It's Friday I'm on Leftie Island

It's Friday I'm Not Here for the Drama: MAFS UK, Consent and Adult Gap Years

Content note: the first topic discusses sexual assault. There is a warning at the top of that section and chapter markers if you would like to skip ahead.Married at First Sight UK has been pulled from Channel 4 after three former brides made allegations against their on-screen husbands. We use it as a way into a bigger question: what does reality TV actually ask people to consent to? This week also brings a new segment, the Moan-In, where we rule on the small things winding us up, from subscriptions to badly designed pub toilets. And we get into the very tempting idea of the adult gap year, prompted by reports that Tess Daly wanted time out to travel. Along the way: the BBC Panorama investigation, the Jeremy Kyle and Love Island welfare scandals, contestant consent and image rights signed away forever, and whether your 50s are the perfect time to step back and reinvent. If anything in this episode affected you: Samaritans, free on 116 123, or Rape Crisis England and Wales, free on 0808 500 2222. Follow us: 🎙 Podcast: ⁠@FridayImInBed⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbed/] 💋 Gemma: ⁠@GemmaSeager⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager/] ✨ Kate: ⁠@FearlessAt50⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50/] 💌 Subscribe to The Zine for bonus content and Friday extras: ⁠https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc⁠ [https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc]

It's Friday I'm Still in Trauma from P.E.

At what point does commenting on women’s bodies stop being something we all just do, and start being the actual problem? This week we look at how school PE shaped a generation of women’s relationships with their own bodies — and why 4.1 million British women in their 50s and 60s are still avoiding exercise because of it. Then Kate takes us to Olivia Rodrigo’s baby doll dress and the internet meltdown that followed. Age UK’s new “Act Now, Age Better” campaign builds on research showing 40% of women aged 50-65 still remember feeling self-conscious in school PE, 40% were picked last for teams, and almost half dreaded the lesson. Gem (40-something personal trainer, regular parkrunner) takes us through what’s really being asked of midlife women when the wellness industry says “just move more.” Then Kate traces Olivia Rodrigo’s baby doll dress back through its history — 1940s pin-up, 60s mod, 90s grunge — and asks why female performers are still expected to wear less than the men they share stages with. Plus the bit nobody quite wants to say out loud: when does objecting to what women wear stop being a feminist concern and start being its own form of policing? Follow us: 🎙 Podcast: @FridayImInBed [https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbed/] 💋 Gemma: @GemmaSeager [https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager/] ✨ Kate: @FearlessAt50 [https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50/] 💌 Subscribe to The Zine for bonus content and Friday extras: https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc [https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc] Helpful links: * Age UK Act Now, Age Better campaign: ageuk.org.uk/actnow [https://www.ageuk.org.uk/actnow] * Age UK's full research on PE trauma: press release [https://www.ageuk.org.uk/latest-press/articles/millions-in-midlife-put-off-exercise-for-life-by-school-pe-lessons---as-new-campaign-from-age-uk-calls-on-the-nation-to-act-now-age-better/] * Women's Running coverage: womensrunning.co.uk/news/act-now-age-better [https://www.womensrunning.co.uk/news/act-now-age-better/]

It's Friday I'm Not Growing Old Alone

This week on Friday I'm in Bed; we're looking at two ends of the spectrum- young people who aren't going out, and older women working out who they actually want to live the rest of their lives with. Different demographics, same quiet rewriting of the script. Kate kicks us off with the slow death of going out. A pint has hit £10 in some places, two pubs a day are closing in the UK, and a quarter of late-night venues have shut since 2020. Gen Z, broadly, isn't picking up the slack- they're at the gym, they're on coffee, they're saving for houses, and they don't fancy ending up as a blurry shape in someone else's TikTok story. We get into cost of living, sober curiosity, the think-25 rule, and the Mediterranean model of slow evenings, family, and food that we keep gesturing at. Gem fondly remembers a bottle of La Mancha and ten Silk Cut for under a fiver. Kate remembers her mum giving her taxi money she absolutely did not spend on a taxi. Then Gem brings us the story of Pat Dunn, a Canadian woman who, after losing her husband and finding herself googling how to live safely in her car at 70, set up a Facebook group looking for housemates. It now has hundreds of members and has paired up dozens of older women into shared homes. We use it as a springboard for the bigger question: who are we actually planning to grow old alongside, and why do we keep assuming the answer is a husband or kids? We talk about the pension gap, the 1 in 5 over-50s in the UK without children, the 70% of over-65s living alone who are women, and Gem's conversation with a friend about writing each other into wills. There's a Golden Girls scenario for everyone. Follow us on Instagram @FridayImInBed [https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbed] @GemmaSeager [https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager] @FearlessAt50 [https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50] Sign up to The Zine for bonus bits and useful links https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc [https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc] Topics covered: pub closures UK, £10 pint, Gen Z drinking habits, sober curious, late-night venues closing, Mediterranean drinking culture, grassroots music venues, Senior Women Living Together, Pat Dunn, older women co-housing, female friendship in midlife, ageing without children, chosen family, women's pensions gap, planning for retirement. Helpful links * Senior Women Living Together (Pat Dunn's organisation) [https://swlt.ca] * Ageing Without Children [https://awoc.org.uk] * Older Women's Co-Housing (OWCH) [https://owch.org.uk] * Gateway Women / Childless Collective [https://gateway-women.com]

It's Friday I'm on Leftie Island

It's Friday I'm an Angry Young Woman (Apparently) This week we're unpacking the New Statesman's "Angry Young Women" cover story, the right-wing press meltdown that followed, and the very tired playbook of describing women's politics by their hair colour. Plus: is the manosphere really equivalent to the so-called "femosphere"? Then Stella McCartney has done another collaboration with H&M - and we're asking whether the most famously sustainable designer in fashion can team up with a fast-fashion giant without it being greenwashing in beaded form. Plus a slight tangent into ASOS return fees, the privilege of charity-shop hauls, and why "reduce" is the R nobody wants to talk about. And in this week's Zine 🍷 we get into MPs drinking on the job, the Hannah Spencer story, the Westminster pushback, and why a subsidised pint at lunchtime would get the rest of us sacked. Subscribe to the Zine here [https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc] for the bonus episode and the rest. Follow us 📷 Podcast: @FridayImInBed [https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbed] 📷 Gem: @GemmaSeager [https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager] 📷 Kate: @FearlessAt50 [https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50] 📬 The Zine: Subscribe here [https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc] Topics covered: angry young women, femosphere, manosphere, New Statesman, Greta Thunberg, Green Party, luxury beliefs, Leftie Island, Stella McCartney H&M, greenwashing, fast fashion, sustainable fashion, ASOS returns, Victoria Beckham Gap, over-consumption, charity shop hauls, reduce reuse recycle Helpful links * Meet the Angry Young Women — New Statesman, Emily Lawford [https://www.newstatesman.com/cover-story/2026/04/meet-the-angry-young-women-why-young-women-dont-want-to-date-me] (paywall) * Forget the manosphere. It's angry Leftie women we need to worry about — Rowan Pelling, Telegraph, 16 April 2026 [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/16/greta-thunberg-aoc-radicalisation-of-young-women-femospher/] (paywall) * Stella McCartney x H&M collection [https://ae.hm.com/en/shop-stella-mccartney-hm] (Launching 7th May)

It's Friday I'm Here for a Walk in the Park

This week on Friday I'm in Bed, we're looking at the week's most questionable advertising decisions, and asking why the people writing the copy never seem to include anyone who might actually be affected by it. We start with Nike, who put a sign outside their Boston store ahead of the city's marathon that said "Runners Welcome. Walkers Tolerated" — and then appeared at London parkruns that same week with billboards telling people they "didn't come all this way for a walk in the park." They've since apologised. Twice. In one week. We get into why the word "tolerated" isn't just clumsy, it's a whole attitude — and what it tells us about gatekeeping in fitness culture and who gets to decide who belongs. Then Kate brings in an AI "employee" campaign that's been getting called out for sexism, because apparently we can build artificial intelligence but we can't build it without making it a woman in a pencil skirt. And we wrap up with Madonna at Coachella, a woman who performed at 67 and was greeted with commentary about her face. Grab a cuppa. Let's get into it. Follow us on Instagram@FridayImInBed — https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbedpodcast [https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbedpodcast]@GemmaSeager — https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager [https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager]@FearlessAt50 — https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50 [https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50] In this episode * Nike's "Runners Welcome. Walkers Tolerated" billboard at the Boston Marathon — the backlash, the withdrawal, and why the word "tolerated" matters * Nike at London parkruns: uninvited ambush marketing at Peckham Rye, Brockwell Park, and Crystal Palace Park, with signs telling people they "didn't come all this way for a walk in the park" * Gatekeeping in running and fitness culture — who gets to decide who belongs * Ableism in advertising and the pressure on disabled and older people in exercise spaces * An AI "employee" ad campaign called out for sexism * Madonna at Coachella 2026: performing at 67 and why we're still talking about her face