Suzy Menkes; Domestic abuse; The evolution of the teenager

We hear from a woman whose husband was violent towards her for many years. She felt unable to report the abuse at the time, but when she finally found the strength to speak out she was told that no case could be brought.  Her case was categorised by the CPS as common assault and so has a 6 month time limit on reporting.  She is now calling for a change in the law so that women, trying to bring historic cases of domestic violence can get justice.  Jenni discusses the issues with Nicola Mann from Women Against Rape.

 

National Domestic Violence Helpline

Government Guide to Domestic Violence and Abuse

 

Suzy Menkes, the world’s best known fashion critic, has turned 70, moved cities and taken up a new post as Vogue International Editor. Known as the hardest working journalist in her field and for her trademark quiff, she never accepts gifts and refuses to cosy up to the designers. She says her family are the people that ground her and that she still finds it hard to talk about her late husband. So how does she feel about the next phase in her career and as a grandmother watching her granddaughters assume her fashion mantle? 

Teenage girls today are the most ambitious and community minded generation of the last 100 years but are the least confident when it comes to entering the world of work. These are the conclusions of a new report called THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEENAGER and its author - Dr Heather Ellis, Senior Lecturer in the History of Education at Liverpool Hope University - tells Jenni how teenage aspirations in the workplace have changed since WW1. They are joined by 17 year old Evie Aspinall and her grandmother – Mary Davies – who talk about their different experiences of being teenagers.

Some geologists believe that our planet is crossing a boundary from the Holocene - an epoch with a stable and clement climate - to the Anthropocene - a time when human activities significantly impact on the Earth’s ecosystems.  They believe that manmade changes are altering the earth beyond anything it has previously experienced in its 4.5 billion-year history, and that humans are now a planetary force on a par with earthquakes, asteroid strikes and erupting volcanoes.  Gaia Vince, a science writer has travelled the world to meet people who say they are experiencing the Anthropocene firsthand.  She joins Jenni to share the stories she gathered:  Why are Peruvians painting mountains white?  How are villagers in India using satellite technology to get water?  How should we all be living?

 

Adventures in the Anthropocene- A journey to the heart of the planet we made by Gaia Vince is published by Chatto & Windus.