This episode of Radio 4's Thinking Allowed series includes two segments. The first looks at how appropriate a western notion of secularism is in dealing with the complexities of a multi-faith society. Laurie Taylor is joined by Rajeev Bhargava, Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi and Anshuman Mondal, Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature at the University of Leicester, to debate whether western secularism has outlived its purpose and if anything can be learnt from the Indian model of secularism.
In the second segment, Laurie Taylor speaks to Dr Howard Williamson about his new study 'The Milltown Boys Revisited'. The book is a sequel to 'Five Years', a groundbreaking study in the 1970s of a group of boys on one of Europe's largest council estates. At its close, the boys he interviewed were left with few prospects and bleak futures. In 'The Milltown Boys Revisited' Williamson returns to find out what has become of them.