Rachel Johnson's Difficult Women

This week Rachel is joined by the writer and historian Rachel Cockerell, whose debut book ‘Melting Point: Family, Memory and the Search for a Promised Land’ tells the story of the long-forgotten Galveston Movement. Together they discuss how Rachel stumbled upon the significance of her great grandfather, David Jochelmann, in the movement, after she searched his name as part of her research for her family memoir. Rachel also explains why delusion is a key ingredient for anyone wanting to become a writer, and even teases what her next book will be about.

This week's difficult woman is the senior firefighter, psychologist and author, Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton. From joining the fire service at just 18 years old when nationally only one per cent of firefighters were women, to being part of the response team for the aftermath of Grenfell, to becoming the first female to be Chief Fire Officer of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight, she tells Rachel about the prejudices she's faced throughout her career. They also talk about Rachel's experience living on the streets as a teenager, and the continued stigma surrounding homelessness.

This week’s difficult woman is truly a first for the podcast. First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan, aka Baroness Morgan of Ely, joins Rachel in the studio. From growing up in a home at the centre of Welsh Labour, to becoming the first woman to lead the country, politics is in Eluned’s blood. Together they look ahead to May’s Senedd Election, which could mark the end of Labour's dominance in Welsh Parliament since devolution. Eluned also tells Rachel the incredible story of how her family survived a plane crash when she was just a child.

This week’s difficult woman is the writer, researcher and intellectual Cat Bohannon, best known for her New York Times bestseller Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Millions Years of Human Evolution. Rachel is mind-blown as Cat tells her about the time she lived in a car for three months so she could continue teaching her students at the University of Arizona. Rachel also asks Cat about her upcoming book, which looks at why studying women’s health could save us all.

In this week’s Difficult Women, Rachel is joined by Investigations Editor at the New Statesman, Hannah Barnes. Hannah led BBC Newsnight’s investigation into the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS). Her work helped lead to an extensive NHS review, and was nominated for an array of awards. Hannah is also the author of Sunday Times bestseller Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children, which was shortlisted for both the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Orwell Prize. Hannah tells Rachel about the challenges that come with reporting on complex and contentious issues.

Cindy Gallop is a true Difficult Woman: born in Buckinghamshire, raised in orthodox Brunei by a formidable “tiger mother,” and destined for marriage and motherhood. Instead, she became the founder of MakeLoveNotPorn, a radical platform challenging porn culture by showing real, consensual, emotionally honest sex. Fiercely single, unapologetic about dating younger men, and committed to designing her life entirely on her own terms, Cindy has spent decades dismantling the myths around sex, relationships, and what women are meant to want.

This week's difficult woman is the reality TV star Jazz Saunders, much loved for her kind, down to-earth nature, close friendships and fiery rows on Made in Chelsea. Jazz came out as bisexual on national tv and we have watched her in the first lesbian relationship of the whole series. We discuss all of this and we also hear from Jazz's mum Elyse. Enjoy!

This week’s difficult woman is Holly Tucker MBE. Nicknamed ‘Holly hurricane’ when she was growing up, she is one of those women who really do appear like they ‘have it all’. She co-founded the online marketplace Notonthehighstreet in 2006 and later founded Holly & Co, a purpose-led company supporting independent businesses. Rachel and Holly talk about balancing a career with family; the death of the high street and how to save it and, of course, Holly’s most difficult moment.

This week’s difficult woman is Penny Mordaunt, former Conservative minister for Women and Equalities. You may know her for holding the sword at the King Charles’ coronation or running against Liz Truss in the Conservative leadership race. There is much more to Penny than this however. She does not fit the posh Oxbridge stereotype that surrounds the Conservative party. Growing up in Portsmouth, she lost her parents at a young age and cared for her brother whilst he was ill. Her journey into politics is unconventional and frankly fascinating.

This week’s difficult woman is the global health expert Devi Sridhar. She tells Rachel how she became committed to improving public health after losing her dad at a young age and seeing the ‘medieval process’ of chemotherapy he experienced. She also shares some secrets on how to live forever…

This week’s difficult woman is the athlete, Dame Denise Lewis. She won gold in the Heptathlon in the 2000 Olympics and has continued to light up our screens with her punditry ever since. Denise is now the president of UK Athletics and is fighting for people not to experience the injustices that she did. Rachel and Denise discuss her tumultuous journey through motherhood and how she carved out a career after the gold.

This week’s difficult woman is activist Gina Martin. Gina fought to make upskirting a crime in 2017 after a man took a picture of her crotch at British Summertime festival. What followed was a long fight to make this a crime. In 2019, she achieved this goal, and the Voyeurism Offences Act was passed. Gina and Rachel reflect on this landmark victory and the urgent changes still needed to end the harassment of women and girls.

In this week’s episode of Difficult Women Rachel is joined by Olympian Dame Kelly Holmes. Kelly won double gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, racing to victory in both the 800 and 1500 meters at the age of 34. The conversation rarely stays on the track, however. Underpinning Kelly’s dazzling athletic achievements is a tumultuous childhood in which she spent 5 years in care and experienced ‘a fear of abandonment’ as a result. Kelly opens up about learning to stop caring what others think and how that shift transformed her life just two years ago.

This week’s Difficult Woman is the human rights barrister, author, and Rachel’s former sister-in-law, the very redoubtable Marina Wheeler KC, who has written an acute new book about how the UK should reset relations with the EU after Brexit.In a highly personal and at times confrontational conversation, the pair revisit this most painful and divisive period in British political history: the narrowly fought EU referendum and its bitter aftermath, an unprecedentedly turbulent period which saw the Johnson-Wheeler family thrust centre stage, Marina’s marriage to Boris Johnson break down, and her former husband achieve his lifetime’s ambition of becoming PM.And that’s just the bare bones of it!

In this week's episode Rachel sits down with Sophy Ridge, an immensely talented Sky news presenter who achieved great success from early on in her career. She entered Westminster as a reporter for The News of the World at just 24 years old and was given her own Sky News show, Sophy Ridge on Sunday at 32. Sophy is not a very difficult woman. Rachel observes that she is ‘more golden retriever than rottweiler’ unlike some political hosts. She is very accustomed to interviewing tricky women however. On the debut episode of Sophy Ridge on Sunday she secured an exclusive interview with Theresa May when she was Prime Minister, a notoriously challenging interviewee. In this episode, Sophy shares how she defied expectations and carved out a dazzling career in journalism whilst remaining warm and sincere throughout.

This week, Rachel chats with bestselling historian Hallie Rubenhold, the woman rewriting the stories behind Britain’s most famous crimes. Hallie’s hit book The Five turned the Jack the Ripper story on its head by focusing on the women he killed, not the man himself. It won the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction and topped the Sunday Times bestseller list.Her new book, Story of a Murder: The Wives, The Mistress and Dr Crippen, dives into the shocking Edwardian murder case of Dr Crippen and the extraordinary women who helped bring him to justice. Rachel and Hallie discuss the dark side of true crime, why history has ignored women’s voices for too long, and how to shift the gaze on murder from the male detectives and perpetrators back to the female victim.

In this episode of Difficult Women, Rachel sits down with acclaimed author and historian Juliet Nicolson for an intimate and in-depth conversation about resilience, reinvention, and family legacy. Every family has secrets, but Juliet Nicolson’s antecedents had some pretty famous, if sometimes badly kept ones. In this episode, Rachel goes beyond Juliet’s distinguished ancestry to explore a problem that transcends class, fame, and fortune. Together, they discuss Juliet’s battle with alcoholism, a struggle that shadowed her daughters’ youth and one she continues to face with honesty and grace through Alcoholics Anonymous. Juliet’s story reminds us that the heaviest secrets are often the ones we keep from ourselves.

Last year the Difficult Women team went to darkest Gloucestershire to record the one and only Dame Jilly Cooper, whose death, aged 88, was announced this week. We went to the Chantry, her house near Stroud, which is as bonkers and beautiful and brilliant as its owner. Jilly gave us an incredible, breathless interview full of jokes and laughter and then an even more liquid lunch in her kitchen. In honour of the imperishable genius that was Jilly Cooper, we are ripping up the schedule so that her grief-stricken fans around the world can hear her voice and jokes again.

In this episode Rachel speaks to a woman who has been thrust into unimaginably difficult circumstances. Hanan Khashoggi is the widow of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist assassinated after being critical about the Saudi Arabian regime. She joins us from the US, where she has found a level of safety, but still fears assassination every day. She tells Rachel about the terrible day she learned that her husband had been killed and how her life has since fallen apart. Separated from her family across three continents and speaking to us from a dingy flat, Hanan remains full of passion and determination in her quest to get justice for her husband. This is a powerful account of love, loss, and the fight for truth against a backdrop of international corruption and oppression.

Rachel sits down with Baroness Fall, former Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime Minister David Cameron, for an intimate and insightful conversation. She delves into Kate's unique journey from the heart of British politics to the House of Lords, exploring what it's really like behind the doors of Number 10. They discuss the pressures of power, the nuances of political loyalty, and the personal sacrifices that come with life in Westminster. Kate opens up about her time navigating historic events, managing high-stakes decision-making, and her reflections on leadership in turbulent times.