To be sad about Jane Garvey

[BurtonHouse]

As if it wasn't bad enough that Jenni Murray announced her retirement from Woman's Hour, now Jane Garvey is leaving too.
I adore Jane - she's fiercely intelligent, hugely funny, empathetic and down to earth.
I'd give a kidney to be her friend and am going to miss her warmth, humour and incisiveness massively.

And to whoever said Jenni Murray was anti trans she isn't!

@BeachLane you’re right of course. I suppose subconsciously it really pisses me off that we STILL need to have Woman’s Hour, for all the reasons you state.

Oh, Jesus, not Lauren Laverne.

I've loved having WH on in the background while wfh. I never usually listened. And I really like Jane Garvey so was quite surprised when I heard this today. LL is a complete lightweight . On 6Music she is all flappy talking and 'me, me, me' when interviewing. Awful. Desert Island Discs feels completely like someone going through the motions - I never feels she has any real connection with the people she interview.s

Desert Island Discs feels completely like someone going through the motions - I never feels she has any real connection with the people she interviews

Yes - it's like she's been given a list of questions and can't use her initiative to engage with their responses.

Yes - it's like she's been given a list of questions and can't use her initiative to engage with their responses.

Yes, exactly. Never seems to actually listen to what someone has said, just jumps to next question on the list compiled from the wiki entry.

If the BBC goes through a funding cut Radio 4 will probably go. Nothing commercial is like it so if advertising is needed we will get Radio 1, 2 and possibly 3.

I think Radio 4 listeners would self fund it!

I'm gutted Jenni and Jane are going. I love them both. Will be really pissed off if they go for a weak replacement. Someone fiery and feminist please.

Sarah Sands left today as well good.

@SwedishEdith sometimes I think the powers that be at R4 are just made up of blokes who have this idea of a woman they think they are catering for and so foist people like LL upon us because she is their idea of a thinking woman. Ie. Sort of thinking but not so thinking that it would challenge anybody. If you listen back to old versions of Desert Island Discs on the sounds archives and hear Sue Lawley interviewing, she loses some really good questions that got the best out of guests. With LL it’s sooooo anodyne.

Oh hells bells. I love JM and like JG. Real women, grounded, with perceptiveness and wide-ranging interests and just .. real.

Fuckit. Dammit.

WH needs an overhaul. Stopped listening a couple of years ago and changed to the Fortunately podcast with Jane and Fi. Just so hope that it isn't stifled by going on the Radio 4 schedule. Things are often said irreverently (and very amusingly) which surely won't be acceptable 😟

@AnnikaStranded

Desert Island Discs feels completely like someone going through the motions - I never feels she has any real connection with the people she interviews

Yes - it's like she's been given a list of questions and can't use her initiative to engage with their responses.

Yes I miss Kirsty Young. She was brilliant. Empathetic, warm engaged and very intelligent. Lauren is like a robot.

I think Radio 4 listeners would self fund it!

God, yes, I would happily pay for Radio 4, though I don't think listeners should have to. Surely the fact that there's nothing remotely like it in commercial radio should save? R1 and R2 have lots of alternatives.

I have also found the podcast as a result of the thread and I’m loving it. Listing to the back episodes and really enjoying them. It is so nice to be able to listen to normal middle aged women talking- a demographic largely missing in the media apart from woman’s hour.

@slightchill so glad someone else agrees with me about JM's voice. (saying she sounds like she is at the bottom of a pond!)

Yes she kind of eats her words at the end of the sentence so you can't hear what she is actually saying! I shout at the radio - " you are meant to be a presenter!! You are meant to talk clearly FGS!"

You're the first other person, with the exception of one of my sisters, who seems to feel the same way Camomile!

Noooooooooooo. I didn't know either were leaving. I'm off for a sob. I've been a women's hour listener my entire life when able.

They said at the end of Any Questions today that their long-serving (female) producer is leaving to join WH. Hopefully that's a sign that WH is not being axed and is still considered a serious programme (though possibly new presenters AND producer is a sign of very big change).

Hoping Fi and Jane will team up. Though I don't think it will be as random as the podcast!

Am gutted!

@ChangeThePassword

Is womens hour any good?

I was recommended it by a friend and tried it twice. Both times they were taking about vapid nonsense. The kind of thing men that don't know women would think women talk about. Once was bridesmaid dresses, I can't remember what the other was. It was a few years ago now. Put me right off trying again.

It can vary but it's been a huge education to me over the years. They do extremely good reporting on female only issues, particularly more recently things like domestic violence etc.

There's the odd silly thing but not very often.

EB and VD would be ok.

No. I don't like her attitude. She's rather prickly for my taste and allows her own opinions to override her interviewing style.
Glad they are both going tbh.

I don't know how WH still exists. In the olden days it was all about cooking and keeping your house clean.

Is there a Men's Hour?

@JinglingHellsBells no there isn’t a men’s hour, but If there was I’d be interested to listen to it.

I don't know how WH still exists. In the olden days it was all about cooking and keeping your house clean. Is there a Men's Hour?

There was a Men's Hour on 5 Live for a few years. I assume it didn't get high enough audience figures for it to continue.

As women's lives have changed, so has Woman's Hour - that's the beauty of it. Can you honestly say that there are no issues that you feel are particularly relevant to women, or where women experience prejudice and inequality, or where there's a uniquely female perspective that's worth discussing?

Things like sex, menopause, periods, marriage/relationships, birth, rape, female-specific health issues, responsibilities that tend to fall more heavily on women like care of elderly parents, sexual harrassment, discrimination against women in the workplace, women-only spaces, clothes, the underrepresentation of women in the arts/parliament/religious hierarchies, the experiences of women in other cultures and countries, experiences of women in history and changing attitudes.

There are so many topics that I would be interested in hearing discussed. Some episodes don't interest me, others are fascinating. I have all sorts of discussions with female friends that I find either harder to discuss with men or that men are just less interested in because it's not directly relevant to them. Even if we ever get to a point of full equality, there will still be difference, so what's wrong with having one radio programme that focuses on issues that relate to women?

I loved their Menopause coverage - so pertinent to me, and incredibly valuable.