"A barrister said I should be sectioned and left in a padded room" This week's difficult woman is Dr Charlotte Proudman, a fiercely defiant lawyer who isn't afraid to call a sexist spade a sexist spade. You will no doubt have first heard of Charlotte when she ousted a leering older colleague who had been making inappropriate comments about her linked in profile picture. A stunt that got her labelled an attention seeking feminazi. Dr Proudman has been no less difficult in the years that followed,...
Mar 12, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 58
"I'll probably get cancelled for this!" Little needs to be said about this week's Difficult Woman, a prolific author, columnist and self-declared bitch, Jilly Cooper! Easily one of the greatest living English women, her novels have sold millions and have even caught the eye of our current prime minister... Recorded at the converted monastery in Gloucester where she resides, listen to this unashamedly honest conversation with one of Britain's greatest living authors.
Mar 04, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 57
"When we started this fight, we made enemies in the food industry." This week's difficult women is Tanya Laperouse, whilst you may not know her name but you will no doubt be familiar with the story that has lead to her taking on the entire food industry... and winning. In 2016, Tanya's daughter went on a holiday that would change her family's life forever... Listen to how Tanya took her own personal tragedy and turned it into a terrible victory.
Feb 26, 2024•35 min•Season 1Ep. 56
"If he is extradited... he won't survive in a US prison." This Wednesday, a British high court will decide on whether or not to extradite journalist Julian Assange. His crime? Exposing alleged war crimes committed by the US in Afghanistan. This week's difficult woman is Stella Assange, a human rights activist and lawyer, who married Julian in 2022. Stella and Julian met whilst he was trapped in the Ecuadorian embassy, a political prisoner unable to leave under threat of extradition. She may well...
Feb 19, 2024•29 min•Season 1Ep. 55
"We have ground out these opportunities for women and its now as if we aren't entitled to them anymore" This weeks Difficult Woman is trailblazer and Swimmer Sharron Davies who lost out on gold at the Olympics to doping Russian athletes. With first hand experience of injustice in sport, Sharon has taken it upon herself to fight for biological categorisation in sport.
Feb 12, 2024•33 min•Season 1Ep. 54
We all take it as given that the law will be there for you when you need it... the postmasters know its not true..." This weeks difficult woman is Baroness Newlove, the reinstated victims commissioner on a warpath to fix our justice system to SUPPORT victims rather than leave them feeling like cogs in a machine. You may well know about the tragic death of her husband, Gary Newlove, who was beaten to death by a gang of youths in 2007. The pain and frustration of that experience is what drove her ...
Feb 05, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 53
"Even now I can feel her, she is right here with me in this room" This week's difficult woman is Her Grace, Emma, The Duchess of Rutland. A farmers daughter turned nobility this enterprising aristocrat has dragged Belvoir Castle into the 21st century and flung open her doors to the public. But it doesn't end there... an ardent spiritualist, Emma uses her natural gift to heal people with Reiki. All under the watchful tutorage of her ghostly companion The Fifth Duchess of Rutland.
Jan 28, 2024•36 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Apart from perhaps Sue Gray, I can’t think of a woman more guaranteed to send chills through the corridors of power than Pippa Crerar. The incoming new political editor of the Guardian, Crerar was born in Edinburgh in the long hot summer of 76 and attended Glasgow Academy. Her career as a political journalist is garlanded with too many prizes and awards to mention here - she picked up a handful for breaking the story of Dominic Cummings day trip to Barnard Castle during lockdown and she has been...
Dec 11, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 51
This week’s guest is MP for Suffolk Coastal - Therese Coffey In this LBC podcast, Rachel Johnson's Difficult Women, Rachel speaks with women who had to be a pain in the backside to get where they are today. Women who take the word difficult as a compliment not an insult. And women who had to fight, resist, insist, or otherwise be badly behaved in order to get things done. Listen and subscribe now on Global Player, or wherever you get your podcasts
Dec 05, 2023•32 min•Ep. 24
There really ain't nothing like DAME MAUREEN LIPMAN CBE 1999 Dame Commander of the order of the British Empire in the 2020 birthday honours for services to charity, entertainment and the arts, Mo is a zionist, royalist, actress, writer, comedian who is never out of the headlines.
Nov 27, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 115
The system she worked trying to expose, is what allowed those men to murder her..." This week's Difficult Woman is Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese Author, Journalist, and Anti-Corruption activist who was assassinated for bringing truth to power... In her final article she wrote "Do your worst you bastards, until the only option left to you is to take out a contract on my life". Her story lives on through her son Paul, a journalist in his own right. Listen as he tells the story of her tragic mu...
Nov 20, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 114
"It's all too easy if you went to Eton, not so much if you were born on a council estate..." This week's Difficult Woman is Former MP, Former Culture Secretary, Former Nurse, and Former Businesswoman, Nadine Dorries. Though there is nothing former about this formidable woman whose new book has "spooked" Rishi Sunak into a full cabinet reshuffle! Plus, all of her thoughts on the former PM who has been given a peerage ahead of her...
Nov 13, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 113
Presenter, DJ, and mum Ashley James joins Rachel in the studio today to give us an insight into the word of 'Mumfluencing' and the criticism she faces for simply having the audacity to talk about breast feeding!
Oct 16, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 112
Caroline Lucas is the UK's only Green MP. A vocal and unabashed advocate for climate policy, Caroline hits out at Sunak, Starmer and even Ed Davey for their failures to address the climate crisis.
Oct 09, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 111
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of sexual assault. Olympic Athlete and World Champion javelin thrower, Fatima Whitbread, was left for dead as a baby. It was only after a neighbour heard her crying for 3 days that she called the police who saved her life. She then spent the next 14 years of her life in a broken care sector that subjected her to physical and mental abuse. At 14 years old, Fatima picked up a javelin for the first time and found the sport that would save her life...
Oct 02, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 110
From the age of 3, Rosena Alin-Khan knew she was going to be a doctor and no number of setbacks were going to stop her. From her humble beginnings in Tooting to graduating from an Ivy League university, Rosena is no stranger to standing up for herself or what she believes in. Now, Rosena champions mental health policy from within Parliament as well as continuing to work her 12 hour A&E shifts!
Sep 25, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 109
Legendary foreign correspondent, Alex Crawford, joins me this week to discuss her extensive career spanning continents and decades. From being bombarded in Lybia to her recent exploration of violence in Mexico, this episode has it all!
Sep 19, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 108
Retweeting a picture of Masih Alinejad can land you 10 years in prison. This "Enemy of State" has survived kidnapping attempts, assassination attempts, and campaigns of disinformation at the hands of the Iranian government. Her crime? Standing up for women's rights. Women's freedom fighter Masih Alinejad has been exiled from her home land since 2009 for criticising the Iranian government's stance on women's rights. In the 14 years since her exile, Masih has not lost her voice...
Sep 11, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Sometimes a woman is SO difficult that her story simply cannot be contained in one episode! Listen in as the queen of hot takes gives her verdict on vegetarians, stonewall, and barbie!
Aug 15, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 106
In 2020 Stephen Bear posted online an intimate video of himself and Georgia Harrison that had been filmed without her consent. What followed was a difficult legal battle which left her at the mercy of public opinion. Georgia's decision to waive her right to anonymity wasn't easy but the brave choice she made has allowed her to advocate for real legislative change that grants greater protection for victims of revenge porn.
Jul 31, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Witty and outspoken, Shazia Mirza was the first British female Muslim stand-up comedian. Proudly cancelled on multiple counts she isn't afraid to say the unspoken! Listen to one of Rachels most outrageous guests yet...
Jul 24, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 104
Conservative MP and Queen of the Hard Brexit, Andrea Jenkyns is our guest on this week's podcast. Growing up destitute, her father taught Andrea the importance of being 'difficult' from a young age. This determination led Andrea to Andrew Lloyd Webber's living room, the final of Miss UK, and the top of Iain Dales "Most Influential Conservatives" list!
Jul 10, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 103
The outspoken and dare I say infamous wife of Johnny Mercer MP joins me on the podcast this week. Felicity Mercer works alongside her husband, helping to manage the day to day running of his office. When she's not in the office she can be found on twitter decrying Liz Truss as an 'Imbecile' or slating the honours system. Strap in for this one, Felicity doesn't hold back.
Jul 03, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Kate Mosse is a literary titan having sold over 10 million books, translated into 38 languages. She also founded the women's prize for fiction and her new book "Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries" champions the forgotten women of history who have shaped the world we live in today. A fascinating chat, delving into not only her life but the lives of countless women history has chosen to forget.
Jun 26, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 101
At 7 years old, Suzanne moved onto a seventy-foot yacht with her parents. It was a turbulent childhood with deadly waves, fifty thousand miles of ocean, and endless cups of tea! Homeschooled her whole life, Suzanne escaped the boat after ten years and worked her way to Oxford University. And then there was the time the government tried to frame her late husband! Essential listening filled with hardship, perseverance, and a very difficult woman...
Jun 19, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 100
When the Taliban returned to power, Soomaya Javadi’s future as a dentistry student and a woman in Afghanistan was in peril. Her Hazara ethnicity further jeopardized her fate, belonging to one of the most targeted ethnic groups in the country and one historically persecuted by the Taliban during their initial rule in 1996. Facing looming oppression, Javadi made the difficult decision to depart her homeland, one that carried immense danger and uncertainty. Listen about her nail-biting race to Paki...
Jun 12, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 99
This week's difficult women is Gogglebox's own Mary Killen!
Jun 05, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 98
Every few seconds, a child's genitals are cut in Africa. Leyla Hussein was one of them... A psychotherapist who now specialises in supporting survivors of sexual abuse, Leyla has dedicated her life to raising awareness of FGM and supporting her fellow survivors. She is a self-proclaimed difficult woman with an incredibly powerful story to tell.
May 30, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 97
Rabbi The Baroness Neuberger DBE was the second woman to be ordained as a Rabbi in the UK, and is a British member of the House of Lords. She has been busy and active across public life for decades in the fields of public health, refugees, education, she is the personification of the expression the great and the good.
May 22, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 96
Katie Hickman has lived an enviable life to say the least. A prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction, Katie was the daughter of diplomats, she spent her youth travelling the world, before ran away to join the circus in her 20's. Later she turned her hand to writing, her new book 'bravehearted' tells the untold stories of the women in the wild west.
May 15, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 95
