04/05/2022

As Anne Robinson announces she’s stepping down as the host of the Channel 4 quiz show Countdown, Emma Barnett catches up with her. Robinson was the first female to ever host the show, with 265 episodes under her belt since she joined just a year ago. After a career as a national newspaper journalist, she found fame in 2000 hosting the BBC quiz show The Weakest Link. Her acerbic wit led to her becoming labelled the “Queen of Mean”.

For months now the apparent increasing shortage of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has caused uproar, igniting debates in Parliament and triggering the appointment of an HRT tsar. A Channel 4 documentary earlier this week on the subject also talked about the use of testosterone to help with some menopausal symptoms. Dr Paula Briggs, Chair Elect of British Menopause Society and Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health at Liverpool Women’s Hospital discusses her concerns and unpicks the potential impact of using testosterone.

The homelessness charity Shelter has found that nearly 230,000 private renters in England have been served with a formal no-fault eviction notice, known as a ‘Section 21 eviction’ in the last three years, since the Government first committed to scrap this form of eviction in April 2019. The charity has also found that while women and men are equally served these kinds of evictions by their landlords, they impact women more. Shelter is calling for the government to ban these kinds of evictions. Its Chief Executive Polly Neate joins Emma as does Lily, who was served a no-fault eviction notice in January 2022.

Do you grow flowers in your garden? Have you ever thought about specifically growing flowers like you’d grow vegetables – in rows so you could pick them in order to have flowers for your home? It’s a trend which has grown over the past 10 years amongst gardeners. Growing your own flowers means you can enjoy seasonal bouquets at a fraction of the cost of shop-bought blooms. Emma finds out more from Milli Proust, writer and floral designer in West Sussex , whose book Seed to Bloom is out in June, and Georgie Newbery – a flower farmer and founder of Common Farm Flowers in Somerset.

Increasing numbers of women are reporting problems after having thread lift treatments, often known as “lunchtime facelifts”. Save Face, a national register of accredited practitioners of non-surgical cosmetic treatments, which campaigns to improve safety standards, says the number of complaints about the treatments by unregulated practitioners have more than doubled in the past year. Emma talks to its Director Ashton Collins.

Presenter – Emma Barnett
Producer – Alison Carter