It’s our favourite time of year: The OED have released their new admissions. Are you feeling bongga? Or are you - whisper it - just a nothingburger? 

We also discuss the Banksy that shredded itself; Brett Kavanaugh’s ascendancy into The Supreme Court; Taylor Swift’s Instagram politics; and that time Trump walked around with a wad of bog roll stuck to his shoe. It’s the little things. 

This episode concerns two men accused of domestic abuse - comedian Seann Walsh, and Johnny Depp who currently covers British GQ. Were Strictly Come Dancing wrong not to drop Walsh? Were GQ wrong to profile Depp? We deep-dive into both and wonder: what’s the protocol, when it comes to the accused? 

E-mail: [email protected]

Tweet us: @thehighlowshow 

Stacey Dooley Investigates: Fashion’s Dirty Secrets, on the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bn6034

Can I re-think my love affair with clothes? by Jess Cartner-Morley for The Guardian magazine  https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/oct/06/sustainable-fashion-impact-on-planet-jess-cartner-morley

Sorry For Your Loss, on Facebook Watch 

A Woman’s Anger, an episode with Rebecca Traister for Call Your Girlfriend podcast https://www.callyourgirlfriend.com/a-womans-anger-with-rebecca-traister/

Good and Mad, by Rebecca Traister https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Rebecca-Traister/Good-and-Mad--The-Revolutionary-Power-of-Womens-Anger/22853939

Notes On A Nervous Planet, by Matt Haig https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Matt-Haig/Notes-on-a-Nervous-Planet/21949786

‘The Outlaw’ - Johnny Depp will not be buried, by Jonathan Heaf for British GQ https://t.co/0d7xQvg0yB

Wanderlust on The BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bjckgv

Not Working by Lisa Owens Radio Adaptation: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07blldr

Christopher Bland Award for Writing: https://rsliterature.org/award/rsl-christopher-bland-prize/

Daisy Buchanan on Rebecca Humphries’ statement for The Pool: https://www.the-pool.com/news-views/opinion/2018/41/Strictly-Come-Dancing-Seann-Walsh-ex-girlfriend-statement

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Hello October! It’s Dolly’s favourite month of the year. If she were reincarnated, says Pandora, it would be as a knee-high boot. 

This week we discuss MeToo’s infighting - as Asia Argento unveils a new bloody dagger tattoo aimed at Rose McGowan; Pret’s tragic error and the 14 allergens that all foodstuffs should be labelled with; and why the Nobel peace prize should be taken away from Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi despite the organisation’s novel explanation as to why it hasn’t. 

Masses of recommendations from us both, including Lily Allen’s memoir, the film Tully, a beautiful piece on grief by Alice Edwards, and a series of accounts on what it was really like to work for Harvey Weinstein, in The Guardian magazine. Are NDAs protecting the wrong people? 

We couldn’t *not* talk about Brett Kavanaugh - the Republican judge who looks set to enter the Supreme Court, the highest law-making body in the USA, despite the accusation of sexual assault lodged against him by Dr Christine Ford. Do men (and women) of a certain age - and political view - still subscribe to the belief “that if it isn’t rape, it doesn’t count”? And are we surprised that Trump is still endorsing Kavanaugh?

Also this week, we discuss a brilliant piece by the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, Farrah Storr, for The Times Magazine - about why women can’t (and maybe don’t want) it all. Dolly and I talk about the ‘splintered woman’ (domestic, professional, sexual) and get personal on the subconscious pressure to have it all; why we don’t have it all; and why having different things, at different times, is actually even better. 

Links:

Tully (2018) film 

Kavanaugh v Ford is a litmus test for our times, by Janice Turner for The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kavanaugh-v-ford-is-litmus-test-of-our-times-6xrmt5v7w

Suzanne Moore on Brett Kavanaugh: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/28/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-senate-supreme-court 

Why women can’t have it all, by Farrah Storr for The Times magazine https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/you-can-t-have-it-all-admits-cosmopolitan-editor-farrah-storr-kt89pqm37

Episode #149 of Ctrl, Alt, Delete podcast hosted by Emma Gannon, with Farrah Storr https://www.emmagannon.co.uk/2018/09/27/ctrl-alt-delete-podcast-149-farrah-storr/

Jackie Onassis and Lee Radziwill: the truth about their rivalry, (extracted from a book) by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger for The Times magazine 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jackie-onassis-and-lee-radziwill-the-truth-about-their-sibling-rivalry-w60cvzl9m

Life as a Harvey Weinstein employee, three accounts for The Guardian magazine https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/29/harvey-weinstein-three-former-employees-on-working-for-him

‘I carry your hearts with me’ - an essay on grief by Alice Edwards for the current print issue of Porter magazine 

‘My anxiety was a tool to survive’, Claire Foy interview by Tom...

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New Zealand PM Jacinda Arden made history when she took baby Neve to the UN Assembly in NYC this week; meanwhile, Trump made world leaders laugh out loud with his address (“that’s not what I was expecting” he replied, surprised at the lols.) In the domestic landscape, Dolly discovers a great new podcast and Pandora reads a unnerving but thought-provoking book. 

Also this week, we host comedian and podcast supremo, Deborah Frances-White, creator and host of The Guilty Feminist. The podcast has had 50 million download since inception and is one of our favourites to listen to: it's funny, provoking, smart and political. The USP of The Guilty Feminist is: let humour do the heavy-lifting — something The High Low heartily admires. We talk inclusivity, intersectional feminism and why we are all guilty feminists.

Links

Putney, by Sofka Zinovieff https://www.amazon.co.uk/Putney-Sofka-Zinovieff/dp/1408895757

Killing Eve and Press on BBC iPlayer

Fortunately with Fi and Jane, a BBC podcast on iTunes

Book a ticket to The Rooted Project’s ‘Skin Food’ event at https://www.picatic.com/event15345039853892

The Ratline on BBC Radio 4 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04sj2pt

Bella Mackie on being single at 30 for Vogue 

https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/being-single-at-30-a-vogue-memoir

The Guilty Feminist by Deborah Francis White: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guilty-Feminist-noble-goals-hypocrisies/dp/0349010145

E-mail us [email protected]

Tweet us @thehhglowshow

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The High Low inbox was full of people asking us to cover the media coverage of Carrie Symonds, the former Tory comms director accused of having an affair with Boris Johnson. We discuss the ‘scarlet woman’ trope, historically embodied by Monica Lewinsky, the then intern who was globally shamed for her affair with Bill Clinton (if you haven’t watched her 2015 TED talk yet - DO IT.) Let’s stop with the ‘tabloidese’ whereby women accused of having affairs with famous, married men are party-loving sluts designed to attack the patriarchy. Here’s a thought: let’s cover women in the same way we do men?

Also today, we celebrate the 18 year tenure - yes, 18 years - of Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother. Whether 'civilian or celebrity' (our new favourite phrase), Big Brother was once a pop-culture phenomenon, at the vanguard of the zeitgeist. Rather than examine where it all went wrong (nothing lasts forever) we dive into the nostalgia and share our favourite bits plus YOUR favourite bits, as garnered from Twitter. Plus, Dolly interviews an ex story producer of MIC, ex head writer for TOWIE and culture journalist, Ed Cripps, to discuss the BB phenomenon in more detail.

E-mail us [email protected]

Tweet us @thehighlowshow

Hadley Freeman on Serena Williams https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/15/give-serena-williams-break-working-mothers

Sophie Heawood interviews Lily Allen https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/15/lily-allen-brazen-behaviour-didnt-care-sophie-heawood

The Pursuit of Love, by Nancy Mitford https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pursuit-Love-Nancy-Mitford/dp/0141044012

Episode 59 of Fortunately with Fi and Jane, with Susanna Reid https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06f8njn

Killing Eve, on BBC iPlayer https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p06jy6bc

Fran Yeoman on Carrie Symonds for iNews https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/people/boris-johnson-carrie-symonds-affair-allegations-sexism-media/

Monica Lewinsky’s TED talk, ‘The price of shame’ https://www.ted.com/talks/monica_lewinsky_the_price_of_shame/up-next?language=en

Nadia Petschek Rawls, Director of Social Media at TED, on Monica Lewinsky’s TED talk https://ideas.ted.com/want-to-help-prevent-online-bullying-comment-on-facebook/

She Wants It by Jill Soloway: https://www.amazon.co.uk/She-Wants-Desire-Toppling-Patriarchy/dp/1785032844 

Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants: 

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Roxanne Pallett has been cast (and since left) Celebrity Island since our last record (exploitative, much?) and Hurricane Florence is heading towards the USA. Meanwhile, 2 more people have attempted to make bookings at The High Low hotel. Our towels must be reeeeeally soft, or something.

Today, we discuss Serena Williams’s epic tantrum at the US Open final - and how it overshadowed Naomi Osaka’s first Grand Slam win. The most interesting part of the narrative isn’t the tantrum, itself: but how it’s culturally metabolised. 

And another woman in trouble getting angry is Kirstie Allsopp who recently admitted to smashing her kids iPad in fury, after they wouldn’t stop playing computer games. She’s quit Twitter, amidst the furore and her parenting - and privilege - is now under scrutiny. We chew over the makings of a modern-day Twitter storm and wonder if parenting and social media are destined for trouble.

Please go to https://www.gofundme.com/emergency-support-for-rwc to donate to the Refugee Women’s Centre, helping refugee families in Calais and Dunkirk

Recommendations

Adèle, by Leila Slimani, out January 2019 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adèle-Leila-Slimani/dp/0143132180

Ben Machell interviews Grenfell firefighter Edric Kennedy-Malfoy and Peter Crouch, both for The Times magazine

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/firefighter-edric-kennedy-macfoy-what-i-saw-inside-grenfell-tower-broke-me-bl8q8h37k

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/former-england-striker-peter-crouch-on-the-pampered-lives-of-premier-league-players-7l8bjz6kw

Simon Hattenstone interviews Phoebe Waller-Bridge for The Guardian magazine

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/sep/08/phoebe-waller-bridge-fleabag-killing-eve-transgressive-women

Zadie Smith essay on ageing, in the (current) October issue of ELLE magazine 

Remembering Aretha Franklin on Fresh Air https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/2018/08/16/639157290?t=1536776911699

Steve Young on Here’s The Thing With Alec Baldwin: https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/hidden-trove-musicals-broadways-greatest-talents

Slate’s Slow Burn series two: http://www.slate.com/articles/slate_plus/watergate.html?via=gdpr-consent

Daisy Buchanan on Sofie Hagen’s Made of Human podcast: https://www.madeofhumanpodcast.com/episodes/2018/8/30/105-daisy-buchanan-a-gymnastics-routine-of-shame

Guys We F****d with Dan Soder https://m.soundcloud.com/guyswefucked/dan-you-give-please-dont-leave-me-head

Where Should We Begin with Esther Perel: 

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We’re back! We wish we were still on the sun lounger, but here we are, at your disposal - with a giant book chat of what we have enjoyed in the last month.

Also today, we discuss the social media trolling of the late Sinéad McNamara and Instagram influencer Scarlett Dixon; and Celebrity Big Brother’s biggest controversy yet - after soap actor Roxanne Pallet accused fellow contestant and actor Ryan Thomas of assault, which footage revealed to have never happened. The fall-out has been swift; Roxanne has described herself as “the most hated person in Britain.” But when does criticism morph into crucifixion? When will we stop trying to ‘cancel’ or ‘delete’ people - particularly women - from public consciousness? And how do Roxanne’s allegations damage the #MeToo movement? 

You can e-mail The High Low [email protected] or tweet us @thehighlowshow

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:

Normal People, by Sally Rooney

How Do You Like Me Now, by Holly Bourne

Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng

Bitter Orange, by Claire Fuller 

The Pisces, by Melissa Broder

Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan

Educated, by Tara Westover 

Confessions of a Single Mother, by Amy Nicoll

The Wives, by Lauren Weisberger

The Hunting Party, by Lucy Foley 

The Break, by Marian Keys 

This Is Going To Hurt, by Adam Kay

A Short Affair, edited by Simon Oldfield 

The End of The Affair - Graham Green 

The Outline - Rachel Cusk 

The Cost of Living - Deborah Levy

Cassandra At The Wedding - Dorothy Baker 

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Jeremy Hunt forgot his wife's nationality; someone tried to book 6 hotel rooms at The High Low (us neither); & Dolly smashed a glass of wine all over CJ's recording equipment. Hola August: the summer madness has officially begun! 

We discuss Jane Garvey's comment on Radio 4's Woman's Hour this week: that "hey guys" should not be used when a gathering includes women. Is "guys" an anti-feminist collective term; or has it evolved into unisex slang? And are there any non-gross alternatives?

Also today, we talk about comedian and talk show host Trevor Noah and his distasteful 2013 joke about aboriginal women, which has recently re-surfaced and has seen Australians boycotting his upcoming tour in Australia. Should we be allowed to evolve beyond our past (worst) jokes? And what is the role of comedy, in a post-MeToo, Trumpian world?

The High Low will be taking a summer break, so Pandora can play with her baby and Dolly can take a post-book tour breather. We'll be back on September 6th. Byeeeeeee!

EMAIL: [email protected]

TWITTER: @thehighlowshow

LINKS:

Fight Like A Girl, by Clementine Ford https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fight-Like-Girl-Clementine-Ford/dp/1760292362

Paris For One (& Other Stories), by Jojo Moyes https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paris-One-Other-Stories-Discover/dp/1405928166/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1533158639&sr=1-1&keywords=jojo+moyes+paris

American Housewife, by Helen Ellis https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Housewife-Helen-Ellis/dp/1471153800/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1533158662&sr=1-1&keywords=american+wives+helen+ellis

Hadley Freeman interviews Jameela Jamil, for The Guardian magazine https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jul/28/jameela-jamil-wont-become-double-agent-patriarchy

Table Manners With Jessie Ware: https://www.acast.com/tablemanners/

Jason Segel on WTF with Marc Maron: http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_623_-_jason_segel

The Florence Kleiner Bursary at The Old Vic: https://www.oldvictheatre.com/news/2018/07/the-florence-kleiner-bursary

Why It’s Wrong To Call Out Trevor Noah For Off-Colour Jokes They Made In Their Past, by Shappi Khorsandi for The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trevor-noah-dan-harmon-old-jokes-exposure-wrong-alt-right-james-gunn-a8466011.html 

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We might be a little delayed - much like a Ryanair flight - but we got there in the end. Yup, that’s a pun; we’re talking about Plane Bae. Unfolding like a modern meet-cute, the tweet story of a ‘romance’ observed by another passenger over the course of over 50 tweets-gone viral, Plane Bae soon morphed into a cautionary tale of consent, privacy and doxxing. What does this incident reveal to us, except, yet again, that the internet is misogynistic?

Also today, we discuss two news stories surrounding mental health: firstly, that mental health may be taught to children as young as 4, and secondly, that 70,000 young people including 2,000 young children, are on anti-depressants. Are we right to be cautious of becoming a pill-addicted nation; or do we need to overcome this stigma? And will children as young as 4, really absorb the nuances of mental health? Ultimately, education starts at a grassroots level and needs to be woven throughout the curriculum, focusing on positive preventative measures like exercise and healthy eating. We’d love to here your thoughts on this. If you are suffering with mental health issues or believe someone you know is, you can contact mental health charity MIND at mind.org.uk, to find out more about your local support network.

Also today, a beautiful piece on becoming 2 when you thought you would always be 1, by Hannah Betts, why you should fear ‘femtech’ and birth control apps by Olivia Sudjic and Viv Albertine’s polemic on Fresh Air.

Links

Neon Daylight, by Hermione Hoby https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neon-Daylight-Hermione-Hoby/dp/193678775X

Picnic at Hanging Rock, on BBC2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b0bb6xvm

Hannah Betts, the postergirl for singletons, on coupledom for The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hannah-betts-how-the-poster-girl-for-singletons-found-love-at-last-gjxbfgtng

A letter to my friend who is getting married, by Marisa Bate for The Pool https://www.the-pool.com/life/life-honestly/2018/30/Marisa-Bate-letter-to-a-friend-who-is-getting-married

The dangers of Natural Cycle and birth control apps, by Olivia Sudjic for The Guardian magazine https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/21/colossally-naive-backlash-birth-control-app

All Saints on how to be a girl group, by Michael Cragg for The Observer magazine https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jul/24/all-saints-on-how-to-be-a-girl-group

Viv Albertine on a lifetime of fighting the patriarchy, on NPR's Fresh Air podcast https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/2018/07/16/629365712

You can e-mail The High Low [email protected] and tweet us @thehighlowshow.

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The POTUS hit the UK for his week of ridicule: the balloon; the march; the press conference and *that* video gone viral of Trump barging in front of the Queen. Meanwhile, Dolly discovers a new music hero (David Keenan) and Pandora reads her first ‘work-help’ book (The Discomfort Zone by Farrah Storr.) Oh, and Love Island fans: Undercover Lover is your new favourite podcast. You’re welcome. 

Today we are honoured to host Yomi Adegoke & Elizabeth Uviebinené, the writers of Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible. A meticulously researched and brilliantly written deep-dive into what it is to be a young black woman in the UK, the book prompted a 9-way publishing war and is stuffed full of interviews with famous black women including Olympic athlete Denise Lewis, barrister and author Afua Hirsch and former pop star Jamelia. 

We discuss microaggressions and microinvalidations; the ‘white co-sign’; being racially palatable; why representation and sponsorship is so important (just 0.49% of university professors are black women); why black women are swiped left more than any other ethnic group on Tinder; and how Rihanna changed the black beauty industry. 

You can email The High Low [email protected] and tweet us @thehighlowshow

Links

Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible, by Yomi Adegoke & Elizabeth Uviebinené https://www.amazon.co.uk/Slay-Your-Lane-Black-Bible/dp/0008235627 

Undercover Lover, hosted by Harriet Minter https://www.acast.com/undercoverlover

Caliphate - a New York Times podcast about ISIS, hosted by Rukmini Callimachi https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/podcasts/caliphate-isis-rukmini-callimachi.html

True heroes insist on staying in the shadows, by Janice Turner for The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/true-heroes-insist-on-staying-in-the-shadows-fkl7lj53w

Suzanne Moore on turning 60 for The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/17/im-a-woman-about-to-turn-60-heres-what-ive-learned-about-life 

Elizabeth Day's new podcast How To Fail https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/how-to-fail-phoebe-waller-bridge/id1407451189?i=1000415790730&mt=2 

David Keenan on Roisin Meets https://soundcloud.com/irishtimes-lifestyle/david-keenan

David Keenan https://www.davidkeenan.ie/ 

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There’s a ton of cabinet reshuffles this week and baby Trump - all 6-foot helium-filled malevolence - is flying over London. Is the balloon a meaningful protest; or is it a childish blimp that could ruin a trade agreement with the US? And aren’t there leaders (Erdogan, for example) whose visit to the UK we should protest more? 

Also this week, Justin Bieber’s engaged! Kylie Jenner’s almost a billionaire! Cardi(gan) B has had a baby called Kulture! In (more important) news, we discuss Amanda Knox’s comments on sexuality (she says she taught herself how to masturbate in prison), Terri White’s piece on poverty (30% of children live below the poverty line), Giles Coren’s piece on why ‘liking’ things draws us further away from our authentic self and Richard Godwin’s shocking piece on noise pollution - which is killing 10,000 people a year. 

And of course, we *had* to mention Love Island. Dolly raises Alex’s comment about liking ‘natural’ women (what damage does the #ijustwokeuplikethis emphasis do to women?) whilst Pandora laments our cultural obsession with augmented hotness, flagging a brilliant piece on Vice about Megan Barton-Hanson. 

Links

- Glow on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80114988 

- In defense of Megan Barton-Hanson, by Emma Garland for Vice https://www.vice.com/amp/en_uk/article/vbq5dy/in-defence-of-megan-barton-hanson

- Terri White on Britain’s poverty problem (last week’s issue; not yet online)

- The goop podcast on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-goop-podcast/id1352546554?mt=2 

- She Must Be Mad, by Charley Cox https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780008291662/she-must-be-mad/

- Sonic Doom: how noise pollution is killing 10,000 people a year, by Richard Godwin for The Guardian 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jul/03/sonic-doom-noise-pollution-kills-heart-disease-diabetes

- The Urge To Like Everything Is Rotting Our Brains, by Giles Coren: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-urge-to-like-everything-is-rotting-our-brains-vdttbtmdx 

- Guys We F****d with Amanda Knox: https://soundcloud.com/guyswefucked/amandaknox 

You can e-mail us [email protected] or tweet us @thehighlowshow. 

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