Woman's Hour Water industry review, Actor Harriet Webb, Author Molly Jong-Fast

BBC News

4 days ago

The state of the UK's water sector is barely out of the headlines at the moment and today a major review into the water industry in England and Wales said the regulator Ofwat should be scrapped. Sir Jon Cunliffe, who led the review, also warned that household bills will rise by 30% over the next five years. Nuala McGovern is joined by Esme Stallard, the BBC's climate and science reporter, and by two women campaigning for clean water on a local and a national level - Jo Robb, member of the Henley Mermaids wild swimming group and District Councillor for the Green Party in South Oxfordshire, and Erica Popplewell, Head of Communities at River Action, a UK-wide environmental campaign group.
Harriet Webb is best known for her roles in Channel 4's Bafta-winning series Big Boys, and Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You. She is back on our screens this week playing Kirsty in series two of the Bafta-winning Sky Original Mr Bigstuff, starring alongside Danny Dyer and the show's creator Ryan Sampson. She joins Nuala to discuss why comedy can be the best place to discuss difficult issues like grief, trauma and, even, erectile dysfunction.
In a new report, the community interest company Five Times More illustrate how black women in the UK continue to face disproportionately high risks during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period. Despite a growing body of research and increasing policy attention, the gap in outcomes between black and white women shows little sign of closing. Tinuke, the co-founder of Five Times More, explains what changes they had found since their first report three years ago and what still needs to happen.
Molly Jong-Fast is an author and special correspondent for Vanity Fair. She is also the only child of Erica Jong, author of the 1970s feminist autobiographical novel - Fear of Flying. A sensual exploration of female sexual desire, it catapulted Erica to international fame. Molly has written a memoir, How to Lose Your Mother, and she talks to Nuala about growing up in the spotlight, their intense mother-daughter relationship and her mother's heartbreaking descent into dementia.
Economic abuse is at 'national emergency' levels yet more than half of UK women don't know anything about it - with a third only knowing 'a little' - this is according to a new report published today by the charity Surviving Economic Abuse. Sam Smethers, CEO of SEA, joins Nuala to explain the types of economic abuse they have uncovered, the implications of their findings and what they want the government to do.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Emma Pearce