Listener Week: a basic guide to economics, quizzes, ageing without children

Sarah wrote in suggesting we provide a basic guide to economics. Economics is so central to our lives but few of us, she thinks, are economically literate enough to engage properly with the constant references in the news. Sarah is joined by Rupal Patel, Senior Economist at the Bank of England and co-author of Can’t We Just Print More Money? Economics in Ten Simple Questions. One of our listeners – Roz Unwin – wanted to share her passion for quizzing. She took it up over lockdown, and now runs her own quizzes in North London. She joins Emma, along with Alice Walker, who was crowned this year’s Mastermind Champion. Ageing without children is the subject of our next discussion. Listener Mo Ray, Professor of Health and Social Care at the University of Lincolnshire wanted us to raise awareness of the growing numbers. She says care and ageing policy is still built on the assumption that behind every older person there is at least one adult child ready and able to provide care and support. She joins Emma along with Jenny Collieson, Trustee of the charity AWOC, Ageing without Children. To discuss the realities of the post mastectomy body, Emma speaks to listener Janine, a former nurse from Merseyside. Janine had a bilateral mastectomy as well as bilateral reconstructions, yet remains nipple-less. She emailed in saying “I have no idea where to go to get ‘completed”. Similarly frustrated by the lack of creative and attractive prosthetics, lingerie and fashion for the asymmetric body post her own mastectomy, we hear from Katie, a listener from Leicester who founded a collective called Bionic Boob, made up of artists making knitted boobs, sculptures, body armour and even biodegradable boobs with shelving.

Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Lucinda Montefiore