Weekend Woman’s Hour: Kinship carers, Ashley James, Mia Brookes’s mum, impact of Ian Paterson's crimes, Charles Dickens’s women
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2026
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
More than 141,000 children are in kinship care in England and Wales. According to new research from the charity Kinship, 40% of kinship carers are forced to claim benefits or increase their benefits when they step in to take on the care of a child from a family member. To explain why some kinship carers want the same parental rights as others in a parental role, like an adoptive parent, Clare McDonnell is joined by the CEO of Kinship, Lucy Peake and carer Nash, who took on the permanent care of her sister’s children after her sister died.
Broadcaster, model and activist Ashley James says she’s always been underestimated and often written off as a ‘bimbo’. But now she’s reclaiming the word as the title of her new book, which explores many of the judgmental labels used to describe women and their life choices. From 'bossy' to 'mumsy' to 'silly girl', Ashley joined Clare to unpack the impact such words can have on women and girls and why she hopes opening up about her own experiences will inspire others to stop shrinking and shake them off.
Team GB snowboarder Mia Brookes gave an amazing performance coming fourth in the women's snowboard big air final at the Winter Olympics in Italy. The 19-year-old had been hoping to become Great Britain's first gold medallist on snow. She went for a backside 1620 trick - featuring four-and-a-half rotations - and landed before she over-rotated and her heel edge caught in the snow. Mia's mum, Vicky Brookes, joined presenter Nuala McGovern on the line from her campervan in Livigno close to the Olympic venue.
Deborah Douglas has written a memoir about her experience as a victim turned campaigner in one of the biggest scandals in British medical history. Her story sits at the centre of the case of disgraced breast surgeon Ian Paterson, jailed in 2017 for performing harmful and unnecessary operations on women who believed they were being treated for cancer. An inquiry in 2020 found both NHS and private hospitals missed repeated chances to stop him. Deborah joined Clare to discuss The Cost of Trust.
A new exhibition at the Charles Dickens museum celebrates the women who influenced the great Victorian novelist's female characters, social commentary and campaigning to improve the lives of vulnerable women. But how does this sit alongside the other, darker narrative, that Dickens himself was a misogynist who mistreated his own wife? To sort the fact from the fiction, the exhibition curator Kirsty Parsons & the historian Professor Jenny Hartley joined Nuala to discuss.
Presenter: Clare McDonnell Producer: Annette Wells
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | In 2019, we began investigating the disappearance of Dr. Ruzha Ignatva. |
| 0:14.0 | I believe we are a very special network. |
| 0:16.0 | A scammer who stole billions from investors around the world. |
| 0:21.4 | She's on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. |
| 0:24.5 | And now we have some unmissable updates. |
| 0:27.8 | She has money and when you have money, you have power. |
| 0:30.6 | Join me, Jamie Bartlett, as the hunt for the missing crypto queen continues. |
| 0:35.5 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:40.2 | Hello, this is Claire MacDonald and you're listening to The Woman's Hour podcast. Hello and welcome to the program. Today, broadcaster Ashley James, |
| 0:47.2 | who's reclaiming the term bimbo and other labels that are used to describe women in a pejorative way |
| 0:53.1 | in her new book. |
| 0:55.0 | Kinship carers, that's where a family member steps in to raise a child when their parents |
| 0:59.9 | are unable to. We'll also talk about the female characters in the novels of Charles Dickens |
| 1:05.5 | and what they tell us about his relationships with the real women in his life. And Vicky Brooks, mum of Team G.B. Snowboarder |
| 1:13.5 | Mia Brooks, who narrowly missed out on a medal at the Winter Olympics this week by risking it all |
| 1:19.2 | with a trick shot she'd never attempted on the snow before. But first, more than 141,000 children |
| 1:27.0 | are in kinship care in England and Wales. |
| 1:30.6 | They are the children who are looked after by a family member when their parent is no longer able to take care of them. |
| 1:37.0 | New research from the charity kinship shows that 40% of those carers are finding themselves needing to claim benefits or increase their |
| 1:46.0 | benefits to cover the costs of raising that child. Well, Kinship has launched a campaign |
| 1:51.2 | asking for those carers to have the same parental leave rights as other working parents, |
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