Joan Collins, Prof Sharon Peacock, Jacquie White & Mary Bousted, Kayley Inuksuk Mackay & Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik, Usma Saeed

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2021

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We talk to Dame Joan Collins about her new BBC documentary “This is Joan Collins” which is on air over Christmas. Not shy of voicing her opinions, she reflects on her life, relationships, and seven decades in showbiz. She’s also had a hugely successful literary career but the role which brought her most worldwide fame was playing Alexis in the TV series Dynasty – at the height of its success it was watched by 150 million people a week. Public health expert Professor Sharon Peacock who founded COG UK, the Covid-19 Genomics UK consortium, tells us about their work tracking mutations and variants of concern. They have been hugely successful in this, and were responsible for identifying the Alpha variant last December. Sharon joins us to discuss genome sequencing, the threat posed by Omicron and how she went from dental nurse to microbiologist. As schools shut for the Christmas break, the government head teachers and trade unions are contingency planning for widespread absence due to Omicron in the New Year. We talk to Jacquie White the General Secretary of the Ulster Teachers Union about calls for retired teachers to return to work to plug the gaps. Music from Inuit throat singers Kayley Inuksuk Mackay and Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik. And foster parent Usma Saeed tells us how she tries to make every Christmas magical for the children she looks after. Being Muslim she doesn’t normally celebrate the festival herself but now she’s got the tree, the stockings and Santa’s mince pies at the ready. Presenter: Chloe Tilley Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Studio Manager: John Boland.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Chloe Tilly. Welcome to Woman's Air from BBC Radio 4. Hello, welcome to the
0:11.1	programme Good to Have Your Company. Now we have some Hollywood star dust on the programme
0:15.8	today as Dame Joan Collins joins us to speak about her new 90 minute documentary on the
0:21.1	BBC. We're going to be talking career, love and cancel culture all with her in the next
0:26.0	few minutes. Now we talked a lot on Woman's Air in recent months about a government consultation
0:31.0	looking into gender health inequality. More than 100,000 people shared their experiences
0:36.8	and now a women's health ambassador is going to be appointed. Now many of you told us and indeed
0:42.1	the consultation that you feel you aren't listened to by health professionals. So what difference will
0:47.4	it make to women's experiences in the NHS? We're going to speak to the Minister for Women's Health.
0:52.9	Also, I want to hear from you this morning if you are a retired teacher. We know the government has
0:58.0	put out a call to former teachers to return to the classroom to help ease the burden of absences
1:03.5	due to COVID. But supply agencies say delays in DBS checks mean many won't be ready to return
1:09.6	at the start of the new term. What I want to know from you is would you be prepared to come out
1:14.5	of retirement to go back into the classroom or do you worry about exposing yourself, exposing
1:19.5	your family to risk? Let me read you this. Leslie Pearsie taught in secondary schools in Yorkshire
1:25.5	and the northeast of England for more than 30 years. She retired in 2018 and she told the BBC
1:30.7	she certainly would not go back. It's far too dangerous in schools at present and I'm not prepared
1:36.1	to risk my health of bringing COVID home to me or my husband. It's really offensive to expect
1:41.6	retired and hence older and potentially more vulnerable people to return to teach in schools.
1:47.5	So would you? Are you returning to the classroom to help try and keep children in school?
1:52.6	You can text women's out on 84844. Text will be charged at your standard message rate.
1:57.5	On social media it's at BBC Women's Hour where you can email us of course through our website.
	...

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