Rachel Johnson's Difficult Women

Laila Mickelwait is a mom on a mission, her tireless work has resulted in the removal of tens of millions of illegal porn videos and she's still not done. Her inspiring story is one of a woman and a mother who was sick of the ineffectual action on sex abuse and so took matters into her own hands.

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson is one of the most highly decorated British Paralympians and truly worthy of the title of Difficult Women. She has spent her life knocking down barriers and fearlessly schooling anyone who dares stand in her way. Even from her earliest memories she has been advocating for not just her own life but for thousands of other disabled people who are routinely forgotten and pushed aside. Listen for an insight into this fascinating life.

This week's difficult woman is another member of British broadcasting royalty, Vanessa Feltz! With her signature blonde locks and no-nonsense charm, she’s been captivating audiences for decades, bringing a splash of sass and a whole lot of heat to the airwaves, always ready to tackle the juiciest topics with her trademark honesty. Of which she is certainly not lacking in this ripper of an episode!

This week's Difficult Woman is Donna Jones, the conservative police and crime commissioner for Hampshire, and the first female leader of Portsmouth City Council. This is a woman who knows how to get things done and makes no apologies whilst doing it. 

This week's difficult women is the loud proud and utterly brilliant Miriam Cates. Now the former MP for Penistone and Stockbridge, Miriam rocketed into the public eye as one of the spearhead figures of the NatCon movement. She now focuses her efforts on education and pro-natalism

This week's Difficult Women is the ceiling smashing Margaret Casley-Hayford. A successful businesswoman and lawyer, Margaret has now got her sights set on bringing diversity to the board room. She now aspires to be not just the first black person but the first woman to hold the title of chancellor in nearly a thousand years of the universities history.

**Warning - this show does contain descriptive language of a racist incident which some listeners may find offensive.

This week's difficult women is Kate Weinberg whose covid journey is as compelling as her writing. With a fierce determination to understand the mysterious fatigue that doctors couldn't explain, Kate embarked on a personal quest for a diagnosis that would empower her narrative and inform her creative work. Turned away time and again by doctors dismissing her illness, she was reminded of the very same doubts that her mother was subject to before her untimely death...

This week's difficult women is the Gardening Legend Bunny Guinness. You will be most familiar with Bunny's voice as a regular on Gardeners Question Time but her immersion within the horticultural world goes well beyond her broadcasting career. We delve into everything from her hitchhiking through Europe to the Great Peat Debate!

When she was 16, Natalie Fleet was raped. More than 30 years later, she will now use her role as a Labour MP to ensure that rapists have no rights to the products of their crime. Listen as she describes her incredible journey of resilience 

This week's difficult woman is writer and podcaster Bibi Lynch. Owing to a combination of factors, Bibi has found herself childless and single in her late 50s - she's not had a boyfriend since Tony Blair was elected and she's come to the realisation that the world just isn't quite comfortable with a middle-aged childless woman. Listen as she talks through the personal reckoning that comes with such a realisation.