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Woman's Hour

Weekend Woman's Hour: Being fired, Boxer Francesca Hennessy, Women in Camps

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.22.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Former US magazine editors-in-chief Laura Brown and Kristina O'Neill were both ‘let go’ from their respective jobs. They felt blindsided, devastated and temporarily lost their identities - until, united, they learnt how to make a comeback. They joined Nuala McGovern to share their experiences as set out in their new book, All the Cool Girls Get Fired, about how they let go of the shame of ‘being fired’, a term they like to use, and how a career setback can become the best thing ever.

Suzanne Edwards is currently taking part in ground-breaking medical trials that involve her learning how to move her legs using neural implants. Suzanne has been a sportswoman for decades, both before and since a life-changing accident 14 years ago, and she explains to Anita Rani how this training has informed her approach to taking part in medical research.

Back in 1995 a call went out looking for women to take part in a landmark scientific study exploring the links between what we eat and our health. Thirty-five thousand middle-aged women signed up to be part of the UK Women’s Cohort Study. It went on to look at the impact our diet can have on our risk of developing cancer and other chronic diseases, as well as other areas of women’s health from our bones to the menopause. Professor Janet Cade from the University of Leeds joined Nuala to discuss what it was like launching the study 30 years ago and some of its key takeaways for women.

The Independent Commission on UK Counterterrorism has just published its report after three years. A long and detailed report, it estimates there are up to 70 UK-linked individuals, mostly women and children—most under 10 years old—believed to still be in camps or other detention centres in Iraq and Syria. Professor of Religion, Gender and Global Security, Katherine Brown, is one of the 14 commissioners. She explains why the women and children remaining in these camps is "unsustainable" and why an organised programme of return, rehabilitation, and integration is, they believe, the best long-term option for managing the risk to public safety. They are joined by Frank Gardner, the BBC's Security Correspondent.

Francesca Hennessy is the 21-year-old shaking up women’s boxing. Nicknamed the 'Billion Dollar Baby', she’s unbeaten in her first six professional fights and will be fighting on the bill when boxing returns to BBC primetime TV, free-to-air on a Saturday night for the first time in 20 years later this month. She’ll face former world champion Fabiana Bytyqi, marking the biggest test of her career.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Dianne McGregor

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:07.0

Hello, I'm Emma Barnett. For most of my career, I've been on live radio, and I love it.

0:13.3

But I've always wondered, what if we'd had more time? How much deeper does the story go?

0:19.2

I remember having this very sharp thought that what you do right now, this is it.

0:24.3

This defines your life.

0:26.0

I'm ready to talk and ready to listen.

0:28.3

I'm insulted by how little the medical community is ever bothered with this.

0:33.9

Ready to talk with me, Emma Barnard, is my new podcast.

0:37.0

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:38.8

Hello and welcome to the programme coming up highlights from the Woman's Hour week. We hear from

0:44.3

two former fashion magazine editors who turned being fired into an opportunity. They share advice

0:50.4

on coping with what can feel like a devastating setback.

1:00.7

Suzanne Edwards tells us about the life-changing accident she experienced at 22 and how she's now part of cutting-edge medical trials aimed at helping people with complete paralysis move

1:06.5

again.

1:07.6

Francesca Hennessy, at only 21, dubbed the billion-dollar baby, joins us to talk about being at the top of her game in boxing.

1:16.6

And 30 years ago, 35,000 women signed up to one of the UK's largest studies into diet and health.

1:24.4

We speak to the professor who first launched it about what's been uncovered.

1:28.9

But first, Shamima Begham, the woman who joined Islamic State Group as a schoolgirl, is the most

1:33.8

high-profile detainee at the Al-Rodge refugee camp in northeastern Syria. She's now 26, but far from

1:40.6

the only individual connected to the UK living in a similar camp or detention centre in Syria or Iraq.

1:47.7

In fact, there are approximately 70, 10 men, 15 to 20 women and 30 to 40 children.

1:54.9

In the past week, the Independent Commission on UK Counterterrorism has published a report setting out recommendations

...

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