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Woman's Hour

'Leaning Out', Sarah Ruggins, Podcast on Asma al-Assad, Obesity

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A new report from the Health and Social Care Committee says customers are being pushed towards products high in fat, sugar and salt which are typically cheaper than more nutritious food and that the government's food policy needs overhauling. The chair of the committee, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, talks to Nuala McGovern about their recommendations.

New analysis in The Economist suggests after years of progress fewer women are reaching executive positions and there may be signs that younger women are becoming less interested in promotion. Nuala McGovern speaks to the author of that analysis and a woman who left an executive role to rebalance her life.

We hear from Sarah Ruggins who recently broke the world record for cycling the length of Europe - a distance of over 6,000 kilometres – double the length of the Tour de France. She only started cycling three years ago having spent a decade recovering from a condition that saw her bedridden and immobile – Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, one of medicine’s most painful conditions. Sarah now holds three ultra-cycling records.

Known at one point as the Diana of the Middle East and the rose of the desert, Asma al-Assad, the wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, quickly became a well-known face around the world. But just how much do we know about the London-born former First Lady and the role she played in her dictator husband’s oppressive dictatorship where peaceful protests against his regime were violently repressed, eventually leading to 13 years of civil war that saw more than half a million people killed. Nuala speaks to investigative journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou about her new podcast, We Call Her Emma.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:06.0

Did you know, but now you can watch some of your favourite BBC Sounds podcasts on IPlayer.

0:12.4

Check out the mystery items for yourself in Saw Your Life Out unpacked.

0:16.7

I wasn't expecting this.

0:18.1

See trending interviews from Fame Under Fire.

0:21.1

What are we telling everybody to do?

0:22.4

Watch this.

0:23.1

And watch Wayne Rooney and his guests on the Wayne Rooney show.

0:27.0

What did he make you do, wine?

0:28.1

You can't make me do anything.

0:30.3

Your BBC Sounds favourites.

0:32.5

Available as video podcasts to watch on EyePlayer, listen on BBC Sounds.

0:38.4

Hello, this is Neula McGovern and you're listening to The Woman's Hour podcast.

0:43.1

Hello and welcome. As you've been hearing in the news bulletin, the government must stand up to the food industry to tackle obesity.

0:50.8

That is according to the Health and Social Care Committee. But what really works when it comes to changing the diet of a nation?

0:57.7

Well, we'll have the chair of the committee, Leila Moran, with us.

1:01.1

Also today, we want to talk about women and ambition.

1:04.2

There are some really interesting findings that say,

1:06.6

instead of leaning in, as the former Facebook meta-executive Cheryl Sandberg advised,

1:12.6

the most qualified cohort of women in human history are leaning out.

1:17.6

Now, there is a myriad of possible reasons of why that might be happening, which we'll explore.

1:22.4

And I'd also like to hear from you.

...

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