³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Nadiya Savchenko, former Ukrainian military pilot, now Ukrainian MP and delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has been held in custody in Russia over the killing of two Russian journalists since June 2014. Kiev says she was illegally seized by Russian forces inside Ukraine and dragged across the border.  On December 13th she started a hunger strike, and Russia has come under intense pressure from the international community to release her.  She was one of the first Ukrainian women to train as an air force pilot and has become, for many, a symbol of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

One in five people in the UK has a disability. However, almost eighty per cent of them weren’t born disabled – they acquired their disabilities later in life. Most of those people are supported and cared for by a partner or a family member. So, what do you do if your partner of many years becomes disabled or suddenly falls permanently ill?  How do you cope with the fact that your loved one may never again be the same person you fell for?  Joining Jane is Grace Maxwell whose husband, musician Edwyn Collins suffered a serious brain hemorrhage and Professor John Kemp, who took early retirement to take care of his late wife Shirley. 

The Shoe Collection at Northampton Museums and Art Gallery is currently asking people to send in treasured footwear with special memories. When Diane Clark donated a pair of 1970s boots made by The Chelsea cobbler she had no idea how delighted the museum would be as they fill a gap in the museums1970s footwear heritage. She met up with our reporter Tamsin Smith at the museum to explain why they these boots are so precious to her.

London’s Waterloo Bridge has a rather unusual nickname – The Ladies Bridge. Tourist boats guides, who ferry sightseers up and down the Thames, use this name to honour the women who played a key role in its construction.  These female workers took over when Irish labourers went home at the outbreak of World War Two and local men were conscripted.

Now a campaign has been launched to celebrate the efforts of these women. Jane talks to historian Dr Christine Wall and campaigner Jen Lexmond to find out more about the women who built the bridge. 

In the next in our series about women parliamentary candidates, we meet UKIP candidates Sandra James and Rose Gibbins and ask why the party believes that positive discrimination does not help women.