Jo and Zoe couldn't resist asking Bridget Phillipson MP, the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she'd been keeping up with Celebrity Traitors during their Crate Digging segment. "I confess I have not," she told them, sheepishly adding "sorry to say" before recommending Blue Lights and the new series of Slow Horses instead.
The bulk of the episode was a serious, wide-ranging conversation with Phillipson and the government's Women's Employment Ambassador Mariella Frostrup ahead of World Menopause Day. Frostrup described nipping to an Italian pharmacy for emergency HRT on holiday and simply being handed it over the counter, contrasting it with the UK, where she said women are "treated constantly as though we're unreliable witnesses to our own experience." Phillipson shared her own history of debilitating periods at school, telling Jo and Zoe "it was really debilitating," and said the government is pushing big employers to publish action plans on women's health and the gender pay gap from next year.
Away from policy, Frostrup introduced listeners to her new dog Moby, joking to Zoe that he's "not named after the DJ," while Phillipson revealed she unwinds by playing hockey with her teenage daughter and recently saw The Strokes at the O2, calling the gig "absolutely brilliant." The episode closed with both guests swapping notes on growing dahlias, with Frostrup declaring "you can't look at a dahlia without smiling."
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