Violence against women and girls, Jenny Colgan, Weight loss jabs

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today the Government sets out its strategy to deal with violence against women and girls. This makes up nearly 20% of all recorded crime in England and Wales. Over the last year alone, one in every eight women was a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking, according to Home Office figures. Educating boys on misogyny is a key aim of today’s strategy and figures show that nearly one in five boys aged 13 to 15 are said to hold a positive view of the self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate, according to a YouGov poll. Alex Davies-Jones, the minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls, joins Anita Rani to discuss the Government's strategy.

With the long, cold and dark evenings, now feels like the perfect time to curl up indoors and get lost in a book. Well, if you’re looking for something cosy to read over Christmas, look no further than Jenny Colgan. Her books have been Sunday Times & New York Times bestsellers, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide. Jenny tells Anita about her latest novel, The Secret Christmas Library, set in the snowy landscape of the Scottish Highlands.

In England almost two thirds of people are considered obese or overweight. An estimated 1.5 million people in the UK, are using weight-loss injections, or GLP1s. But what happens when you decide to stop, or have no choice but to come off them? A BBC News documentary on iPlayer, What Happens When, asks just that. To find out more Anita is joined by Dr Emma Anders who, after a short break, has decided to continue using weight loss jabs, and the GP, Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi.

Amara Okereke has been taking the musical theatre world by storm, with roles including Cosette in Les Misérables and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. She’s currently singing and dancing across the stage as American model Dale Tremont, in the Irving Berlin’s 1930s musical Top Hat at London’s Southbank Centre. She tells Anita about the role and her love of musical theatre.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Andrea Kidd

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:07.0	Hello, Greg Jenner here, host of You're Dead to Me, the comedy podcast that takes history seriously and then laughs at it.
0:13.4	This Christmas, forget about socks. We've got the best present of all.
0:17.2	Dead people!
0:18.2	All that sounds like zombies. Sorry, it's not zombies. Let me start again.
0:21.8	In our new family-friendly podcast series, dead funny history, historical figures come back to life
0:26.8	but just long enough to argue with me, tell their life stories and sometimes get on my nerves.
0:31.8	You're dead to me.
0:32.8	Dead funny history.
0:34.1	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:36.2	Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.
0:41.3	Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast.
0:47.4	Good morning and welcome to the programme, as you've just heard in the bulletin.
0:51.5	The government are announcing a major new strategy to tackle violence
0:55.1	against women and girls, which has been declared a national emergency. But what are they pledging?
1:01.3	And how will it actually protect our girls, you and your children? We'll be tucking into a
1:06.8	Christmas book, disappearing into a romantic castle in Scotland. Jenny Colgan will be telling us
1:11.9	about her latest novel, The Secret Christmas Library. 1.5 million people in the UK are on weight
1:18.7	loss jabs, but what happens when you come off them? We'll be discussing this with a doctor.
1:23.4	If this is you, we would love to hear from you. Are you injecting the drugs, trying to come off
1:27.4	them, have come off them, and are you back to square one? If you have any questions for our doctor, get them in. And of course, you can remain anonymous. And musical sensation, Amara Akerike, is currently starring in the 1930s musical Top Hat, full of classic hits such as putting on the rits, cheek to cheek let's face the music and dance she's popping in to see us this morning and as a festive treat she's going to be singing live if you'd like to get in touch with the program about anything you hear and would like to share your experiences have any questions or your stories then i encourage you to do so by texting us. It's
2:01.2	84844. You can WhatsAppers on 0300-100-444 and email the program by going to our website.
	...

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