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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Factual: Politics

Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad.

Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad, presented by distinguished writers, journalists and academics.

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Analysis: Has the family had its day?

Has the family had its day?

BBC Radio 4 - Analysis, Has the family had its day?

Is staying together for the sake of the children a basis for a safe, successful society?

A new generation of Conservatives say that the family should be the preferred unit for child rearing, in all circumstances. But what are the facts about families?

British politicians love to invoke the family, from John Major's "Back to Basics" campaign, to New Labour's "hardworking families" - and now a prominent strain of the Conservative right says parents sticking together for the sake of the children is "the only possible basis for a safe and successful society". 

By turning family values into a political football, are they in denial about the way society has developed this century? For decades, single-person households have been the fastest-growing demographic and younger generations are re-defining romantic commitments and their purpose.

Is the erosion of traditional structure around marriage and family a destructive thing for society, or does it offer the kind of freedom and individual choice denied to previous generations? 

Presenter: Zoe Strimpel 
Producer: David Reid 
Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors: 
Danny Kruger, Conservative Member of Parliament for Devizes and Co-Chair of the New Conservatives: Committing to a Better Politics. 
Dr. Ruth Beecher, Historian of Modern Britain and the United States, Birkbeck, University of London
Prof. Deborah Cohen, Richard W. Leopold Professor of History at Northwestern University. 
Prof. Sasha Roseneil, Vice Chancellor of the University of Sussex. 
Prof. Sylvie Fogelj-Bijaoui, sociologist specialising in gender, human rights, the family and the kibbutz. 
Daisy Lees, resident of Old Hall
Chris Lees, resident of Old Hall
Rob Connigale, resident of Old Hall

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Has the family had its day?

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