Minette Batters, Unlikely Friends, Forced Marriage Statistics, Muscular Dystrophy

This week Minette Batters was elected vice president of the National Farmers Union. It’s the first time in the organisation’s 105 year history that a woman has been elected to one of the three leadership positions. Whilst male farmers still far outnumber female farmers, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of women in the industry in the last year. According to the Office for National Statistics, there are now 119,000 male farmers and 23,000 female farmers in the UK – that’s a rise of around 6,000 women in the last 12 months. Minette joins Sheila to discuss why so many women are opting for a career running a farm, and what her plans are for the FMU.

As the expression goes “birds of a feather flock together”. By the time we reach middle age  our friends often reflect similar views on life and convictions as ourselves.  How many of us have really close friendships with people who hold opposite political views?  Sheila is joined by unlikely friends Natasha Engel MP,  Labour MP for North East Derbyshire and Jillian Thomas, founder of Future Life Wealth Management to explain what makes their friendship work.

17 year old Isata Kanneh-Mason from Nottingham is one of the final five pianists left in this year’s BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.  She’s played piano since the age of 6 and has six younger siblings, all of whom also play. She has aspirations to one day be a professional classical soloist – travelling the world to play with different orchestras – just like 24 year old violinist Jennifer Pike. Jennifer won Young Musician of the Year in 2002 aged just 12, and has since gone on to have a hugely successful career as a soloist as well as a recording artist. So what is life like for a young woman with ambitions to make it right to the top of the classical music industry, and what is it like to be catapulted to international fame at such a young age? Isata and Jennifer join Sheila to discuss.

The BBC Young Musician Category Finals will be broadcast on BBC Four from the middle of April, with complementary coverage on BBC Radio 3.

It’s estimated that around 3 and a half million people in the UK will be affected by a rare disease at some point in their life.  This includes 70,000 people who have muscular dystrophy or a related neuromuscular condition.   The symptoms of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy are not apparent from birth and most children are diagnosed at around the age of four or five and will usually begin to need to use a powered wheelchair by the age of nine or ten. The Kerrison family,  live in Heage,  Derbyshire. Parents Trish and Mark have four children, Robin and Emma, as well as Joe, 18, and Stevie, 20 - both of whom have muscular dystrophy. Geoff Bird went along to visit them at their home. 

The latest Home office figures on forced marriage have been published this week – and the figures are down from last year.  The Forced Marriage Unit which provides advice and support to victims of forced marriage, reported on 1302 cases, down from 1485 in the previous year. But are they a true reflection of the scale of forced marriage in the UK?  To discuss the issues Sheila McClennon is joined by Norman Baker MP, Minister of State for Crime Prevention, and Aneeta Prem, founder of Freedom Charity.