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Woman's Hour

SEND, Race Across the World, Toxic masculinity

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.22.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Government has announced a £3 billion investment to create around 50,000 new specialised places for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. The aim is to speed up support for families and improve provision in both mainstream schools and bespoke facilities. To discuss what that means in practice, Anita Rani is joined by the BBC's Education Correspondent Vanessa Clarke and Sharon Smith, co-director of Special Needs Jungle, a parent-led UK website and resource hub providing news, information, and advocacy for families with children with special educational needs.

One of the unexpected stars of this year's Celebrity Race Across The World has been Anita's Dad, Bal, with many people commenting on their touching father/ daughter relationship. Since reaching the finish line, he's now discovered his wanderlust and Anita catches up with him on a Christmas cruise to look back at their time travelling together.

The Government’s long-delayed strategy to tackle violence against women and girls is set to be unveiled next week. According to the Movember Foundation, two-thirds of young men regularly engage with masculinity influencers online. A new campaign, Same Side, launched today by UN Women UK, is aiming to counter that with the help of some leading sports stars. One is the former Manchester City and QPR defender Nedum Onuoha. He joins Anita along with Tabitha Morton, Executive Director of UN Women UK.

Have you already overindulged at a few parties? Could you imagine getting though the festive season without booze? Well Laura Antonia Jordan hasn't had a drink, or even a mildly tipsy Christmas, for 10 years now. A journalist, she's written about navigating the festive season completely sober after years of living by, as she calls it 'the doctrine of hedonism'. She tells Anita why the cultural pressure can be tough, but dry December does not have to be boring.

Boudoir photography, stripping down into lingerie and posing for a photographer may sound like something from the world of supermodels and glossy magazines, but there are lots of women from all walks of life who are choosing to pay for professional intimate photos, as gifts for partners, or just to feel good about themselves. Joining Anita to discuss this increasingly popular world are boudoir photographer Laura Slater and Joley Gordon, who booked herself a session two years ago and has never looked back.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Andrea Kidd

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

0:07.0

My Christmas Mix is pure 90s festive nostalgia.

0:11.1

You know, the Christmas songs you listen to on repeat.

0:14.0

Ho!

0:14.3

Ho! Ho! No, no, no.

0:17.5

I'm all about the big hitting Christmas anthems.

0:20.4

Come on, guys. What about those tunes that really slay?

0:23.7

It's Christmas kitchen disco season, surely.

0:26.4

Give me hip-hip-christ bangers every day.

0:28.6

Those Christmas tracks that are straight out of Lapland.

0:30.9

Get all kinds of Christmassy.

0:32.6

Just search Christmas music on BBC Sounds.

0:35.8

Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.

0:40.9

Good morning and welcome to the programme. As you've just heard in the bulletin, there's a major update announced by the Department of Education regarding send, the special educational needs and disability system for children and young people in England.

0:54.1

It's a topic. We've followed very closely on the programme and we'll be discussing what this

0:59.2

latest announcement means. It's party season and the booze will be flowing should you want it.

1:05.3

What's your relationship with alcohol and do you feel the pressure to drink? How do you

1:09.5

navigate the festive season sober? Keep listening.

1:13.1

Can't think of what to gift your partner for Christmas. How about a softly lit photo of yourself

1:19.2

in lingerie? I don't know why I had to say it in that accent, but anyway, there you go. Boudoir

1:25.1

photography is on the rise and women are doing it for many

1:28.4

reasons, not just for partners. And how do you combat the rise of online misogyny targeted

...

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