issues and events that shape our lives and futures. From Ukraine to Brexit, from Trump to the Tories - we hope to keep you informed - and sane! @NickCohen4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.