Anne Archer; Nicci French; Women's minister

The new women’s minister is Nicky Morgan following the reshuffle last week. However, Maria Miller, the last women’s minister, was also a full member of the Cabinet. Nicky Morgan was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury on Wednesday and will attend cabinet – though not as a full member. Aides to the Prime Minister have said that the new women’s minister will report directly to the Prime Minister. And for the first time the woman’s minister will be based in the Treasury – the Whitehall department which controls the Government’s purse-strings. But many are concerned that without a woman who has a full cabinet post in charge of the brief, that women’s interests have been downgraded – so are they right to be worried?  Jane talks to Helen Lewis, deputy editor of the New Statesman and to Laura Pitel, political correspondent with The Times.

The Oscar nominated and Golden Globe award winning actress Anne Archer is best known for films such as Fatal Attraction,  Short Cuts and Clear and Present Danger.  She has appeared on stage as Mrs Robinson in The Graduate and other productions such as A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking and the Vagina Monologues.  She will will make her Edinburgh Festival debut this summer, starring as ‘Jane Fonda’ in the of The Trial of Jane Fonda.  She joins Jane to discuss her career and what drew her to this latest stage role.

Yesterday’s Sunday Times  revealed figures obtained under Freedom of Information rules disclosing that over 12,000 new mothers had been discharged from hospital  in the middle of the night. The situation appears to be getting worse as approximately 10,000 had the same experience in 2011. Denise Linay is a midwife and a spokesperson from the Royal College of Midwives.