Michele Kirsch

Thursday

Michele Kirsch

Can Keir escape?

43 min listen

This week Lara Prendergast and William Moore talk to Katy Balls and the journalist Paul Mason about the future of Labour (00:40). Followed by historian David Abulafia and the Sunday Times education editor Sian Griffiths on the announcement of Cambridge University's plans to limit the number of their private school students (15:20). Finally, a debate between author Michele Kirsch and Laura Biggs from the Menopause Mandate on the question 'Are we talking about menopause too much?' (31:50).Hosted by Lara Prendergast & William MooreProduced by Sam HolmesSubscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher:spectator.

Michele Kirsch

The march of the ‘menosplainers’

I think we’ve reached peak menopause. You simply can’t switch on the radio, open a newspaper or watch telly without some fiftysomething media babe banging on about her hot flushes, sudden rages and the feeling of going mad. Davina McCall has just made a whole TV show about it (Sex, Mind and the Menopause), and her book Menopausing is out this month. McCall has likened her symptoms to those felt by people with a brain tumour. Clearly, she has never known anyone with a brain tumour, because those symptoms are a little more significant than simply forgetting where you left your keys, or feeling suddenly hot. I’m not saying there isn’t a place in women’s magazines or in the health section of newspapers for features about ‘My menopause hell’.