The title says it all, really.

I took a little extra time before recording this week's episode, opting to do a poll on Instagram around some of the issues brought to the forefront in the past few weeks.

The disappearance and subsequent investigation of Sarah Everard's murder brought renewed attention to women's experiences.

In particular, the concept of safety, the issues around victim-blaming and general discourse around misogyny and everything that comes with it.

So... that's what I talk about.

Also discussed:

- Why it's so common for women to take extra steps to feel 'safe'.

- The societal impact of conditioning women to feel as though they are likely to, at some point, be a victim.

- The results of the Instagram poll and how opinions vary due to a shift in attitudes.

- Why the responsibility shouldn't be on women to take steps to avoid being attacked, and should be with men to... you know, not attack women.

Long story short? #NotAllMen invalidates the issues women have been facing for decades, the attitudes forced onto us since childhood and the anguish we feel every single time another story hits the media about a woman who's gone missing and all men can say is 'Why was she out at night by herself?'.

This episode has been a long time coming....

We're going to talk about the (wo)man, the myth, the legend - Margaret Thatcher.

From her vendetta against Soviet communism and trade unions, to the IRA assassination attempt with the Falklands war in-between, we're going to take a whirlwind tour of her career as the longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century.

Also discussed:

- Her early beginnings in politics and first taste of media opposition (milk snatcher, of course)

- How the Falklands war boosted public opinion of her and helped her to get re-elected

- Trade unions, blue collar workers and the decimating of the 'working class' as we knew it

- Thatcherism, privatisation and the expansion of the middle class

- The role of 'the winter of discontent' in Thatcher's hardline opposition to trade unions

- The inevitable end of her tenure as Prime Minister 

I hope this is as entertaining as it is informative, as this episode was one of the first on my mind when I started this podcast.

Enjoy!

Lucky you, you’ve landed on Just Don’t Get Me Started, the podcast that is taking on society one rant at a time.

Laugh at or with host, Grace Hall, as she attempts to battle through Salford’s intense background noise, her own procrastination and her tendency to pick up new hobbies and drop them immediately to entertain you (a little).

Just Don’t Get Me Started is sometimes informed, always humorous, and is centred around bringing entertainment through topics that matter.

If you want to receive a very loving message to your inbox, please do forward the podcast on social media, subscribe on whichever platform it is you love to listen on or just shout from the rooftops about it, because your neighbours should be as annoyed with you as you are with them.

Harass me on social media:

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_r_hall/

Just Don’t Get Me Started’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justdontgetmestarted/

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-r-hall/

Intro and outro music:

Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Fair warning, this episode contains rampant, ranting stupidity - you've been warned.

In this week's episode, I opt to discuss some of the things that send my head into a bit of a spin, because since being in lockdown 3.0, I've found that I can sometimes slip into ruminating over the strangest things.

Such as:

- Who milked a cow and decided to drink it? Exactly what was he trying to achieve? 

- Do caterpillars know that they're going to become butterflies?

- How did Cinderella's shoe slip off if it's meant to fit only her foot, and what size shoe is she that nobody else could fit into it?

- Why I've gone into a bottomless pit of stupidity because of the never-ending month of January and sudden emergence of mid-February.

I hope this episode can give you a bit of a laugh, and I hope to be bringing you another 'history lesson'-type episode soon on Margaret Thatcher, so....need I say more?

Lucky you, you’ve landed on Just Don’t Get Me Started, the podcast that is taking on society one rant at a time.

Laugh at or with host, Grace Hall, as she attempts to battle through Salford’s intense background noise, her own procrastination and her tendency to pick up new hobbies and drop them immediately to entertain you (a little).

Just Don’t Get Me Started is sometimes informed, always humorous, and is centred around bringing entertainment through topics that matter.

If you want to receive a very loving message to your inbox, please do forward the podcast on social media, subscribe on whichever platform it is you love to listen on or just shout from the rooftops about it, because your neighbours should be as annoyed with you as you are with them.

Harass me on social media:

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_r_hall/

Just Don’t Get Me Started’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justdontgetmestarted/

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-r-hall/

Intro and outro music:

Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Whether it's Bob Ross or an Ikea advert, a lot of us have experienced ASMR without even knowing it.

With close to 13 million Youtube videos with ASMR in the title, how do you even begin to describe what it is, what it involves and how you experience it? I'm going to try (and possibly fail) to softly speak whilst explaining the ins and outs of ASMR.

(I say softly speak, what I mean is, I'll put you to sleep by sounding hungover...)

Also discussed:

- How I discovered ASMR and how different it was in 2011

- The way ASMR has become more mainstream, being seen in adverts from big brands and spoken about by celebrities, such as Cardi B

- Ways in which you may have experienced ASMR without knowing (Bob Ross, I'm looking at you)

- The (very early days) studies into ASMR & what they mean

- How ASMR is more mainstream than ever due to apps such as TikTok also promoting ASMR content 

I hope that, even if this episode was boring, you could still technically benefit from the ASMR element by falling asleep because of it....

Lucky you, you’ve landed on Just Don’t Get Me Started, the podcast that is taking on society one rant at a time.

Laugh at or with host, Grace Hall, as she attempts to battle through Salford’s intense background noise, her own procrastination and her tendency to pick up new hobbies and drop them immediately to entertain you (a little).

Just Don’t Get Me Started is sometimes informed, always humorous, and is centred around bringing entertainment through topics that matter.

If you want to receive a very loving message to your inbox, please do forward the podcast on social media, subscribe on whichever platform it is you love to listen on or just shout from the rooftops about it, because your neighbours should be as annoyed with you as you are with them.

Harass me on social media:

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_r_hall/

Just Don’t Get Me Started’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justdontgetmestarted/

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-r-hall/

Intro and outro music:

Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

How many times do we have to say 'I'll start on Monday' before we realise that our resolutions for the New Year aren't going to stick?

I've never been one to plan far ahead generally, and I know that resolutions are a waste of time for me, because unless the intention is there, it won't change anything.

With that in mind, I've decided to round up 5 anti-resolutions, if you will - 5 things I'm planning on moving away from, rather than towards.

1 - I'm not about to change my entire diet - diet culture and diet companies thrive on this time of year, when people feel self-conscious about indulging themselves over the holiday period. Fuck that! Food isn't bad or good, you shouldn't 'walk off' one bloody mince pie & enjoying things in moderation should be key.

(Don't let a middle-aged white man tell you that a 'summer body' is a thing, and don't believe influencers who use the word 'detox')

2 - I will not waste my time on things I don't enjoy - we've all done it at some point, whether out of guilt or obligation, but 2021 will not be the year of doing things we don't enjoy for the sake of other people!

3 - I will say 'no' more often, and apologise less - there is so much beauty in saying no and not feeling guilty for doing it, and along with that comes a requirement to apologise less to break the cycle.

4 - I am not going to feel obligated to live up to other people's expectations of what I should do - whether it's productivity shaming, or telling people that they need to do fifty things in order to 'prioritise their wellbeing', people need to stop holding others to their standards and let them move at their own pace.

5 - I am not going to begin the year by comparison - goals usually require reflection, but sometimes comparing yourself in order to reach a higher goal means diminishing your past achievements. Congratulations on reaching 2021, you don't need to write half a diss track on yourself to move forwards (you can't sell your mixtape in Manchester's Market Street right now anyway).

Do you have any resolutions or anti-resolutions? I'd love to know! 

Lucky you, you’ve landed on Just Don’t Get Me Started, the podcast that is taking on society one rant at a time.

Laugh at or with host, Grace Hall, as she attempts to battle through Salford’s intense background noise, her own procrastination and her tendency to pick up new hobbies and drop them immediately to entertain you (a little).

Just Don’t Get Me Started is sometimes informed, always humorous, and is centred around bringing entertainment through topics that matter.

If you want to receive a very loving message to your inbox, please do forward the podcast on social media, subscribe on whichever platform it is you love to listen on or just shout from the rooftops about it, because your neighbours should be as annoyed with you as you are with them.

Harass me on social media:

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_r_hall/

Just Don’t Get Me Started’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justdontgetmestarted/

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-r-hall/

Intro and outro music:

Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Brussel sprouts? Bucks Fizz? Presents before or after breakfast?

Christmas traditions can vary a lot household to household, so I decided to have a poll on my Instagram account (@justdontgetmestarted) asking about certain traditions, including whether people are pro-brussel sprout or not, whether Bucks Fizz is a Christmas staple and whether Elf or Home Alone reign supreme.

(I also originally asked whether people wore pyjamas on Christmas day or actual clothes, but the screenshot didn't save properly...)

Also discussed:

- Why people always want to open the bigger presents first

- The reasoning behind a Christmas dinner before 3pm versus after (and why it'll always be breakfast, dinner and tea, end of story)

- How every household tends to have one person who wakes up everyone else every single Christmas, and why it's never me (clue: it's because I hate waking up early)

- Why Christmas traditions are so funny, and talking about answers I got to the question 'what are your Christmas traditions?'

I hope that everyone can still have a great Christmas, and perhaps we'll all create some new Christmas traditions! 

Lucky you, you’ve landed on Just Don’t Get Me Started, the podcast that is taking on society one rant at a time.

Laugh at or with host, Grace Hall, as she attempts to battle through Salford’s intense background noise, her own procrastination and her tendency to pick up new hobbies and drop them immediately to entertain you (a little).

Just Don’t Get Me Started is sometimes informed, always humorous, and is centred around bringing entertainment through topics that matter.

If you want to receive a very loving message to your inbox, please do forward the podcast on social media, subscribe on whichever platform it is you love to listen on or just shout from the rooftops about it, because your neighbours should be as annoyed with you as you are with them.

Harass me on social media:

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_r_hall/

Just Don’t Get Me Started’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justdontgetmestarted/

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-r-hall/

Intro and outro music:

Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

The rise of Only Fans, slut-shaming, and the "I'm not like the other girls!" phenomenon....

In this week's episode (or attempt at feminist discourse) I walk through a number of topics related to misogyny, due to an increased influx in misogyny online.

*Warning: contains a brief discussion around the culture surrounding sexual assault, so if this topic isn't comfortable for you, please don't listen!*

Also discussed:

- What internalised misogyny is, why it's so detrimental to us and why we partake in it

- The "I'm not like the other girls" phenomenon and how it relates to internalised misogyny

- Slut-shaming, Only Fans, and rape culture - and how it all comes back to misogynistic attitudes

- How feminism has come to be viewed negatively in recent years, but how it is meant to be a movement towards equality

- Why and how misogyny affects the way that we, particularly women, move throughout our lives and feel unsafe 

Special shoutout to @degraceomari (Instagram) for giving some special thoughts over DM when I asked people for their insights/opinions on internalised misogyny! 

Lucky you, you’ve landed on Just Don’t Get Me Started, the podcast that is taking on society one rant at a time.

Laugh at or with host, Grace Hall, as she attempts to battle through Salford’s intense background noise, her own procrastination and her tendency to pick up new hobbies and drop them immediately to entertain you (a little).

Just Don’t Get Me Started is sometimes informed, always humorous, and is centred around bringing entertainment through topics that matter.

If you want to receive a very loving message to your inbox, please do forward the podcast on social media, subscribe on whichever platform it is you love to listen on or just shout from the rooftops about it, because your neighbours should be as annoyed with you as you are with them.

Harass me on social media:

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_r_hall/

Just Don’t Get Me Started’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justdontgetmestarted/

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-r-hall/

Intro and outro music:

Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

There’s a LOT to ruminate over at the minute....

(Hello darkness my old friend....)

T’is the season to be anxious, fa la la la la, la la la laaaa! In this episode I walk through why we’re ruminating more than ever and attempt to impart some advice.

Also discussed:

• Why it’s good to challenge yourself

There’s an endless list of things to ruminate over and get anxious about, but you don’t have to do it all alone (or without my monotonous voice!)

I should have some more directional (aka – not aimless) episodes coming up soon, but recently I’ve found myself just sitting down without a major theme to get me going so....bear with me!

Perhaps I really ought to get round to that ASMR episode I’ve been debating, since we could all use some relaxation....

Lucky you, you’ve landed on Just Don’t Get Me Started, the podcast that is taking on society one rant at a time.

Laugh at or with host, Grace Hall, as she attempts to battle through Salford’s intense background noise, her own procrastination and her tendency to pick up new hobbies and drop them immediately to entertain you (a little).

Just Don’t Get Me Started is sometimes informed, always humorous, and is centred around bringing entertainment through topics that matter.

If you want to receive a very loving message to your inbox, please do forward the podcast on social media, subscribe on whichever platform it is you love to listen on or just shout from the rooftops about it, because your neighbours should be as annoyed with you as you are with them.

Harass me on social media:

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_r_hall/

Just Don’t Get Me Started’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justdontgetmestarted/

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-r-hall/

Intro and outro music:

Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

This year has certainly had some memorable moments.

(Memorable being a nice word for horrific.)

When MPs think it's acceptable to flout covid-19 restrictions, blatantly brag about their nepotism and vote against children being given free school meals....memorable doesn't begin to cut it.

In this episode, I get particularly wound up about the state of the government, the free school meals debacle and why nobody listens to politicians.

Also discussed:

- The sorry state of affairs when Nigel Farage can tell someone that THEY are being a dick

- Why politicians have had a direct impact on peoples willingness to follow restrictions

- How the places this government have put their spending and emphasis show their priorities 

- Why denying free school meals is indicative of how out of touch MPs are

- The reason why MPs are so out of touch with reality

- Seemingly, why I thought Guy Fawkes had the right idea

(If I do in fact, have someone tracking my every move online....sorry.....)

Lucky you, you’ve landed on Just Don’t Get Me Started, the podcast that is taking on society one rant at a time.

Laugh at or with host, Grace Hall, as she attempts to battle through Salford’s intense background noise, her own procrastination and her tendency to pick up new hobbies and drop them immediately to entertain you (a little).

Just Don’t Get Me Started is sometimes informed, always humorous, and is centred around bringing entertainment through topics that matter.

If you want to receive a very loving message to your inbox, please do forward the podcast on social media, subscribe on whichever platform it is you love to listen on or just shout from the rooftops about it, because your neighbours should be as annoyed with you as you are with them.

Harass me on social media:

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_r_hall/

Just Don’t Get Me Started’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justdontgetmestarted/

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-r-hall/

Intro and outro music:

Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

I don't even think Ned Stark would envy us right now...

With local lockdowns changing every time Boris blinks, a new Nando's-esque 'medium' to 'very high' tier being implemented and Christmas looming - everything seems uncertain at best and catastrophic at worst.

The winter months usually bring a fair amount of apprehension around money and mental health, and now, it seems even more prominent than ever.

In this episode, I talk about:

- The uncertainty that usually occurs in the winter months and how it might change due to the pandemic

- The mental health impact of the pandemic (briefly) and how rampant feelings of anxiety currently are

- Why it's a great time to be writing a manifesto and reconsidering your impact on politics 

- Boris Johnson's resemblance to a scarecrow & why Nigel Farage doesn't have room to speak on anything with legitimacy (much like many politicians)

This was a very non-sensical one, but with everything going on....can you blame me?

Lucky you, you’ve landed on Just Don’t Get Me Started, the podcast that is taking on society one rant at a time.

Laugh at or with host, Grace Hall, as she attempts to battle through Salford’s intense background noise, her own procrastination and her tendency to pick up new hobbies and drop them immediately to entertain you (a little).

Just Don’t Get Me Started is sometimes informed, always humorous, and is centred around bringing entertainment through topics that matter.

If you want to receive a very loving message to your inbox, please do forward the podcast on social media, subscribe on whichever platform it is you love to listen on or just shout from the rooftops about it, because your neighbours should be as annoyed with you as you are with them.

Harass me on social media:

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_r_hall/

Just Don’t Get Me Started’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justdontgetmestarted/

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-r-hall/

Intro and outro music:

Hall of the Mountain King Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0