The consumer power of women, The week in politics, Author Sue Cheung

Researchers tell us women are responsible for the majority of consumer decisions, making an estimated 80% of purchases, and most of the final decisions on which clothing, food, or even family holidays to buy. We’re also told that women are typically more concerned about the climate, and keener to make environmentally conscious decisions. So how much power and responsibility do women consumers really have? And what are the most efficient forms of sustainable consumerism? In a week of extraordinary politics, how have female MPs and advisors fared? We discuss the sacking of special advisor Sonia Khan, the female Conservative rebels, and the “macho” culture of parliament with Katy Balls, deputy political editor at The Spectator and Helen Lewis, staff writer at The Atlantic. A few weeks ago we asked listeners to send us a picture that somehow captured them at their best. Not just looking it but feeling it. Hundreds of you got in touch with pictures of your best day, and we’ll be running as many of your stories as we can. Today Helen Childerhouse tells Laura Thomas about a photo that changed the way she saw herself. Author Sue Cheung reflects on her up-bringing and how it informed her young-adult novel Chinglish: the funny and sometimes tragic diary of a girl and her family who live above their Chinese takeaway in 1980s Coventry. Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Helen Fitzhenry