Welcome to Women's Parliamentary Radio

Could you cook a lunch for just 33p? Eating for £1 a day to relieve world poverty.

Baroness Anne Jenkin of Kennington, has a reputation for her work fundraising for charities. It is not surprising then that within weeks of putting on her "Red Robes and Ermine" she could be found in a small kitchen along a corridor several flights of stairs up in the Lords cooking a lunch for her fellow Peers and supporters that cost just 33p.

Baroness Jenkin, was taking up the challenge put down by the "Below the Line" charities fighting poverty around the World: RESULTS UK, Christian Aid, Think Global, Restless Development, and Salvation Army (International Development), to live off just £1 a day for food and drink. 1.4 billion people have no choice but to live their lives below the poverty line.

Anne's "good housekeeping" 33p a day "soup kitchen" in the Lords managed to provide not just a filling soup, but pita bread, cheese and tomatoes to her "hungry" colleagues too. Recipes on www.livebelowtheline.org.uk

Baroness Jenkin was joined by Baroness Trish Morris, Baroness Judith Jolly, helper Dorothy Tyson, and four younger supporters Guy Kirkpatrick, Matti Navellou, Ashli Alberty, and Kathryn Llewellyn. Our intrepid ww.wpradio.co.uk reporter Linda Fairbrother went to join them and taste the soup but first she began to smell it as she found her way to that kitchen.

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Duration 27 minutes
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The Million Women Rise coalition report on violence in the Congo.

The Million Women Rise coalition went to Westminster recently to present their findings of their recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. There will be Presidential elections in the Congo at the end of this year, and their report on their trip "Congo:..The road to Mwenga", which has five tough recommendations, will be presented to Parliament soon by the Chair of that meeting, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Vice Chair of the All Party Human Rights Group (APPG).

The trip was part of the Third International Action of the World March of Women that involved women from 48 countries. The Million Women Rise coalition report and film of the trip aims to address the realities of sexual and gender-based violence for Congolese women as well as strategies for ensuring that those who commit them are brought to justice. Our Executive Producer, Boni Sones spoke to the speakers and audience.

Fact file: "The UK government effectively monitors and evaluates the impact of UK tax payers' contribution of 1 million dollars a day spent in the DR Congo. But it "does not reach women who have been raped or improve prospects for the future".

To sign a petition on the Congo, to be sent to Equalities Minister and International Violence Against Women champion, Lynne Featherstone MP – see http://www.congonow.org/

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Duration 16 minutes
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Zarghuna Kargar: "Dear Zari - Hidden Stories from Women of Afghanistan"

Afghan Women’s Hour journalist Zarghuna Kargar has just published her new book “Dear Zari”. Based on 13 real life stories of women in Afghanistan today, including her own, she tells how these heart-breaking and empowering stories are transforming women’s lives, simply through their “telling”.

Zarghuna was part of the first team of journalists to report for Afghan Women’s Hour which in two years became the second most popular programme on the Radio. The telling of stories and the sharing of experiences through radio has transformed the lives of many women and their families. Zarghuna tells our Executive Producer, Boni Sones OBE, how every time she wrote or read lines in the book tears came to her eyes:

“I hope my book is read with care because there are so many hurt feelings involved in these emotions, hurt feelings of me and women in the book.” Boni spoke to Zarghuna at the Cambridge Wordfest event as they sat by the river bank.

Published by Chatto & Windus in early May 2011. Amazon: Hardback £11.29 or £8.31 Paperback, www.amazon.co.uk/

 

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Duration 17 minutes
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Jo's marathon for leukaemia research Target: £2,620.00 Raised so far: £2,770.40 If you would like to sponsor Jo go to: www.justgiving.com/jo-swinson

Jo Swinson the Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire, a PPS to Vince Cable, and co-founder of the Campaign For Body Confidence is about to compete in the Virgin London Marathon 2011 on April 17th.

Jo is only the second women MP ever to run the London Marathon following in the footsteps of her colleague Patsy Calton, a former LD MP for Cheadle, who ran it four times, but subsequently died of cancer in 2005.

At her height Jo has trained for between 35 to 40 miles a week, and fitted in five work outs during the week. She eats plenty of complex “carbs” but also confides that while she is running long distances she snacks on sports drinks and jelly babies too.

Jo who completed the Loch Ness Marathon in 2007, says running is a good way to “respect” your body and give you confidence. Our Executive Producer Boni Sones OBE caught up with Jo as she was climbing the stairs to her third floor office in Westminster:

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Duration 17 minutes
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Ann McKechin MP for Glasgow North and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland

Ann McKechin has been an MP since June 2001 and the MP for the newly configured constituency of Glasgow North since 2005. She was Scottish Office Minister in the last Labour government and is now the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. Ann previously served on the Scottish Affairs Committee and then as a member of the International Development Committee and was Chair of the All Party Group on Debt, Aid and Trade and Chair of the backbench group of Scottish Labour MPs.

Our intrepid www.wpradio.co.uk reporter Linda Fairbrother spoke to her about how she managed to work as a Westminster MP, with the Holyrood MP, the Regional representatives and the Euro MP. How does "devolved" government work for the people who vote for her?

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Duration 17 minutes
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wpradio.co.uk listeners

wpradio.co.uk web stats for the previous 6 months show we are consistently getting over 2500 visits per month. Downloads have ranged between 25GB and 36GB per month.

Our March Top 10 downloads

And what a "swell" party it was – Speaker's House and International Women's Day

On 2nd April 1911 a lone suffragette, Emily Wilding Davison hid herself in the broom cupboard in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, in the crypt of St Stephen's Hall, Westminster, on the night of the census so that she could give her address as the House of Commons.

100 years later there was no need to hide. The Speaker John Bercow opened the doors of his State Rooms to the women MPs from all parties with their friends and special guests from campaigning organisations to mark the Centenary of International Women’s Day.

Emily who died after pinning a sash to the King's horse at the Epsom races would have been wide-eyed at being allowed into the State Rooms, Speaker’s House, House of Commons. The 16th March party was organised by three women MPs Mary Macleod MP, Kate Green MP and Jo Swinson MP from Conservative, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

If walls could have ears? No need - Women's Parliamentary Radio journalists Linda Fairbrother and Boni Sones captured this sound portrait for you in this special three part documentary “A Message to Emily?

In Part One Boni spoke to:

Caroline Adams from the women's Parliamentary Labour Party and organiser, Barbara Gorna and Joan Lane film producer. Vicky Booth, Diversity Officer for the Liberal Democrats, Fiona Mactaggart MP and Lydia Simmons. Barbara Keeley MP, Fawcett acting CEO Anna Bird, Sharon Hodgson MP, Sue Tibballs of the Women's Sports Foundation. Joan Ruddock MP and Councillor Joan Millbank. Maria Eagle MP and Yvette Cooper MP

Part 1:

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Duration 18 minutes
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In Part Two Boni spoke to:

Baroness Elspeth Howe, Baroness Hussein-Ece. Cherie Blair and Sarina Russo. Lorley Burt MP and Helen Berresford, Kealey Hastick from Platform 51. Helen Grant MP and Martha Kearney BBC journalist. Harriet Harman MP, The speaker John Bercow MP and last but not least the most senior woman in the Cabinet, the Home Secretary and Minister for Women Theresa May MP.

Part 2:

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Duration 21 minutes
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In Part Three Linda spoke to:

Nan Sloane from the Centre for Women and Democracy, Margaret Beckett MP, Baroness Ramsay, Kate Green MP, Lesley Abdela from Shevolution. John Bercow MP, Caroline Spelman MP,and Lee Chalmers of the Downing Street Project, Liberal Democrat supporter Dinti Batstone, Jo Swinson MP.

Part 3:

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Duration 31 minutes
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Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone MP - "one tough woman"!

The Equalities Minister, Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green is a formidable campaigner with a reputation for being “one tough woman”! So far she’s managed to get to the top of those red boxes initiatives to stop homophobic bullying in sport, to regulate without legislation “air brushed images” of women in the media and she's progressed gay marriage rights. On the controversial issues such as “trafficking of women” she tells her critics “look at what we are doing don’t just chant “are you in or are you out”!

Lynne says the Government will not back track on funding the new Agency for UN Women, it has, she says “100 per cent commitment” from her Government. She has had no sleepless nights even on issues such as voting for the tuition fees increase. “If you don’t ask you don’t get”, she says. Lynne has received “nothing but backing" from both Theresa May MP, the Home Secretary and Women’s Minister and the Prime Minister, David Cameron. Theresa and Lynne may look like "the odd couple", but they do "sit down and talk out", their differences! "We just find a way through,” she says. In this special interview Our Executive Producer, Boni Sones OBE, spoke to Lynne.

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Duration 18 minutes
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Luciana Berger MP meets wpradio.co.uk reporter Linda Fairbrother in our “New Faces” series

Luciana Berger, the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree, is the Shadow Minister for Climate Change. As a “new face” in Westminster she has achieved a fast rise to the higher echelons of party politics, being the youngest member of Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet and she has already asked three questions at Prime Minister’s Question Time. She attributes her success to “luck” and says being “in the Chamber” is very different from how it looks and sounds on TV. The challenge with PMQs, she says, is that everybody is in the Chamber! You need to take a pause before you start, it’s a fast pace, you need to speak loudly and quickly to be heard, your question needs to be “pithy” too. Luciana says it's “a fine art”! She likes the “traditions” of Parliament and the pomp and ceremony of the Speaker’s entry into the Chamber, so parliamentary reform is not top of her agenda, but like others she does want to change the hours on a Tuesday so sittings start and finish earlier. Linda Fairbrother spoke to her.

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Duration 12 minutes
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“Face to Face Encounters”: Times sketch writer Ann Treneman talks to Natascha Engel MP who is Chair of the new Backbench Business Committee

So what are those “usual channels” that govern the House of Commons? Ann Treneman, sketch writer of the Times, talks to Natascha Engel MP who chairs the new Backbench Business Committee which was set up on the 15th June 2010.

This is the first Business Committee of any kind to be established by the House. Ann Treneman, who watches and reports on the debates in the Chamber from the lofty heights of the “Lobby”, is more qualified than most to comment on whether or not it is helping to modernise the Commons and transfer power to the ordinary backbench MPs. Strangely in her "Face to Face Encounters" series Ann agrees that these debates are:"less yarboo and me you"!

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Duration 15 minutes
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International Women's Day 2011 - two women MPs campaigning with women MPs across-party for women's rights!

Rachel Reeves MP - "Hands off our pensions!"

Rachel Reeves MP, the Shadow Minister for Pensions for the Labour Party, is calling on the coalition Conservative Liberal Democrat government to reverse the changes it has announced to delay the pension age for women by two years, in some cases.

The MP for Leeds West, tells Women's Parliamentary Radio, www.wpradio.co.uk that it's about time the Women's Minister, Theresa May MP and the Equalities Minister, Lynne Featherstone MP, stood up for women and called on the Government to announce a “U” turn on this issue as it has done recently on selling off forest lands. She talked to Boni Sones, our Executive Producer.

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Duration 15 minutes
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Fiona Mactaggart MP - why women here and in the Congo need a “Women and Equalities Audit Committee”!

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Duration 22 minutes
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A film of the life of "Emily" - Emily Wilding Davison:

Film Producer Joan Lane of WildThyme Productions Ltd www.wildthymeproductions.com and script writer and producer Barbara Gorna are making a film of the life of the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison, who became a martyr to the cause of women's votes when she was fatally injured in the 1913 Epsom Derby. She ran onto the track in support of the women's right to vote campaign and was knocked over by the King's horse but as this film reveals for the first time "Emily" did not commit suicide, her death was an accident.

The scarf "Emily" wore when she was knocked down is on loan to the House of Commons from Barbara and forms part of a small display near Central Lobby Westminster called "Parliament and Votes for Women". "Emily" also hid herself in a broom cupboard in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, in the crypt of St Stephen's Hall, on the night of the census on 2nd April 1911. It will be 100 years on 27th March 2011, the date of the next census, since she did this.

Joan kick started the script for the King's Speech and like that film script "Emily" resonated with Joan, whose father's family come from Morpeth, where "Emily" is now buried. Our Executive Producer, Boni Sones OBE, spoke to Joan and Barbara as they stood under the "Emily" scarf and progressed to Central Lobby.

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Duration 15 minutes
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How to juggle work-life balance: Does a "vocation" stop you taking a much needed break?

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Duration 22 minutes
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www.wpradio.co.uk VSO UN "Godmothers" documentary presented from Central Lobby, Westminster

1,500 women are dying a day in childbirth. Forced marriages, rape, violence, poverty, equal pay: Michelle Bachelet’s new UN Agency for Women has some vocal supporters in the UK who want to ensure it gets the funding it needs to make a difference. To make sure that happens, VSO has just launched the 'Godmothers' campaign www.thegodmothers.org.uk which calls on DFID to become a leading donor to UN Women by making a financial contribution of around 21 million dollars.

In this special Two Part 50 minute UN "Godmothers" documentary our Executive Producer Boni Sones OBE, caught up with Sharon Hodgson MP, campaigners themselves, and Anas Sarwar MP, as activists met their MPs in Central Lobby, Westminster.
 

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Duration 26 minutes
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Duration 21 minutes
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Infant Early Attachment and The Big Society

Andrea Leadsom MP talks to Linda Fairbrother

One in ten mums suffer from post-natal depression. Now Andrea Leadsom the Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire is taking an issue close to her heart to launch a Northampton charitable venture, with patrons, donors and volunteers to provide perinatal mental health care for mothers and their babies. Andrea had a 25 year career in banking and finance, and was a Trustee and Chairman of the children’s charity OXPIP (the Oxford Parent-Infant Project), which offers intensive therapeutic help to parents and their babies in the first two years of life.

Andrea, who suffered from post-natal depression herself, believes that many of the problems our society faces can be traced back to poor early attachment. She’s already held a Westminster Hall Debate on Early Attachment and says her campaign to mainstream this issue into social policy has cross-party support. Andrea thinks that if her Big Society launch of the new Northamptonshire project is a success it could be a template to “role out” across Britain. She’s not contemplating failure despite the public sector cut-backs!

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Duration 7 minutes
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Linda Fairbrother meets: “The movers and shakers”

Baroness Shreela Flather, “Woman: Acceptable exploitation for Profit”.

Baroness Shreela Flather, the first Asian woman to receive a peerage, and known for wearing a sari, says her book “Woman: Acceptable exploitation for Profit” is meant to “tread” on a few toes by tackling the great taboo of children working for a living and the role of women in India and Africa. www.amazon.co.uk/

Baroness Flather says the United National Millennium Development Goals will not be met by the target date of 2015 and that only by shifting the focus to women themselves and enabling them through small business, technology and income generation can real progress be made. Family planning and education are key to harnessing their talents. Our www.wpradio.co.uk reporter Linda Fairbrother spoke to her.

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Duration 7 minutes
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"This House would not get Married!" - A Valentine's day www.wpradio.co.uk Cambridge Union Society "partnership"

To celebrate Valentine's Day www.wpradio.co.uk went to the Cambridge Union Debate "This House would not get Married". Here William Longrigg, Partner at Charles Russell and President of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and Winston Preece, a Cambridge student, speak in favour of the motion while our Advisory Board Member Anastasia de Waal, Deputy Director and Head of Family Policy at Civitas and Anne Atkins, Author, Journalist, Agony Aunt and supporter of Christian values speak against. The Debate was Chaired by Francesca Hill, of Trinity Hall. www.cus.org will tell you who won!!

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Duration 7 minutes
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Ugandan elections and the voice of an 81-year-old activist - Rhoda Kalema

Ugandans hold their presidential and parliamentary elections on February 18th. This election is just the second since 1986 in which opposition parties have been legally permitted to campaign and it has been relatively free of violence to date. But there are concerns about how public funds are being used, particularly to support the campaigns of the ruling National Resistance Movement, led by President Yoweri Museveni. President Museveni came to power in 1986, following a protracted rebellion. Here in this special interview from our archives Rhoda Kalema, the "Mother" of the Ugandan Parliament tells her story of imprisonment in Uganda before going on to become an MP herself and helping to set up a Commission to help women and their families. She talked to Boni Sones OBE.

A documentary from Rhoda's book:"A Rising Tide", made in conjunction with www.screen-space.co.uk which tells the histories of modern women politicians there from the 1940s through to the present time can be found on our International Section
Good luck Rhoda.

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Duration 10 minutes
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Ann Treneman “Face to Face Encounters” series.

Ann Treneman, sketch writer of The Times starts off our new “Face to Face Encounters” series of interviews talking with Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and Leader of the Green Party on her proposals for the reform of Parliament.

Caroline’s report “The Case for Parliamentary Reform” has just been debated in Westminster Hall. It includes measures for “electronic voting”, changing “the parliamentary language”, ending the “talking out” of Private Members Bills, and publication of the “Speakers List” so MPs know when they are going to be called to talk in the Chamber.

Caroline, an MEP for ten years, estimates that just queuing up to vote accounts for around £30,000 a week in MPs’ salary costs, and 250 hours of their time each Parliamentary year. Here Ann – renowned for her portrayals of Westminster as a series of “playground spats” between “bickering children” - finds out if Caroline is a modern day “Mary Poppins” and destined to fail?
 

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Duration 12 minutes
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Jo Swinson MP “Guest Editor” and Lindiwe Mazibuko, MP South African Parliament

Jo Swinson the Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire, PPS to Business Secretary Vince Cable, sits in our www.wpradio.co.uk “Guest Editor” Chair this week. She recently meet Lindiwe Mazibuko, the opposition Democratic Alliance Spokesperson in the South African Parliament and the Shadow Deputy Minister of Communications. Lindiwe is one of the Parliaments youngest members, as was Jo herself.

In this special “hook-up” to celebrate 100 years of International Women’s Day in March 2011, Jo asks Lindiwe about how she was elected and what the impact of apartheid and the ANCs 1996 Constitution has been? Lindiwe told Jo how the women in the Parliament were progressing the pressing issue of young women being kidnapped and raped as some sort of marriage courtship practice, and to stop women being treated as “objects” culturally. Here Jo is co-founder of “The Campaign for Body Confidence”.

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Duration 14 minutes
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Our first 2011 Guest Editor Dame Anne Begg interviews four women MPs from Kenya

Dame Anne Begg, MP for Aberdeen South, Chair of the Works and Pensions Select Committee, met a delegation of women from the Kenyan Parliament recently to talk about how Committees work in the UK Parliament. There are now 22 women MPs in Kenya, 10 per cent of the 222 MPs in all. Six of these 22 are nominated, to represent special interests.

The Kenyan women MPs went on strike in 2003 when they were banned from taking their handbags into the Kenyan Parliament. They argued handbags were part of their “attire” and the ban was lifted.

Here Anne asks the delegation abut the ban, and changing family structures in a global world that is now allowing women to take out bank accounts and giving them new rights to the inheritance of land. The responsibilities of men are now changing too.

That all important new Kenyan Constitution and Bill of Rights approved in 2010, gives people new rights to “self actualisation”. This will lead to more women in the Parliament, and the allocation of 47 safe seats for women, one for each County, and 16 women in the newly created Senate House.


Anne, the first full-time wheelchair user in Westminster, spoke to (from left to right) Hon. Dr Joyce Laboso MP, Hon. Shakila Abdalla MP, Hon. Linah Jebii Kilimo MP, Hon. Rachel Shebesh MP. This podcast broadcast was produced by Boni Sones OBE.
 

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Duration 11 minutes
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Emma Bonino - Vice President of the Italian Senate - Iraq Vigil and 100 years of International Women's Day

Emma Bonino, Vice President of the Italian Senate, and a Radical Party member, flew into London to join an all night vigil against the Iraq war, while Tony Blair was giving evidence to the Iraq inquiry. She is known for her work on human and civil rights issues, such as "against hunger in the world" and for her campaigns for women's rights including campaigning against female genital mutilation. She is also a founding member of "No Peace without Justice", supporting the creation of the International Criminal Court. She has received several international awards, including the "2004 Open Society Prize" for her outstanding achievements as a female world leader. Here in this Exclusive interview she tells Boni Sones OBE, Executive Producer of www.wpradio.co.uk why she joined the vigil and why she will be "passionately" supporting 100 years of International Women's day in March 2011!

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Duration 11 minutes
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Meg Hillier MP – "Green Gloom" - winning the argument for the planet?

Meg Hillier, the Labour and Co-operative MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch since 2005, is the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. A panellist in the Fabian Society debate on: “Green Gloom: how do we win the argument for the planet?” Meg says she’s optimistic about our ability to change our habits and that people care deeply about the environmental legacy they hand down to their children and their children’s children. She says it’s “vital” not to play party politics with the planet, and reminds us all as the New Year begins that by reducing our energy consumption we are also reducing our domestic household bills. Boni Sones OBE, our Executive Producer asked her on what her optimism was founded?

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Duration 11 minutes
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In 2011 www.wpradio.co.uk goes global!
Happy New Year to our listeners

Our www.wpradio.co.uk reporter Linda Fairbrother started off the New Year by looking at the work of “Women for Women International”. She spoke to Director of Policy Britta Schmidt about the role of women in Afghanistan.

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Duration 11 minutes
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Executive Director Kate Nustedt then told Linda about their “Join Me on the Bridge” campaign linked to the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day 8th March 2011.All women MPs and men are being invited to join them.Do listen. Find out more: www.womenforwomen.org

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Duration 17 minutes
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In 2011 we ask is the Commons family friendly? Katy Clark MP is juggling a new baby and a demanding job

Katy Clark, Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran since 2005 has an 18 month-old-daughter, took maternity leave, and quite often uses colleagues to hold her daughter while she pops into the Chamber to vote. Here she talks about her “two-lives” with a constituency that is 400 miles and a five hour journey from Westminster and a job that is a “vocation” – often seven days a week!

Going into the New Year of 2011 Katy doesn’t think the further reforms of the Commons hours suggested by Green MP Caroline Lucas would help her, but she says the “costs” of child-care are “considerable” and difficult to manage for many women wanting to become an MP.!

 Our Executive Producer Boni Sones OBE spoke to her.

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Our Reviews of the political year

Our www.wpradio.co.uk reporter Linda Fairbrother spoke to Helen Grant the new Conservative MP for Maidstone and the Weald, the former seat of "Strictly" star Ann Widdecombe. But from her first "biggest, best" day as an MP, through to her Maiden Speech, Helen says it's "issues" she's concerned with and there will be no dancing for her.

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Duration 9 minutes
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