Do you have a happy vagina? Do you even know what would make it happy? Content? Perhaps equal pay and a health industry that prioritises its well-being? This is why activist and advocate Mika Simmons wrote her book, The Happy Vagina, to empower us to talk openly about health, relationships and pleasure. In this episode we talk to her about why vulvas need a rebrand, medical gaslighting, the stupid term ‘hysteria’ and get a bit fucking furious and a tiny bit hopeful. Learn more about your ad choi...
Oct 26, 2022•40 min
So last week we posted a Gemma Collins meme about those motivational slogans - printed and framed - that are somehow too much to bear. You lot shared all of your love-to-hate motivational sayings and now we’ve done a podcast about it. As well as Emilie’s most recent undignified moment, how late-onset rudeness has crept on us and why you should never EVER look in a lift mirror. Also we chat to the fabulous founder of Blink Brow Bar, Vanita Parti, about why brows are everything... PS: This podcast...
Oct 19, 2022•38 min
Are you scared of mascara? Bruised by blusher? Disconcerted by dark circles? Do you want to look like you know what you’re doing with makeup? Or maybe you’ve set the bar lower, and you just want to look a little less corpse-like as Winter beds in. This week we called in our friend and general sensation, Nadine Baggott, to talk all things make up. Because Nadine – who seamlessly transitioned from veteran health and beauty journalist to YouTuber with 23 million views - is a proper expert. We talk ...
Oct 12, 2022•46 min
Most of us live in a constant state of despair around how to get dressed. Office clothes now feel like fancy dress. Trying to look a little bit swishy for a night out feels like a Sisyphian struggle. We want to look together but casual at the weekends but mostly we look like pile of old laundry. So the question is: how to look relevant and comfortable - and even a little bit dangerous - when you’ve slightly lost your way? This week we’ve brought in some heavy hitters. Ex-Vogue fashion editors an...
Oct 05, 2022•38 min
Is your social battery dead? The Social Battery is the latest excuse-slash-label-slash-diagnosis for why we are so tired and can hardly bear to see anyone, do anything. So this week we discuss all the different batteries we could use and what would happen if we actually became fully-charged human women. WHAT THE HELL THEN? We also offer some translations for every day sayings like "I’ve had a bit of day" (I have just had the most intensely terrible experience of my life) and "Have you seen the n...
Sep 28, 2022•32 min
Paralysing grief, collective dread, crushing anxiety, acute self-loathing, debilitating panic - are you feeling it all right now? Well, we have an authority on the podcast this week. Donna Lancaster is a therapist, facilitator and healer. She has 30 years of experience in her back pocket: she was head of teaching at the Hoffman Institute and is a co-creator of the Bridge Retreat, a six-day personal development experience where you can overcome grief and loss and step into wholehearted living. No...
Sep 21, 2022•37 min
How do you feel about your body? Can you celebrate its wondrous function? Do you high five yourself every time you tie your shoelaces or carry a heavy thing? Do you admire your favourite bits and embrace your other bits? Are you happy with your size and shape or do you often see yourself as a …before picture "If only I were thinner, more toned, had bigger/smaller/perkier boobs?” We have run the daily gamut of diet culture for years, a happiness-threatening - hell, life-threatening - obsession wi...
Sep 14, 2022•1 hr 7 min
We’re back. And we’re fine *laughs for days*. So fine. This new term does not have that hopeful September flavour, does it? What with The Great Exhaustion, raw sewage in our seas, Truss & Trump, energy bills, war, floods and all the other global horror. The unnamed dread we’ve been pointlessly carrying around for years has now become very much named dread. Oof. Anyway, to celebrate our return, we have made a desperate attempt to put some good energy into the world to combat the collective dr...
Sep 07, 2022•39 min
Maybe we should just refer to this period in history as "The Circumstances". Because, let’s face it, we have been around the block a few times (!) and we have never experienced a time when there have been so many “circumstances”. Doesn’t seem much point in listing all the things – personal, financial, ecological, socio-economic, cultural, political. Doesn’t seem much point in breaking them all down and having to absorb the horror and understand the nuances and process the feelings. Maybe we shou...
Jul 28, 2022•29 min
Maybe you love your job. Or maybe you spend an alarming amount of time crying in the loo/working in the evenings to meet deadlines/feeling under-appreciated and trapped/hoping meditation will sort it all out. If you are constantly teetering on the brink or staring into the overwhelm – well we have a guest for you. Anniki Sommerville is an author and journalist, podcaster and woman familiar with… the edge. She ditched her toxic work environment, set about finding that elusive life-work balance an...
Jul 20, 2022•43 min
Listen, it's all pretty hideous/hopeless out there. But buying beauty bits can be properly feel good. Annabel rifles through her drawers to find her current beauty stars - some are new, some are classics. Some are budget, others are treats. All will blur, blend and burnish where we need them to. Head to TheMidult.com for all the shoppable links, but we discuss: Botanico Vida Omega Oil Kopari Deodorant Oskia Renaissance Mask Naked Sundays Collagen Glow 100% Mineral Sunscreen Rose Inc. Blush Divin...
Jul 13, 2022•33 min
We all feel stressed, right? We feel dread-full. We’ve done Pilates and lit a candle and had a bath and, in Annabel’s case, fallen asleep in it. But still. The panic. WE NEED SOLUTIONS. So this week we’re thrilled to have Dr Sam Akbar on the podcast. She's at the frontline of serious, heart-breaking stress; a clinical psychologist who treats refugees and survivors of torture with post-traumatic stress disorder. Now Sam is applying those hard-won skills to our everyday flavours of stress with her...
Jul 06, 2022•47 min
Are you worried about the wreckage that is your face? We are. This week we have one of the country’s foremost beauty experts on the podcast…. whether it's writing her unmissable Guardian beauty columns, building the charitable initiative Beauty Banks or breaking the internet with her decision to go fully grey, Sali Hughes is honest and outspoken about beauty standards and how the beauty industry makes us feel about ourselves. She’s just launched her own brand in partnership with Revolution which...
Jun 29, 2022•56 min
Regular listeners of the podcast will know how totally demotivating we find motivational quotes – however there is one exception to this rule… Veronica Dearly, whose whole-hearted warmth and empathy is at the cornerstone of her illustrations. Veronica's funny blend of stress and self-awareness is a lovely corner of the internet - she stares into the abyss and finds a little bit of hope there. Her new book How to Do Hard Things is out now: an illustrated guide to embracing change and challenging ...
Jun 22, 2022•35 min
Are you so bored of cooking that you’d quite happily throw all the utensils out of the window? Have you abandoned any attempt at culinary imagination? Are you worried about how to feed everybody, let alone with any kind of flair, without going insane and bankrupting yourself? Well, we are delighted to welcome the delicious Thomasina Miers to the podcast. She won Masterchef (FFS!) before founding Wahaca and her latest book, Meat-Free Mexican is an absolute goldmine. We talk about anxiety, cooking...
Jun 15, 2022•46 min
We are slightly awestruck by our guest this week – she’s a BAFTA and Emmy award-winning screenwriter of such magnificences as The Hour, The Split, Iron Lady and Suffragette. But she’s soon to be famous for her bestseller This is Not A Pity Memoir. Ok, so we should warn you that this is a book about a series of heart-breaking events: her husband had a catastrophic reaction to MS drugs; he woke up from a six months’ long coma and she was the only person he didn’t recognise. Then, while caring for ...
Jun 08, 2022•50 min
Recently someone said to us – as they do – just go with the flow. Our first thought – obviously – was…’Have you ever met us?’ Swiftly followed by, ‘What time does the flow start?’ And ‘What do we wear?' We have never knowingly or unknowingly gone with the flow. Anyway, we are unlikely to tell anyone to go with the flow, but there are a lot of things we are currently saying to people who have annoyed us like, ‘I’m just going to leave that with you’ and ‘Wow, you have given that a lot of thought.’...
Jun 03, 2022•48 min
This week we’ve got a veritable powerhouse of a guest. Maybe you started needlepointing during lockdown? Or baked a dodgy sourdough loaf or two? But if you’re Steph McGovern, you started a whole television show…. from your front room. In fact, Steph’s Packed Lunch, was just nominated for a BAFTA. We talk about our dire knicker situation, dealing with IBS and what it’s like to be a northerner who doesn't like tea. PS: This podcast was bravely brought to you by Symprove. You can sign up for a 12-w...
May 25, 2022•34 min
If you are ever depressed about the chilly perfection of Instagram then we have the antidote…. Em Clarkson, who uses this platform to call out the constant cultural undermining of women and to smash our own internalised misogyny one awkward-yet-joyful post at a time. We talk about the power of changing your mind, what will happen if we just keep letting ourselves be coated in shame and judgement, and why we shouldn’t try to be liked by everyone. Warning: Contains ranting. Link in bio. PS: This p...
May 18, 2022•42 min
We have a question: at what point does your ‘manner’ become your horrible personality? Because – somewhere – we all have a horrible personality. Even Emilie. This week we discuss why we need to own our anger, and why all our inner people - Inner Warrior, Child and Diva - are malfunctioning at the moment. Plus lots of ways to get Midult high AND ways to say no without saying no - because we are, after all, only here to help…tune in for Big Midult Energy…. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m...
May 12, 2022•32 min
Has there ever been a better time to talk about sex education? Girls, women and their bodies are under siege. Supposed protectors of laws and rights are watching porn in the Commons. Young people are deluged with mixed messages about what they should and shouldn’t expect. There’s an orgasm gap, along with all the other gaps FFS. It’s enough to make you want to start burning everything down. So this week we are thrilled to welcome journalist Sophia Smith Galer to the podcast to talk about her new...
May 04, 2022•44 min
What’s the word for when you’re very clever but can’t remember anything and know literally nothing…? Because that’s where we live now. This week on the podcast we talk about why we need entire essay prompts to remember anything; all the stuff we shall never understand (like why does watching documentaries about serial killers help us to relax); and why we are low-level suspicious of anyone who looks forward to a long weekend. Plus there’s a chat with Doctor Seaweed himself… PS: This episode is b...
Apr 27, 2022•37 min
Sometimes it’s hard to even feel like ourselves. Pressure. Confusion. Exhaustion. And then we wonder about menopause and how we are going to handle the storms ahead… so this week we asked Karen Arthur to join us, to talk to us about those choppy waters. Karen was a teacher until menopause floored her, robbed her of her sense of self and led her down a path of anxiety and depression. She left her job, her relationship and, after a ton of therapy, found her new life - as a speaker, podcaster, mode...
Apr 20, 2022•45 min
All this 'going out’ business…well, we are sorely out of practice and in danger of falling at the first hurdle: what to wear. Half of the exhaustion of 'going out' is the bit before. The getting ready. *shudders* So we are delighted that our old friend Kat Farmer has written Get Changed, a book about how to leave the house without leaving your sanity. We talk about bags, belts, budgets and if you are feeling lost, where to begin. Spoiler alert - never start with going shopping…. PS: This episode...
Apr 06, 2022•45 min
If someone asked you what you did for fun, would you have a full body panic? Are you living at the intersection where overwhelm meets boredom? Well, LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE OF THE PODCAST with writer and revolutionary, Eve Rodsky. With her latest book, Find Your Unicorn Space, Eve is helping us reclaim time, reclaim energy and reconnect with our creativity. No small task. But this is a woman undaunted by such things. We talk about daily flourishing, martyr syndrome, why chasing happiness all the ...
Mar 30, 2022•51 min
This week’s podcast is all about how and why money makes us crazy. Rising costs are crunching us and we know that financial planning is sensible, so why are we resistant? Can’t afford to do the roof and yet still addicted to athleisurewear that will never witness any athleticism. We talk about money regret: waxing, the futile hunt for the perfect capsule wardrobe, highlights. And, at the end, there is a 10 minute chat with Pension Bee’s Clare Reilly about how to…get started. PS: This podcast is ...
Mar 24, 2022•41 min
We don’t think anyone was prepared for the idea that 2022 might be worse than all the rest put together. So, seeing as so many of us are feeling terrible and guilty and frightened, we are thrilled (and a little relieved ) to welcome Julia Samuel back to the podcast. Julia is a psychotherapist specialising in bereavement and a bestselling author. Her warmth and wisdom has helped thousands. Her latest book, Every Family Has a Story, is an examination - built around case studies - into how families...
Mar 17, 2022•48 min
One of the areas where we feel we could be more grown-up is... money. Some people are unemotional, practical and organised when it comes to money. Not us. So we are delighted that our guest this week is a money grown-up. Georgie Frost is an award-winning financial journalist and she’s here to tell us how to initiate a financial MOT…and maybe help us calm the money madness in our minds. We talk about pensions, savings and how the best thing to do is just get started. Gulp. PS: This podcast is bra...
Mar 10, 2022•36 min
Listen, all things considered, we weren’t sure whether to record a podcast this week. But we did…so APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE for all the weirdness. We talk about Spider Ma’am and other reluctant superheroes who might not actually be prepared to pull on the spandex. We talk about all the flare-ups - from emotional incontinence to accessorising. And we wonder what the fuck Meatloaf wouldn’t do for love... Who knows? Who knows anything anymore? It’s all very frightening, so go easy… xxx Click Here for ...
Mar 03, 2022•29 min
This week we are delighted to welcome a true voyager to the podcast – Clover Stroud travels to the very sharpest edges of human emotion in her writing, taking us with her through the dark woods of grief, loss and what it means to love. You are going to be hearing so much about her book, The Red of My Blood (which is about the death of her sister - out on March 10th) because it is brilliant, truthful, unflinching and devastating – the sort of writing that is sparklingly easy to read and very hard...
Feb 24, 2022•52 min
