Podcast
Rachel Johnson's Difficult Women
Hosted by Global · EN
Well-behaved women rarely make history – as someone once said – difficult women do.
In this new LBC new podcast, Rachel Johnson's Difficult Women, Rachel will be talking to women who had to be a pain in the backside to get where they are today.
Women who take the word difficult as a compliment not an insult. And women who had to fight, resist, insist, or otherwise be badly behaved in order to get things done.
Listen and subscribe on Global Player, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow Rachel on Twitter: @RachelSJohnson
For advertising opportunities on this podcast email: dax@global.com
18episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
216. Penny East
Today00:35:33Tap to summarizePenny East is the Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, the UK’s foremost campaigning charity for women’s rights, working against misogyny. A seasoned charity boss and campaigner, she helped shape the Domestic Abuse Bill 2021 and launched the UK’s first domestic abuse perpetrator programme. Together, Rachel and Penny discuss how the ever changing scene of social media is affecting misogyny, as well as how a disparity in how seriously women's pain is being taken has resulted in their trust in the medical system being damaged.
Transcribe →215. Zoe Strimpel
2w ago00:42:36Tap to summarizeThis week's Difficult Woman is the journalist, author, academic and historian, Zoe Strimpel, whose new book 'Good Slut' argues that women's liberation comes from the intertwined forces of money, power, and sex. Together, Rachel and Zoe discuss the culture of victimhood in conversations around women. They also talk about the rise of open antisemitism in the UK, and Zoe's recent ill-fated visit to a gallery in Margate.
Transcribe →214. Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason
3w ago00:30:43Tap to summarizeThis week Rachel is joined by the writer, speaker and leading advocate for music education: Dr Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason. Matriarch of what The Times has described as ‘Britain's most musical family’, Kadiatu tells Rachel about what it takes to raise seven musical children. Kadiatu and Rachel also discuss the inspiration behind her latest memoir ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black’, after one of her children read the online abuse her eldest daughter, Isata, received following her solo debut at the BBC Proms.
Transcribe →213. Bryony Gordon
4w ago00:36:56Tap to summarizeThis week Rachel is joined by the journalist, author, broadcaster and podcaster, Bryony Gordon. Having worked at the Telegraph for decades, Bryony is now a Daily Mail columnist and host of 'The Life of Bryony' podcast. She is the author of multiple bestselling memoirs, mother of one, ten years sober, and has a fancy for running marathons in her pants. She manages to do all this alongside a range of activism and advocacy for mental health. Bryony joins Rachel ahead of the release of her debut novel ‘People Pleaser’.
Transcribe →212. Ela Lee
Apr 300:32:56Tap to summarizeThis week Rachel is joined by the author Ela Lee, whose debit novel 'Jaded', took the literary world by storm. Ela became a secret novelist during the pandemic, switching her job as a City lawyer to delve into her passion for writing. Together they discuss the difficult process that came with writing her second book, 'Minbak', an intergenerational story about a family of three Korean women facing ruin following the 2008 financial crisis, which was inspired by Ela's own childhood.
Transcribe →211. Nimco Ali
Mar 2700:47:02Tap to summarizeThis week's Difficult Woman is Nimco Ali, co-founder and CEO of The Five Foundation, a global partnership working to end female genital mutilation. An FGM survivor herself, Nimco tells Rachel about her experience returning to the UK after she was cut in Djibouti at just six-years-old, where her teacher told her “this is what happens to girls like you”. Nimco was later inspired to speak out publicly against the procedure, after meeting a classroom full of girls in the UK who had undergone FGM.
Transcribe →210. Amanda Craig
Mar 2000:37:06Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Difficult Women, Rachel sits down with the author Amanda Craig, known for her ‘state of the nation’ novels that explore British society through an often satirical lens. Ahead of the release of her new book ‘High and Low’ in May, they discuss what Amanda believes are the key ingredients for a novel. She also tells Rachel that people have forgotten books are supposed to be entertaining, and explains the inspiration behind the characters she creates. Amanda opens up about her diagnoses with both endometriosis and thyroid cancer, and explains how they opened her eyes to the hardships many in society face, after she was helped through her recovery by a range of people.
Transcribe →209. Claire Coutinho
Mar 1300:42:03Tap to summarizeThis week's difficult woman is Conservative MP for East Surrey, Claire Coutinho, who is Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, as well as Shadow Minister for Equalities. Claire tells Rachel about her plans to make the UK self-sufficient when it comes to energy. She also shares the emotional story of her son Rafael's birth, where complications left her in a coma fighting for her life.
Transcribe →208. Tilly Rose
Mar 600:34:17Tap to summarizeThis week Rachel is joined by the author and activist Tilly Rose, who spent 20 years in and out of hospital as a ‘medical mystery’. When Tilly was told by a doctor all she could be offered was 'comfort care' rather than a diagnosis, she decided to share her situation online. With the help of the internet, she finally received the treatment she needed. Tilly’s now documented her journey in the award-winning book ‘Be Patient’.
Transcribe →207. Olia Hercules
Feb 2700:33:02Tap to summarizeThis week’s difficult woman is the chef Olia Hercules, who before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was mainly known for celebrating Eastern European cuisine through her recipes. In 2022 she co-founded the #CookForUkraine initiative, and later released her family memoir ‘Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family History Through War, Exile and Hope’. Olia joins Rachel on the week of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion, in a heavy and honest discussion about how the war has changed her life.
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