On Monday 21 November, BBC Radio 4 broadcast the first of a 2 part series entitled “Bad Blood, the Story of Eugenics”.

 

The first episode traces the idea of Eugenics from it’s founding father, Francis Galton in the 19^th century, into the early 20^th century, which saw the founding of the Eugenics Education Society and the embrace of eugenic ideas by people across society, including politicians.

 

Eugenics has a bad name due to the horrors of Nazi Germany, including the forced sterilisation of disabled people (which ended in the murder of many of them under the Action T-4 Programme), and culminated in the horrors of the gas chambers.

 

Eugenics has been embraced by people on the left and right of the political spectrum (and by some liberals).

 

The programme is worth a listen and can be accessed on the BBC iPlayer here, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fd39.

 

The iPlayer does, I understand only work within the United Kingdom.