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Weekend Woman’s Hour: Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny discuss their new novel, the Singer Ella Eyre & the Science of Knitting

Hillary Clinton tells us about writing a political thriller with the author Louise Penny, Ella Eyre discusses her vocal cord surgery, and why knitting and coding are so compatible.

The former presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has a new book out, β€œState of Terror”, a political thriller written with the award winning author Louise Penny. The two women were already friends before deciding to pen the novel which features a President who β€œsmells of meat” and appears to resemble Donald Trump and a British Prime Minister who’s β€œa twit” and seems to have a more than a passing resemblance to Boris Johnson.

According to a new survey on mental wellbeing in agriculture, 58% of women in farming experience anxiety compared to 44% of men. What's the reason behind it? How much impact has Brexit and the pandemic had on the problem? We discuss with Alicia Chivers, Chief Executive of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, and East Yorkshire pig farmer Kate Moore.

Campaigner Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah is raising awareness of asthma and the health problems that can be caused by air pollution. Last year her daughter, Ella, became the first person in Britain to have air pollution listed as the cause of death after an inquest. She died in 2013 aged nine. Now Rosamund is calling on Boris Johnson to β€œset an example for the whole world” with ambitious clear air goals.

Are you a keen knitter? Have you ever considered that patterns for knitting your jumpers, hats or gloves could be seen as having parallels to computer coding? Do we undervalue the scientific aspects of some female-dominated skills? Emma speaks to Shetland knitter and pattern writer Hazel Tindall - aka World's Fastest Knitter - and to Sue Montgomery, who went viral in 2019 for knitting data into a shawl.

After undergoing vocal cord surgery, MOBO and Brit award-winning singer songwriter Ella Eyre is back on her first headline tour in six years. She reveals how she's had to learn how to sing again - and how the experience has inspired a new musical direction.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed

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44 minutes

Broadcast

  • Sat 23 Oct 2021 16:15

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