Amol Rajan, the 42-year-old BBC presenter, is weighing a move to India with his wife and four children due to concerns about England's future. According to Daily Mail - News, Rajan described being very worried about England and said the country has some big problems that need addressing. He questioned whether England remains the best place for his children to grow up, noting that India feels extraordinarily exciting and energetic in a way that Britain, at the moment, doesn't always feel. The specific problems prompting his consideration have not been detailed, nor has a timeline for any potential relocation been established.
Rajan is departing Radio 4's Today programme in September to launch his own company and enter what he calls the great digital Narnia of the creator economy. In an official statement, he said he is rather down on the practice of journalism, if not the idea, and reflected that while he has had a really good time in his career and been paid really well, he has made a habit of joining industries 20 years late.
I can't tell you how much I love my country, by which I mean England, but I'm very worried about it.
Born in Calcutta, India, Rajan moved to England with his family when he was three years old, according to major media reports. He is married to Charlotte Faircloth, with whom he has four children. According to Daily Mail - News, Rajan described wanting his children to experience India and make up their own mind about it, and he hopes to visit frequently when travel becomes easier so they can fall in love with the civilisation that's in their blood. How Faircloth views the potential move remains unclear.
Despite his concerns, Rajan offered a mixed assessment of England. According to Daily Mail - News, he described it as a wonderful country, a peaceful country with actually quite low crime, but he also expressed uncertainty about whether it is still a place where history is being made. Rajan's career includes becoming the youngest editor of a broadsheet title when he took the helm at The Independent at age 29 in 2013, according to major media.
I think we've got some big, big problems that need addressing, and one of the things is whether this is the best place for my four kids to grow up.
Rajan's departure from the Today programme comes as the show faces listener declines, with 5.4 million tuning in as of October, a drop of 363,000 from the previous quarter, according to major media. After leaving the programme, Rajan will continue to present University Challenge and the Radical podcast. In his official statement, he emphasized that he is very much not leaving the BBC, Britain's noblest cultural institution, whose Reithian spirit is such a generous gift to a world in flux. The focus of his new company in the creator economy has not been specified.
My answer is that it is. But I would say specifically that I'm not sure where it's still a place where history is being made.
India is extraordinarily exciting and energetic in a way that Britain, at the moment, doesn't always feel.
I'd like my children to experience India and then make up their own mind. I want it to be their decision.
When she's a bit older and the long-haul flights are a bit less perilous I would like to go to India frequently and invite my children to fall in love with the civilisation that's in their blood.
Twenty years after I first flirted with the idea, I'm extremely excited to jump into the Great Digital Narnia of the Creator Economy, and build my own company. I'll still do Britain's oldest TV quiz and most exciting podcast.
I am very much not leaving the BBC, Britain's noblest cultural institution, whose Reithian spirit is such a generous gift to a world in flux. It's that world I'm heading for, and I'm excited.