The future of the two-child benefit cap, Women of Windrush opera, what is next for Kamala Harris?

Published: July 11, 2024, 11:06 a.m.

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The Department for Work and Pensions has just published statistics on the number of people affected by the so-called two-child benefit cap, which restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households. Some campaigners have called the cap the biggest driver of the rise in child poverty in the UK and are demanding the new Labour government scrap it immediately. So what is the future of the policy? Anita Rani talks to BBC political correspondent Hannah Miller, to Sara Ogilvie, Director of Policy, Rights and Advocacy at the Child Poverty Action Group and to mother of three Olympia.

Women of the Windrush is an opera which portrays the stories of women who travelled to the UK from the West Indies between the 1940\\u2019s and the 1960\\u2019s. It is being re-staged as part of the Re-discover Festival from StreetWise Opera which celebrates the impact of African and Caribbean heritage on contemporary British culture. Anita is joined by Festival\\u2019s director, the soprano Opera singer Abigail Kelly and Dr. Shirley Thompson OBE composer of Women of the Windrush.

Will Kamala Harris step in as a the Democratic nominee in the US elections? Anita talks to Shannon Felton Spence, Communications and Political Strategist at Harvard Kennedy School\'s Belfer Center in Boston..

And a recent article in the New York Times coined the phrase "medium friends" to describe \\u201cnot our besties, but more than just acquaintances.\\u201d What is the significance of the mid-table friendship? Anita talks to Dr Susan MacDougall, a social anthropologist at Oxford University and to Shazia Mirza, a comedian and writer.

Presenter: Anita Rani\\nProducer: Laura Northedge

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