Kinship care, Shane MacGowan’s widow Victoria Mary Clarke, ’Red White and Blue’, Lora Logic

The government is today unveiling the first ever national Kinship Care strategy, aiming to bring more awareness and more money to family members looking after children that aren’t theirs. Kinship care is when a child lives full time, or most of the time, with a relative, be it grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, or someone in the wider family network, because their own parents can’t care for them. Anita talks to David Johnston, the Under Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing at the Department of Education about the new strategy.

Shane MacGowan, the legendary songwriter and frontman with The Pogues, died on 30th November. As the classic Christmas anthem Fairy Tale of New York reaches number one in Ireland, Anita speaks to his widow, Victoria Mary Clarke about their life together, his music, his addictions and his legacy.

It has been a year and a half since Roe vs Wade was overturned in the United States, ending the constitutional nationwide right to abortion for millions of women. It remains an issue that divides opinion. Anita talks to the British writer Nazrin Choudhury, the director of a new short film on the subject; 'Red White and Blue,' follows the character Rachel Johnson, a single mother in a precarious financial position, who is forced to cross state lines from Arkansas in search of an abortion.

Musician Lora Logic was the woman behind the iconic saxophone that was a part of the British Punk-Rock band X-Ray Spex. After almost 30 years, the band are re-releasing their second album, Conscious Consumer. Lora joins Anita to talk about the album, what she’s up to now and what lead singer Poly Styrene would have thought of the re-release.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt Studio manager: Sue Maillot