Naomi Alderman is an award-winning novelist, broadcaster, TV producer and videogames creator. Her latest novel The Strangers blends memoir and speculative fiction to explore grief, identity and our search for meaning when our lives are uprooted by events out of our control. Naomi joins Anita to discuss why stories can sometimes help us navigate loss more powerfully than facts, and whether the mysteries we cannot explain reveal something essential about what it means to be human.
A Scottish nurse has told an employment tribunal she did not believe her union representative took her objections to sharing female changing rooms with a transgender colleague as seriously as she did. It's the second employment tribunal Sandie Peggie has brought over the dispute with Dr Beth Upton – a transgender woman who was born biologically male. And whilst employment tribunals seldom make headlines, this one is about gender-critical beliefs in the country that has been at the forefront of testing these beliefs in policy and law. Anita speaks to Lorna Gordon who is covering this story for BBC Scotland.
Morcheeba emerged in the mid 1990s alongside groups like Massive Attack and Portishead, and became pioneers of the British trip-hop scene with hits including Rome Wasn't Built in a Day, The Sea, and Trigger Hippie. They are currently on an international tour, and upcoming dates include the Troxy as part of EFG London Jazz Festival on 13 November. Anita talks to singer Skye Edwards about her life and career, and she performs live with bandmate Ross Godfrey, from their album Escape The Chaos.
Why are women waiting months, and sometimes more than a year, for a procedure that can take just minutes? The College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare says access to hormonal coils has become a postcode lottery, with women seeking treatment for heavy periods, endometriosis and perimenopause facing long delays. It launches a campaign today called Why are Women Waiting? Nuala hears from Hattie Simpson, who waited nearly seven months for treatment, and Dr Zara Haider, President of the College.