AI heart health mammogram, Prison family visits, The manosphere

Mar 17, 2026

Reverend Sally Hitchener, parish priest who helped prepare the new Archbishop, shares the spiritual rhythm and practical route of the Beckett Camino pilgrimage. Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, highlights a report on how poor family contact in women’s prisons harms rehabilitation and children. They discuss pilgrimage as leadership preparation and simple fixes to restore family ties and reduce reoffending.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Mammograms Can Double As Heart Screening

Australian researchers used existing screening mammograms plus a woman's age to predict cardiovascular risk with machine learning as accurately as standard risk calculators.
The algorithm reads visible breast arterial calcification and subtle image features from the LifePool cohort of 50,000 women, requiring no extra tests or radiation.

ADVICE

Engage Services And Women Before Rolling Out AI Screening

To implement the mammogram-based heart risk tool, engage screening services, GPs and women early and design workflow that doesn't interfere with breast cancer detection.
Clare Arnott recommends consumer advocacy and implementation trials before rolling out nationally, noting it could take years.

INSIGHT

Gender Bias Leaves Women's Heart Disease Underdiagnosed

Cardiovascular disease is under-recognised in women, with biased care pathways and research gaps contributing to worse outcomes.
Women are 12% less likely to get opportunistic screening and underrepresented in research, causing diagnostic and treatment disparities.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Researchers in Australia have developed an AI tool that means a routine mammogram can also monitor your heart health. The study, published in Heart, the journal of the British Cardiovascular Society, shows it’s as accurate as the standard methods used by doctors. Cardiologist and Associate Professor Clare Arnott, Global Director of the Cardiovascular Program at The George Institute for Global Health, which is an independent medical research organization, joins Nuala McGovern from Sydney to discuss the work.

Prisons are failing to get the basics right when it comes to helping vulnerable inmates keep in touch with families, that's according to a report out today. The investigation by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons looked at jails in general, but visited two women's prisons as part of their inspections. They found keeping in touch with families was too often only seen as ‘nice to have,’ and having a detrimental impact on both prisoners and their children. Nuala talks to HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor, and also to Sophie Carter, whose partner is 18 months into a 25-year sentence.

Now for a moment of history in the Church of England. Dame Sarah Mullally, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, is today beginning a pilgrimage from St Paul’s Cathedral to Canterbury. She will walk the ancient Becket Camino which was once travelled by medieval pilgrims, and her office believes she is the first Archbishop of Canterbury to do this. It will be part of her spiritual preparation for her role. To help us explore more about this journey, we’re joined by the Rev Sally Hitchiner, who knows Dame Sarah and is the Parish Priest of North Lambeth, where she worked alongside the Archbishop when she was Bishop of London. She has also walked this 87-mile route herself, more than once.

On Woman’s Hour we've often spoken about how to tackle extreme misogyny online, and discussions have been sparked again following Louis Theroux's latest documentary, Inside the Manosphere, where he speaks with influencers who promote hyper-masculine, often misogynistic ideas and their impact on boys and young men. To discuss ideas on how to deal with manosphere misogyny, Nuala is joined by Professor Sarah Hawkes from the gender equality think tank 50/50, who specialises in gender equality and health equity, and Raewyn Connell, a feminist sociologist studying the social theory of gender relations and masculinity. She is Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Andrea Kidd