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Woman's Hour

Ashley James, Nancy Guthrie disappearance, Kinship carers

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A story gripping headlines across the United States is the disappearance of 84‑year‑old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC News Today anchor Savannah Guthrie. Nancy was abducted from her home in the Catalina Foothills near Tucson, Arizona, in the USA more than a week ago, triggering a massive search and emotional appeals from her family. Clare McDonnell speaks to Claire Moses, a reporter from The New York Times, who has been following the story.

Broadcaster, model and activist Ashley James says she’s always been underestimated and often written off as a “bimbo”. But now she’s reclaiming the word as the title of her new book, which explores many of the judgmental labels used to describe women and their life choices. From 'bossy' to 'mumsy' to 'silly girl', Ashley joins Clare to unpack the impact such words can have on women and girls and why she hopes opening up about her own experiences will inspire others to stop shrinking and shake them off.

More than 141,000 children are in kinship care in England and Wales. According to new research from the charity Kinship, 40% of kinship carers are forced to claim benefits or increase their benefits when they step in to take on the care of a child from a family member. To explain why some kinship carers want the same parental rights as others in a parental role, like an adoptive parent, Clare is joined by the CEO of Kinship, Lucy Peake and carer Nash, who took on the permanent care of her sister’s children after her sister died.

A few years ago, Saaniya Abbas was working as an art director in an advertising agency in Dubai. Today, she is a rising star of comedy, after finding stand-up comedy helped her deal with the end of her marriage. Her tour, Hellarious, has just hit London and she speaks to Clare about writing material based on her life so far.

Presenter: Clare McDonnell Producer: Rebecca Myatt

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts.

0:05.6

Oh, hello. You have chosen a BBC podcast, but before you listen to it, we thought you might like our podcast too.

0:12.1

You might. You might. It is called Sightraught with me, Nick Grimshaw.

0:15.2

And me, Annie Mack. And we talk about the week in music.

0:18.2

All the news, all the cultural happenings in the UK and beyond.

0:22.2

And great guests. And it's on BBC Sounds. Yes, where you can also enjoy lots of

0:27.1

playlists, music mixes and live radio. Everything from my six music breakfast show to Radio

0:33.2

3 Unwind. But obviously start with our podcast, sidetrack. Obviously. Obviously.

0:40.1

So if you like music, listen on BBC Sans.

0:44.4

Hello, this is Claire MacDonald, and you're listening to the Woman's Hour podcast.

0:46.8

Hello, and welcome to Woman's Hour.

0:55.3

It is a mystery that has gripped America, the abduction in the middle of the night of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, missing for 11 days now.

1:01.1

It's been reported that she was taken by a masked intruder, and no word has been heard from her since.

1:03.9

Her daughter is a household name in the US.

1:06.0

Today's show hosts Savannah Guthrie.

1:10.7

But so far, her regular public appeals to the kidnappers have yielded nothing. We'll hear from a US

1:11.9

journalist who has been following the case closely. We're also talking about labels on the

1:16.9

program today, specifically those used to describe women in a pejorative way. Bossy, tarty,

1:23.4

mumsy, silly girl, and worse, of course, My guest, the broadcaster Ashley James, has heard most of

1:30.0

them, and she's reclaiming one of them, Bimbo, as the title of her new book. And I want to hear from you

1:36.8

today about some of the labels that you've had to endure. What impact did they have on you? Did they make

1:43.9

you shrink yourself down? Or did you

...

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