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Woman's Hour: Kamala Harris, US Vice President; WFH; Georgia Pritchett.

11/08/2021

Kamala Harris, US Vice President; WFH; Georgia Pritchett.

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Kamala Harris, US Vice President; WFH; Georgia Pritchett.

US VP Kamala Harris; Working from home; Camping; Georgia Pritchett; Women & investing.

How popular is US VP Kamala Harris? Time to taper off working from home? Rainy camping holidays; award-winning comedy writer Georgia Pritchett; and women and financial investing.

Earlier this year, Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first female black Asian American Vice President in history. 6 months on, some polling has been interpreted as saying she's the most unpopular Vice President in history. To discuss the recent polling and her work to date we are joined by Sharon D Austin, a professor of Political Science at the University of Florida  and Melissa Milewski, a Lecturer in History at the University of Sussex

As the government urges people to return to the office we hear your reactions and consider the impact on women. Boris Johnson has called for a “gradual” return over the summer but there’ve been suggestions that civil servants who want to continue to work from home should lose their London weighting or even part of their salary as they no longer incur travelling costs. For the wider workforce the chancellor and some business leaders are calling for people to taper off home working  for the sake of their prospects, the economy as well as  their wellbeing . We hear listener reaction to the idea and talk to Wendy Hallett who founded Hallett Retail twenty years ago to create a flexible working environment for herself when her children were young and she now advocates this for her entire staff.

So how’s your camping trip going then? Seemed a good staycation idea at the time, but what about the rain, mud and damp clothes? Have you given up the roaring fire and gone to the pub instead? We want to hear your funny stories. Listener Hannah, was camping in Norfolk last weekend: yes, that's right: when there was wind, rain and thunderstorms.

You might not recognise her name but you will  certainly be familiar with her work. Georgia Pritchett is a multi-award winning comedy and drama writer. She has written for numerous TV shows like The Thick of It, Veep, Succession, Smack the Pony and Have I got News for You.  She has also collaborated  with a huge range of comedians: Miranda Hart, Lenny Henry, Ronnie Corbett and Jo Brand to name just a few.  She has now had a book published, My Mess is a bit of a Life: adventures in anxiety which is about her life from childhood through to almost now.

As part of our money series, we’re talking about investing. Why don’t more women invest? Do you consider yourself an investor? Do you know where your pension is invested? Did you even know that your pension was an investment? Selina Flavius is a financial adviser and author of Black Girl Finance: Let’s Talk Money. Maike Currie is an Investment Director for Fidelity International and writes for the Financial Times. 

Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Wendy Hallett
Interviewed Guest: Sharon D Austin
Interviewed Guest: Melissa Milewski
Interviewed Guest: Georgia Pritchett
Interviewed Guest: Selina Flavius
Interviewed Guest: Maike Currie

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