Jessie Ware, School readiness, Katriona O'Sullivan, Autism support
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today is primary school offer day in England and Wales, when parents will be finding out where their children might be starting school in September. A new government-backed campaign has been launched to help parents and carers as figures show that over a third of children are currently starting reception without the basic skills they need for the classroom. Datshiane Navanayagam is joined by BBC Education reporter Kate McGough and Felicity Gillespie from children’s charity Kindred Squared, to talk about what parents and carers need to know.
The singer-songwriter Jessie Ware's new album, Superbloom, was released this week. As well as being known for her music, Jessie's family’s passion for food led to the weekly podcast Table Manners, that she co-hosts with her mother Lennie, featuring celebrity guests like Ed Sheeran and Kylie. Jessie joins Datshiane to talk about her new album inspired by disco and funk and how she became more confident in her 40s.
Autism Central is an online support service for the parents and carers of autistic people. Set up by NHS England in 2021, it has now been expanded to offer help for everyone in the support network of autistic people, including grandparents, partners, friends, and adult siblings. It’s paid for by NHS England and run by the mental health charity Anna Freud. With growing numbers being diagnosed with autism - and waiting for a diagnosis - what can this type of online help offer? Datshiane is joined by Victoria Jackson who has been using the service, and Dr Georgia Pavlopoulou, Director of Autism Central at Anna Freud.
Katriona O’Sullivan’s childhood was marked by extreme poverty, neglect, addiction and abuse. She became pregnant at 15 and experienced homelessness, but went on to become an award‑winning academic and bestselling author, with her memoir Poor adapted for the stage. Katriona's new book, Hungry, explores her lifelong struggles with her body and the unrelenting drive to feel, “enough”. Katriona talks to Datshiane about how trauma, class and gender shape how women see themselves.
Presenter: Datshiane Navanayagam Producer: Rebecca Myatt
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.4 | I'm Dilley Carter and I love organising. |
| 0:11.6 | In my brand new podcast, sort your life out, unpacked, celebrity guests join me to unbox three revealing items from their home. |
| 0:18.7 | Oh, wow. I wasn't expecting this. |
| 0:21.6 | Along the way, I'll be giving you practical hacks to help you declutter your life as well. |
| 0:26.2 | This is the tough love I need. |
| 0:27.4 | Don't hold back. |
| 0:28.5 | I'm definitely tucking you with me back to my house. |
| 0:31.6 | Sort your life out, unpacked. |
| 0:33.5 | Watch on eye player, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.1 | Hello, I'm Dashiani Navanayagam and welcome to Women's Hour from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:41.2 | Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast. |
| 0:47.6 | Good morning and welcome to the programme. |
| 0:50.6 | Joining us today is singer-songwriter Jessie Ware, fresh from her beautiful performance of the way we were at the BAFTAs recently. |
| 0:58.5 | She's here to talk to us about her new album. |
| 1:02.7 | Now, it's hard to imagine the level of abuse, neglect and poverty one little girl went through growing up in the 1980s. |
| 1:10.3 | That little girl is now the award-winning |
| 1:12.4 | lecturer and best-selling author Dr Katrina O'Sullivan. Her new book, Hungry, explores the |
| 1:18.2 | complicated relationship she has always had with her body and with hunger, physically, |
| 1:24.3 | emotionally and metaphorically, particularly her hunger for success. |
| 1:29.3 | So this morning, I want to ask you whether you too have struggled with a continual hunger |
| 1:35.3 | for some form of accomplishment and achievement. |
... |
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