´óÏó´«Ã½

Margaret Hodge MP has been enjoying a meteoric rise in popularity since her election as first female Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, in 2010.Ìý Taking the position of spokeswoman for the people, she has challenged Google, Starbucks and Amazon on their attitudes to tax; driven a tunnel through HS2 excuses; and most recently directed her glare at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ on their executive payouts.Ìý Her style is assertive, challenging and sometimes downright schoolmarmy. But she has also been accused of being tougher on women than on men.Ìý And after an uncomfortable afternoon spent in the spotlights, when the heat has died down, what actual change will happen? And what can the Public Accounts Committee actually enforce?Ìý Margaret Hodge, PowerLister, joins Jenni to discuss her responsibility as people’s champion.

Ìý

A chance remark from Dame Margaret Drabble at a literary event led to a project travelling around the Black Country to find out – and write about – the lives of women living and working there.Ìý From Susan’s Hairdressers on the High Street in West Bromwich to Teddy Gray’s sweet factory in Dudley, to Pat Gorman’s pork pie factory – Dame Margaret was introduced by performance poet Emma Purshouse to local women to learn about their lives.Ìý The end product is ‘Black Country Women’ – a women’s magazine commissioned and produced by Multistory with, for and about Black Country women, with stories by Margaret Drabble and photographs by Martin Parr.Ìý Dame Margaret Drabble joins Jenni to discuss why this was one of the most enjoyable experiences of her writing life.

Ìý

To mark ÌýInternational Peace Day this Saturday 21st September,Ìýa peace history conference is being held at the Quaker meeting house Ìýin Manchester. The title of the event is . ÌýJenni talks to key speaker, June Hannam, Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of the West of England, about why she choseÌý to discuss the life and work of one particular woman, the peace activist and suffragist, Isabella Ford.

Ìý

How many plus-sized actresses can you name in lead roles on television, in films or theatre?Ìý The trials and tribulations of trying to land decent roles when you’re not a size zero will be portrayed in a new play written by and starring Sue McCormick, a plus-sized actress herself.Ìý So why aren’t larger actresses considered for the famous principal roles like Kate in Taming of the Shrew?Ìý What stops us from imagining these characters as anything other than thin?Ìý Casting agent Paul Newberry and Sue McCormick will join Jenni to talk about issues of size – is it really a case that the bigger the role, the smaller the actress?

Ìý