Young people are often demonised on the street, but what happens if we look beyond the stereotypes and listen to what they can teach us instead? Follow criminologist Professor Ali Fraser as he delves deep into street culture and learns about the power of youth-led change across the UK. He meets young people who have seen it all, from police harassment to school exclusion and violence, yet manage to defy society’s stereotypes to lead positive change. From a grassroots food charity to a transformative arts organisation, you’ll hear from young warriors taking the fight from the streets to surprising locations.
In this final bonus episode, we pass the mic to a group of young warriors who call themselves the ‘wise men.’
They are a group of young men from the east end of Glasgow whose lives have been affected by violence, and who’ve not always felt included in school.
In the episode they talk frankly about their experiences, interview Marge the dog, quiz their teachers, and have a searching conversation with Scott, a local legend who whisked them out of the school and off into the outdoors.
As they say, ‘we want you to listen to this podcast and make things change.’
12 May 2025
Glasgow: Wise men and natural highs
Breathe in the fresh air of hope and take a seat in the school of the wise men. In the final episode, Ali returns home to Glasgow to meet Kyle and Mark from G20, a youth project based in Maryhill. The area was the setting of a book called ‘A Glasgow Gang Observed’, where bored teens made excitement through running battles, but G20 seeks to turn this adventurous spirit in a different direction. Ali then travels to the city centre to catch up with his old boss Karyn McCluskey, former Director of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, prompting a reflective take on the series as a whole. The final act is to pass the mic to a group of young warriors called the wise men, who stage a podcast takeover and take Ali to school.
12 May 2025
Birmingham & Walsall: Swords into ploughshares
Peer into displays where knives have been recast as art, and ponder what it all means. Ali travels north to Walsall, a market town just outside Birmingham, where he peers curiously into a series of display cabinets. In them are more than twenty pieces of jewellery and art recast from bladed weapons from police surrender bins. He tours the exhibition with Ben, Gabe and Ali, who school him on the meaning of – among other things – life and death, out-of-touch politicians, and the purifying appeal of Japanese religion. In conversation with the curators and youth worker Ade from the James Brindley Foundation, Ali asks whether – like the displays – stereotypes of young people and knife crime can also be remade.
https://jamesbrindleyfoundation.co.uk/james-brindley/
12 May 2025
Cardiff: Violence on the frontline
Follow a fiery collective of young people as they take their fight against violence to the Welsh Parliament. Five minutes after arriving in Cardiff, Ali finds himself in an emergency vehicle hurtling across the city, siren blasting. Once he recovers his breath he visits the Peer Action Collective, a diverse group of young people who travel the country interviewing their peers about violence, taking their findings to the Welsh Parliament. Rather than putting young people in a box – like criminal or offender – PAC help them smash it. Fresh approaches to violence are everywhere in Cardiff, and Ali follows them to the frontline of violence, from emergency response to hospital wards.
https://mediaacademycymru.wales/peer-action-collective/
12 May 2025
Dundee: Gang labels and deep time
Journey deep into the history of gangs and learn how they are stitched into cities past and present. Gangs are as old as time. Follow Ali as he journeys into the rabbit hole of history in the Scottish city of Dundee, pulling the thread of a mysterious story of gang jumpers knitted by grannies in the 1970s, and following it all the way back to William Wallace in the 13th century. He meets Frances Stevenson and John Fyfe, two of the pairs of hands behind the epic Dundee Tapestry, where the story of gang jumpers is stitched in alongside factories and whaling. And he asks the punk poet, proud Dundonian and erstwhile binman Gary Robertson if we need labels like gangs.
https://www.thedundeetapestry.com
12 May 2025
Manchester: Rewriting the pain
Meet youth workers who help justice-involved young people flip the script and rewrite their past through rap. Behind the doors of a nondescript building in south Manchester, Ali finds a transformative space full of plants, artwork and top spec recording equipment. It is here that the arts organisation TiPP help young people involved in the justice system to find their voice through music. But there’s a catch. As stereotypes of young people and gangs have reached fever pitch, certain kinds of music – like rap and drill – have been used to suggest gang-membership. He meets youth organisations Art Not Evidence and 84 Youth who are fighting back, and young people who are using lyrics to rewrite their pain.
https://www.tipp.org.uk
12 May 2025
London: Growing community, smashing stereotypes
Enter the circle of RISE 365 in Hackney where stereotypes of youth culture are routinely shattered. In the opening episode Ali enters the circle of RISE 365, a youth project based in Hackney, where stereotypes of youth culture are turned on their head. The young people of RISE have seen a lot of life, from police harassment to gang culture, but flip that negative energy to infectious positivity. Ali meets boxers, podcasters, actors, sprinters, musicians and entrepreneurs – and learns of the mysterious transformative power of Victoria sponge. He leaves feeling changed, like he’s risen himself.
https://www.rise365.co.uk/home
5 May 2025
Trailer
Flipping the script on young people and street culture. Young people are often demonised on the streets but what happens if we look through the stereotype and listen to what they can teach us? Young Warriors is a groundbreaking new podcast series exploring youth culture, streetlife and the power of youth-led change. Over six episodes in cities across the UK, the podcast passes the mic to young people, and the youth workers who work most closely with them, to learn inspiring lessons of hope in the face of adversity.
Hosted by criminologist Professor Ali Fraser, you’ll meet young people who have seen a lot of life - from police harassment to school exclusion and prison - yet defy society’s stereotypes and embody positive change. From a grassroots food charity in London to a transformative arts organisation in Manchester, you’ll hear from young warriors taking the fight from the streets to surprising locations.
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