Breast screening, MET police vetting, Female punk bands
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A chemotherapy nurse is so concerned about the rates of breast cancer she has seen in women under 50 that she's started a parliamentary petition to get the age of mammograms reduced to 40 and for them to be annual. Currently women get their first screening between the ages of 50 and 53 and then get screened every 3 years. Anita Rani talks to nurse Gemma Reeves and to Dr Sacha Howell from the Christie Hospital in Manchester about how the breast screening programme could be improved.
Two serial rapists were among 131 officers and staff in the Metropolitan Police who committed crimes or misconduct after they were not properly vetted, a review by the Met has found. David Carrick, one of the UK's worst sex offenders, and Cliff Mitchell, who carried out a "campaign of rape" on two victims, were among the police officers who weren't properly checked. Zoe Billingham, former HM Inspector of Constabulary, gives us her reaction.
The city of Leicester has seen a wave of all-female punk rock bands in the past five years, so how is it reshaping the local music scene? Around 27 all-female bands have grown from a movement founded by Ruth Miller. Called the Unglamorous Music Project, it’s enabled women to learn instruments and form bands together. Ruth died from breast cancer in 2023, but her aim to get more older women into the music industry and onto the stage has materialised. Janet Berry and Alison Dunne are two of the women involved. We hear their music and talk to them about their inspiration.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham are working with the Gordon Moody gambling harms charity to establish whether there is a link between hormonal fluctuations in women - caused by periods, ovulation, menopause and childbirth - and gambling addiction. Some women are reporting that the urge to gamble when they ovulate is very strong with one saying she was betting online for more than 24 hours until she ran out of money. The four-year study will try to establish why and determine what kind of support can help. Dr Rosalind Baker-Frampton tells us more.
Writer Alice Bell is a video games journalist and Editor of the Guinness World Records gaming edition. Her new novel, The Grapples of Wrath is Alice’s latest instalment in her ‘cosy crime’ series. Called ‘Grave Expectations’, it features medium turned private investigator, Claire Hendricks. She embarks on her first official case, set in the world of pro-wrestling, with the help of her ghost best friend, Sophie. But can she work out what’s real and what’s fake?
Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Melanie Abbott
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:12.7 | But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, |
| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommashranganathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, |
| 0:27.9 | it's really all about the traitors uncloked. So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and |
| 0:32.6 | podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:40.3 | Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast. |
| 0:46.8 | Good morning and welcome to the programme. |
| 0:49.5 | At the moment, women in the UK are invited for their first mammogram between 50 and 53, and after that, it's every three years. |
| 0:57.4 | I'm sure most of you knew that. |
| 0:58.6 | However, one chemotherapy nurse is so concerned about the number of younger women being diagnosed with breast cancer |
| 1:04.8 | that she's taken it upon herself to launch a parliamentary petition to bring routine mammograms down from 50 to 40 years old. |
| 1:13.5 | Like everything we talk about in the programme, your thoughts are encouraged. |
| 1:16.7 | And if you are over 50, do you go for your regular mammogram? |
| 1:19.9 | We know that not everybody does. |
| 1:21.4 | Let me know why if you don't. |
| 1:24.1 | Also, can hormonal changes during your menstrual cycle make you more likely to gamble? |
| 1:29.6 | We'll be looking at a fascinating study into women with gambling addictions. |
| 1:34.3 | Author Alice Bell will be telling us about her latest book in her cosy crime series, |
| 1:38.9 | Grave Expectations. |
| 1:40.4 | There's murder, there's a ghost, and there's wrestling. |
... |
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