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Women With Balls

Latest episodes

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Jun 10, 2022 • 32min

The Julie Bindel Edition

Julie Bindel, a radical feminist, journalist, and activist, talks about her personal journey of political awareness, intense feminist activism in Leeds, and the establishment of Justice for Women. She discusses issues like sexual assault, domestic violence, and the trans debate. She also shares her thoughts on the glamorized portrayal of sex work in 'Pretty Woman' and the challenges faced by women's rights advocates.
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May 27, 2022 • 39min

The Frances Haugen Edition

Frances Haugen is an American data scientist, most well known for her whistleblowing of Facebook's failures at controlling misinformation. Her insider knowledge allowed the Wall Street Journal to publish a series of exposés about the social media platform, which became known as 'The Facebook Files'. She has testified before the US Congress, the European Parliament and the British Parliament on online safety and Silicon Valley. On this episode, she talks to Katy about first experiencing sexism in tech when she joined Google at her first job; the shocking reality of how Facebook's algorithm worsens civil strife across the world; and what she wants to see changed from the British government's Online Safety Bill, which Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries recently joined the series to talk about. Produced by Natasha Feroze and Cindy Yu.
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May 13, 2022 • 39min

The Kemi Badenoch Edition

Kemi Badenoch is the MP for Saffron Walden and a minister in Michael Gove’s Levelling Up department. On entering parliament in 2017, Kemi was quickly pegged as one of the Conservative Party’s rising stars and an example of what she calls the “British Dream”, going from immigrant to parliamentarian in the space of one generation. After a career as a software engineer, she made her move into politics as a Conservative member of the London Assembly. Then beat Theresa May’s own special advisor to the ballot of Saffron Walden.  On the podcast, Kemi talks about her childhood in Nigeria and the golden ticket that was her UK passport, hacking Harriet Harman and how her conservative views were formed.
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Apr 28, 2022 • 46min

The Nadine Dorries Edition

Nadine Dorries is the Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sports and MP for Mid Bedfordshire. After leaving school at 16, Dorries went on to become a nurse and an entrepreneur before entering politics at the age of 49. She was a minister in the Department of Health during the pandemic, and in her current role is leading five bills at DCMS through Parliament, including the controversial Online Safety Bill.  On the podcast, she talks to Katy Balls about her plans for the BBC and Channel 4, why she believes much of the criticism against her comes from those unable to accept her background, and where her red line would be in sticking up for Boris Johnson, as one of his most loyal allies.
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Apr 22, 2022 • 34min

Generation spent: can renters be better protected?

The cost of living is rising, as is the cost of renting. Zoopla estimates that rents are rising at the fastest rate in 14 years, which means that the average rent in the UK is now over £1000 a month. This is partly a pandemic effect, especially in London as people return to offices. But Covid has also shaken people’s financial security - the Citizens Advice Bureau found that more than one in three renters felt insecure about their ability to stay in their tenancy during the pandemic. And women were disproportionately impacted - during the pandemic, mothers were more likely to be put on furlough or even lose their jobs. Rising prices are not the only problem with the UK’s private rentals market - slow or unethical landlords, unsafe properties or short term tenancies are all problems faced by renters. What more can be done for the almost five million private renters in the UK?  Katy Balls, The Spectator's deputy political editor is joined by Nickie Aiken, the Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster; Karen Buck, the Labour MP for Westminster North, who is also the vice-chair for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the private rental sector; and Esther Dijkstra, managing director of Intermediaries at Lloyds Banking Group, who are kindly sponsoring this podcast.
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Apr 8, 2022 • 36min

The Arlene Foster Edition

Arlene Foster is the former first minister of Northern Ireland and was leader of the Democratic Unionist Party from 2015 to 2021. She was the first woman to hold either position. Arlene moved into politics after joining the Ulster Unionist Party as a Law student at Queen’s University Belfast.  Having grown up in conflict during the Troubles, she remembers an attempted murder of her father by the IRA. During her long career in politics, Arlene has consistently fought for the Union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She resigned from her positions in politics to become a broadcaster and campaigner where she host a weekly show on GB News. During the podcast, Arelene reflects on her long career in politics, the Brexit negotiations as part of Theresa May's coalition government and Article 16.
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Mar 25, 2022 • 48min

The Anji Hunter Edition

Anji Hunter is the former gatekeeper to Tony Blair's Labour government. She was once described as the most influential non-elected person in Downing Street and became one of Blair's closest confidantes. Acting as an alliance broker, Anji worked across businesses and the media, including Murdoch's empire. After decades by Blair's side, Anji moved to the private sector to take up various roles across industries from BP to the Royal College of Engineering. As Boris Johnson welcomes the new Anji Hunter of 10 Downing Street, Samatha Cohen, Anji reflects on what it takes to do her former job – you've got to have balls.
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Mar 11, 2022 • 37min

The Suella Braverman Edition

Suella Braverman is the Conservative MP for Fareham and became the first female elected Attorney General in 2020. Formerly known as one of the Brext Spartans, she talks on the podcast, about growing up surrounded by politics where she first lay the foundations for a career as a Conservative politician.  As a young woman, she studied law in Cambridge, the US and in Europe where she could excel as a linguist. Since taking her role as Attorney General, she made history by rewriting the law to become the first female Cabinet Minister to take maternity leave - named Gabriella's Law after her daughter who is now one year old.
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Mar 8, 2022 • 28min

Online fraud: how best to fight back?

During the pandemic, we spent more time online than ever before and this has seen a boom in online fraud. It's estimated that scam adverts have tricked 1 in 10 people on the biggest online platforms into paying for fake products. In 2020, almost 150,000 fraud cases were recorded with losses reported of up to £500 million. For the scammers, they will do anything to convince you to key in your card details and this problem has shown no sign of slowing down. The online safety bill is expected to pass Parliament in March 2022. As things stand, the government hasn't included online fraud as a type of harm when it comes to certain adverts. So could the online safety bill be an effective solution?  To discuss this, Katy Balls is joined by Nicky Morgan, former Culture Secretary and chair of the Treasury Select Committee. Now a member of the House of Lords, Nicky is chairing a new inquiry into digital fraud. Also on the podcast is Lucy Powell, the Shadow Culture Secretary for Labour and Liz Ziegler who is the retail bank fraud and financial crime director at Lloyds Banking Group.  This podcast is kindy sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group.
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Feb 25, 2022 • 44min

The Fiona Hill Edition

Fiona Hill is the former director for European and Russian Affairs on the United States National Security Council. She has advised presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George Bush. In November 2019, she testified at Trump's first impeachment hearing. On the podcast, she tells Katy about growing up in the North East and moving the America, meeting Vladimir Putin, working in Trump's White House, and why getting a perm was such a bad idea.

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