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In early March author, Catherine Mayer, attended a talk on women’s political  representation along with a large group of other concerned people at the Women of the World Festival at the Southbank. Picking up on a mood of frustration at the slow progress being made Catherine suggested to the crowd that what was needed was a Woman’s Equality Party. And so the idea was born. She joins Jenni to explain why she thinks this is necessary and how much interest her fledgling idea is attracting. 

Paul Radcliffe is racing in the London Marathon for the last time this weekend. She hasn't run it for ten years and previously won it three times, setting the still unbeaten world record women’s time of 2:17:42 in 2003. She’ll be awarded the inaugural ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ by John Disley, founder of the London marathon on Sunday.  Due to an Achilles injury she’s not racing with the elite women this year, and so will not be running competitively, but it marks the official end of her remarkable running career.

Saxophonist Barbara Thompson has been one of Britain's best-known female jazz musicians and composers for over 40 years. But in 1997 - the same year that she received an M.B.E. for her services to music – Barbara was diagnosed with . She was 53. She has appeared as a featured musician on more than 100 albums, and thanks to a new kind of treatment has been able to return to music after retiring in 2011. She talks to Jenni about the effect of ±Ê²¹°ù°ì¾±²Ô²õ´Ç²Ô’s on her music, and how she lives with the disease.