This week in the room I'm talking to Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, the nursing pioneer, whose work on sickle cell disease has helped thousands upon thousands of people to lead better lives. We'll hear how her life began in care, and how that led to her passion for nursing, how she thinks Covid-19 has been a wake up call for equality in the NHS and we'll hear her advice to anyone thinking of pursuing a career in nursing.

To find out more about Dame Elizabeth's work go here: https://www.elizabethanionwu.co.uk/about-me/

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This week we've got a very special guest in the room, who happens to be one of Ronnie's heroes. Doddie Weir is a former Scottish Rugby union player who made 61 international appearances for his country. Since retiring, Doddie has been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, and is taking the fight to MND just as he did in his playing career. We'll hear about how horse-riding played an unlikely part in his development as a rugby player, how he found out about his MND because of a google search, and how the launch of his charity almost went very wrong.

Find out more about the brilliant work Doddie and his foundation are doing here: https://www.myname5doddie.co.uk/

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This week we're talking to Alan Johnson, the former Home Secretary, who has held many positions in cabinet, under Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, and in oppostion under Ed Miliband. He left politics in 2017, but has since become a successful writer, broadcaster, and podcaster. We'll hear about Alan's troubled upbringing. We'll talk to him about the biggest decision he's ever made as a parliamentarian - voting for war in Iraq, and we'll ask him why he didn't ever become leader of the labour party.

Hear Alan's podcast here: https://www.11-29media.com/ and read more of his work here: https://alanjohnsonbooks.co.uk/

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It's a different kind of In the Room this time because we're not looking back, instead we're talking about a case which is very much live.

Dara Conduit is from the Free Kylie Moore Gilbert Campaign. Dr Kylie Moore Gilbert is an Australian academic, imprisoned in Iran after she was convicted of espionage, on charges which the Australian government described as "baseless". Dara will tell us the full story of Kylie's arrest and what conditions are like in the jail. And we'll update you on the latest developments in Kylie's case.

If you want to find out more about Kylie's story go to https://freekylie.net/

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Welcome to In the Room with me Ronnie Barbour. In this series we'll be talking to politicians, youtubers, sports stars and more about the defining moments of their lives. From the classroom, to the boardroom, the briefing room, the dressing room and more, we'll find out how the rooms of our lives shape the decisions we make.

This time we're talking to Baroness Natalie Bennett, former leader of the Green Party between 2012 and 2016. She took the party to their best election results in the 2015 general election, but also failed to gain more than 1 MP, something that she puts down to the first past the post system.

We'll hear the story behind the scenes of that infamous LBC "brain-fade" moment, how she sees the world of politics changing, and why she definitely doesn't want to be addressed as Baroness.

To find out more about Natalie's work in the Lords or more about the Green Party go here: https://vote.greenparty.org.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to In the Room with Ronnie Barbour. In this series we'll be talking to politicians, youtubers, sports stars and more about the defining moments of their lives. From the classroom, to the boardroom, the briefing room, the dressing room and more, we'll find out how the rooms of our lives shape the decisions we make. Get in touch with us @getintheroompod on Twitter or via email contactintheroompod@gmail.com

This week, we're talking to Emma Blackery, a youtube phenomenon, who rose to fame by reading excerpts from fifty shades of grey, with each video getting hundreds of thousands of views. She's now got more than a million subscribers, and her own record label - she's a talented musician by the way. Anyway, we'll hear about how she got into music at an early age, how she almost gave it up, and how giving power to her viewers isn't always a great idea.

To see more of her fantastic work have a look at her youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/emmablackery

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to In the Room with Ronnie Barbour. In this series we'll be talking to politicians, youtubers, sports stars and more about the defining moments of their lives. From the classroom, to the boardroom, the briefing room, the dressing room and more, we'll find out how the rooms of our lives shape the decisions we make.

In this episode, Sir David King, Chair of the Independent Sage group, and former Chief Scientific Advisor to Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Now, obviously there was alot to talk about in terms of our current situation, but we also look at how he dealt with the foot and mouth epidemic and we find out how his interest in science was first peaked.

A word of caution, we recorded this interview in October before the government announced the latest lockdown.

To find out more about the work Sir David is doing with the Independent Sage group, see their website https://www.independentsage.org/

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