Send us Fan Mail

Jane Ryan, a dedicated human rights lawyer, discusses the failures and biases embedded in our prisons—especially for pregnant women and women of colour. This episode reveals the grim realities hidden behind closed doors—and the urgent need for systemic change.

Jane discusses the importance of listening to women’s voices, sharing powerful stories on how systemic neglect and outdated protocols put lives at risk, often ignoring the specific needs of women and marginalized communities. Exploring how negligence perpetuates harm, and although, initiatives are starting to making a difference— much more needs to be done.

Whether you’re passionate about human rights, mental health, or criminal justice reform, this episode will deepen your understanding of how systemic failure affects society’s most vulnerable—and how collective action can turn heartbreaking stories into catalysts for change.

Episode disclaimer - Jane Ryan is a human rights solicitor and partner at Bhatt Murphy solicitors. Any views expressed are personal only and not those of Bhatt Murphy.

Produced by Louisa Nabi

Support the show

For more unmissable content from The View sign up here

Send us Fan Mail

The law wants clean lines and final answers, but people live in grey areas. We sit down with Susie Miller, the playwright behind Inter Alia and the writer of Prima Facie, to unpack what “binary justice” does to real human stories and why courts can struggle when truth, trauma, and context refuse to fit a neat box. Drawing on her background in criminal defence and human rights law, Susie explains how the common law system can chase certainty like science, even when human behaviour is anything but predictable.

From there, we move into the world where many boys are actually learning what power, sex, and relationships mean. Susie talks about the manosphere, online “bro culture”, and the way pornography has become a default form of sex education. We explore how consent myths survive, how “no” can be misread as part of a game, and why the lack of trusted adult conversations leaves teenagers competing for status rather than learning care, communication, and respect. The discussion gets practical and urgent as we examine how some extreme behaviours are being normalised and why silence from fathers, older brothers, coaches, and mentors can leave boys with only peer pressure and algorithms for guidance.

We also dig into why theatre can be a powerful engine for social change. Susie shares what she learned in court about the force of storytelling, and why live performance creates a rare kind of community empathy that streaming cannot replicate. We touch on the audience reactions that surprised her, the responsibility men feel after watching the play, and a possible future work that interrogates juries and the myths we bring into the justice system. Subscribe for more conversations about law, gender, consent education, and cultural change, and if this one stays with you, share it and leave a review.

Support the show

For more unmissable content from The View sign up here

Send us Fan Mail

We went to a free women’s self-defence class run by Wing Tsun London in memory of Sarah Everard, and what stayed with us wasn’t bravado, it was clarity. Wing Tsun training makes “safety” feel less like a vague hope and more like a practical skill you can build, step by step, with your own body.

We get into the roots of Wing Tsun Masters as a martial art and self-defence system with a history stretching back more than 300 years, including the tradition that it was shaped by a woman and named after Yim Wing Tsun. That origin matters because the methods match the mission: deflection, angles, timing, and simple physics instead of trying to overpower someone head-on. If you’ve ever wondered whether self-defence training can work for smaller frames, this conversation explains why Wing Tsun is often seen as especially effective for women.

We also talk about what Wing Tsun London looks like on the ground: multiple schools across the city, a wide age range of students, and a deliberate effort to make training welcoming regardless of gender or background. You’ll hear why women are statistically more likely to be attacked in public yet less likely to attend self-defence schools, and how free classes lower the barriers. A mother and daughter share what changes when you train together, from fitness and focus to the confidence of walking home alone, plus why practising with male students can add realism without losing safety.

If you care about women’s safety, practical self-defence, and building confidence through martial arts training, press play. Subscribe, share with someone who walks home late, and leave us a review telling us what would help you feel safer in your own city.

A special thanks to Bence Kaposi (Labrat Media founder) who recorded these interviews.

Audio edited by Jamie Warren-Green (Umbrella Audio)

Support the show

For more unmissable content from The View sign up here

Send us Fan Mail

Secret classrooms. A decades-long fight for a pardon. A church trying to reckon with slavery. We move through stories that show how justice is pursued when systems stall, deny, or look away and what resilience looks like when it has to be practical, not performative.

We start by sharing reporting from The View magazine: Pro Su Hakim’s grassroots education initiative after the Taliban banned girls from school, and how secret schools and online classes keep learning alive for girls and women across Afghanistan. From there, we revisit the Ruth Ellis case, the last woman executed in the UK, through the eyes of her granddaughter Laura Enston, who is campaigning for a conditional pardon and asking what the justice system failed to see about abuse and violence against women.

We also examine institutional accountability through Project Spire, the Church of England’s £100 million response to historical links to slavery, and why debates about reparative justice are really debates about trust, responsibility, and power. The conversation expands into what gets heard and what gets suppressed, including harassment and what it means when survivor narratives are silenced before the public can read them.

Finally, we connect mental health and social systems: the ADHDAF charity’s origins in a chance private ADHD diagnosis, autism in the justice system and the absence of reasonable adjustments, a women’s self-defence class with Wing Chun London, and the growing recognition of racial trauma as a serious mental health issue shaped by systemic racism. If you care about human rights, mental health, and how societies repair harm, you’ll find plenty to sit with here.

Subscribe for more, share this with someone who loves thoughtful journalism, and leave a review with the question you can’t stop thinking about.

Audio Edited by Jamie Warren-Green at Umbrella Audio

Support the show

For more unmissable content from The View sign up here

Send a text

Education can be a turning point or a locked door, and too often we design universities to keep the “wrong” people out. We sit down with Anne-Marie Day and Rachel from Manchester Met to ask what higher education should do for people with lived experience of the justice system, and why scholarships are not a nice extra but a concrete part of decarceration, prevention, and reducing reoffending.

We get specific about the obstacles justice-involved students face: disrupted schooling, missing qualifications, housing pressure, lack of ID, and the simple exhaustion of trying to rebuild a life. We also talk about what works when universities take a holistic view, from mentoring and pastoral support to smarter timetabling that reflects real lives. For women in particular, childcare and caring responsibilities can decide whether study is possible, so targeted support has to be practical, respectful, and led by choice.

Then the conversation shifts across borders. Parasto Hakim shares how she helped build a community-led network of secret schools in Afghanistan after the Taliban ban on girls’ education, expanding from one home classroom to dozens of safe learning spaces. She explains how WhatsApp coordination, Teams classes, skills training, and trauma support help girls and women protect hope, build livelihoods, and refuse the label of “victim”.

If this moved you, subscribe, share the episode with someone who cares about justice and education, and leave us a review with the one idea you want universities and policymakers to act on next.

Audio edited by Jamie Warren-Green at Umbrella Audio

Support the show

For more unmissable content from The View sign up here

Send us Fan Mail

What happens when the law’s most vulnerable clients meet the system at its most rigid? We trace the rise of a student‑led pro bono centre determined to give women real access to justice—from survivors of domestic abuse and single mothers to refugees and women in custody—while exposing the hidden mechanics that keep help out of reach. Our guests share how early encounters with prison abuse and death‑penalty training cracked open a lifelong mission, and why specialist women’s services deliver not only dignity but concrete savings and better outcomes.

We break down the centre’s plan: trauma‑informed family law support, public and housing law advocacy, and expert supervision across human rights, criminal law, and safeguarding. The funding needs are immediate and practical—secure case systems, insured advice, protected communications, and kit that lets volunteers act fast—so we can move women from crisis to counsel without delay. Along the way, we map the limits of domestic protections and show how international law, from CEDAW to regional courts and UN guidance, can pressure institutions and back strategic cases when local remedies fail.

Then we pull the fire alarm on cancer care inside women’s prisons in England. Fragmented commissioning, failing providers, broken data sharing, and security‑led decisions mean missed appointments, inappropriate surgeries, blocked helplines, and routine chaining during hospital visits. Dietetic needs are ignored, senior posts go unfilled, and hospitals discharge without care plans, closing the window for chemo and radiotherapy. These are preventable harms. We outline concrete fixes—joined‑up protocols, lawful restraint policies, access to records and support lines, and real oversight of contracts—that align with community standards and basic human rights.

If this conversation moves you, help us build the foundation that cases and lives can stand on. Subscribe, share the episode with someone who cares about justice reform, and leave a review to boost the signal. If you can, donate to help us reach £10,000 and open the doors of the Feminist Justice Coalition pro bono law centre.

Sound edited by Jamie Warren-Green (Umbrella Audio)

Support the show

For more unmissable content from The View sign up here

Support the show

For more unmissable content from The View sign up here

Send us Fan Mail

Justice doesn’t begin with a verdict; it starts in classrooms, homes, and everyday choices that shape who gets pulled into the system long before an arrest. We sit down with lawyer and educator Courtney Teasley to explore how prevention beats punishment when communities are armed with the right knowledge, resources, and strategy.

Courtney traces a path from growing up in a disproportionately affected community to coaching mock trial teams and practising criminal defence for over a decade. Along the way, she exposes stark inequities between well-resourced private schools and students juggling food and housing stress. We unpack three missing literacies—financial, civic, and legal—that leave people “defenseless” even before they meet a lawyer, and we examine how over-policing in schools, heightened suspensions, and prison-like routines feed the school-to-prison pipeline.

At the heart of this conversation is MFN: Mindset, Finesse, and Non-Negotiables. Courtney shows how learning the rules of the system changes outcomes, how to navigate power with care while asserting your rights, and why bright-line boundaries—“I don’t consent,” “I want a lawyer”—must be practised until they’re second nature. We also confront a hard truth: financial stability is a prerequisite for social justice. Courtney explains how underfunded efforts burn out, why sustainable revenue protects independence, and how coaching legal professionals to build resilient practices translates into more impact without martyrdom.

You’ll hear about partnerships with advocacy groups and universities, a growing legal literacy curriculum for schools, and her book series The Easy Way to Learn Your Rights, including a deep dive on the Fifth Amendment. We close with practical resources—from parent guides to an Underground Rights Tour—that help communities act earlier than harm. If you care about disrupting the pipeline, equipping young people, and funding solutions that last, this conversation offers a clear roadmap and tools you can use today.

If this resonates, follow the show, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help more listeners find these resources.

Sound edited by Jamie Warren-Green (Umbrella Audio)

Support the show

For more unmissable content from The View sign up here

Send us Fan Mail

Issue 16 is not an interview. It is a response.

In this episode, writers, editors, and contributors from The View Magazine reflect on the themes, questions, and tensions explored in Issue 16 — justice, resistance, wrongful imprisonment, mental health, Gaza, and institutional failure.

These are personal reflections, professional insight, and honest reactions to stories that demand attention.

What you’re hearing is only part of the conversation. The full writing, research, and visuals live in the pages of Issue 16.

Issue 16 is available now. Subscribe to access the full writing, research, and visuals that bring these conversations to life.

Production: Henry Chukwunyerenwa

Support the show

For more unmissable content from The View sign up here