Woman’s Hour investigates the cosmetic surgery clinic taking legal action when patients post unfavourable reviews. Kate Kronenbach tells reporter Melanie Abbott she was disappointed when she had an operation to remove fat from her arms after losing 10 stone, and received a solicitor’s letter when she wrote about her experience on the Trustpilot website. Action has also been taken against five others. The Free Speech Union is supporting them in their case. Clare McDonnell discusses the story with Melanie and speaks to the Union and to patient campaigner Dawn Knight.
Is speed-dating making a comeback? Apathy over dating apps seems to be pushing both men and women towards the kind of speed dating that was so popular in the nineties. But is it better than online dating? And does it work? Clare is joined by writer Radhika Sanghani and relationship counsellor Suzie Hayman to discuss.
Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina won a controversial fourth consecutive term in Parliamentary elections last elections last Sunday. The opposition party called it a 'sham' election, coming after mass arrests of her political opponents and refused to participate. The leader of the Opposition former PM Khaleda Zia – also female - is under house arrest. Between them the two women have dominated Bangladeshi politics since 1991. BBC News South Asian Correspondent, Samira Hussain, joins Clare McDonnell to tell us more about these leaders and the political situation in Bangladesh.
Last week on Woman’s Hour we heard the candid admission by the former Labour MP and Government Minister, Dame Joan Ruddock that she was ready to end her terminally ill husband's life using a pillow in a bid to end his pain. Her husband the former MP Frank Doran had been suffering from end stage bowel cancer in 2017, and she struggled to get him pain relief medication in the hours before he died. She is now calling for a free vote in the Commons to legalise assisted dying. The public debate around the subject has been revived in recent months by leading figures such as Esther Rantzen - who revealed that she is considering travelling to a Dignitas clinic in Switzerland if her cancer worsens; and the late Dame Diana Rigg, who made a recording before her death making the case for assisted dying. But others such as Baroness Ilora Finlay, a cross bench peer in the House of Lords and a palliative end of life care expert, are cautioning against a law change. She believes improved access to care and pain relief is the answer when people are dying rather than the taking of lethal drugs. She joins Clare McDonnell to reflect on the new push for a law change.
Presented by Clare McDonnell Producer: Louise Corley
Women and music in 2023, Nicole Jacobs, Women in farming
Dame Joan Ruddock, Katherine Parkinson, Negotiating care with siblings, Author Vanessa Chan
Shakespeare's Women, Izzy Judd, Women in the metaverse
Lavinia Greenlaw, Lindsay Duncan, the Irish mother and baby homes scandal
Women and Negotiations
Weekend Woman's Hour: Dame Siân Phillips, Highflying care-leavers, 'Trouser-less' trend
Dame Siân Phillips, Abuse of vulnerable elderly, Clemency Burton-Hill
Highflying care-leavers, Freebirths, 'Trouser-less' trend
UTI treatment, Being dumped by text, Lighthouse keeper
Women who dig for the truth
The Queen of the Brassicas - the Brussels sprout!
Weekend Woman's Hour - Gracie Spinks’s parents, Gatekeeping your perfume, Child-free women at work
A new drug for hot flushes and night sweats, Combatting loneliness at Christmas
Spiking, The pill, Family dynamics at Christmas
Mary Earps' SPOTY win, Women's Super League founder Kelly Simmons, Pregnancy sickness
Kirsty Wark on leaving Newsnight, Sports Personality of the Year
Gracie Spinks' parents, Child-free women at work, Grandma Wong
Weekend Woman's Hour: Imelda Staunton, Quitting parties, Mica Paris
Kinship care, Shane MacGowan's widow Victoria Mary Clarke, 'Red White and Blue', Lora Logic
Mica Paris, Is Facebook dangerous for kids? Regretting your tattoos
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