That’s Not My Age Podcast Episode 5: Baroness Lola Young

Photo: Annie Johnston
‘When I was younger it never occurred to me that ageing is a bad thing. I think we, particularly women, have developed, or been forced to develop, a mindset that growing old is such a terrible thing, and that you need to do everything in your power to avoid it,’ states Baroness Lola Young, ‘ Of course that has a commercial set of outcomes; make women feel bad about lines on their face, make women feel bad about going grey, make women feel bad about their breasts not being pert… then these brands have the remedy which will make you feel 100% happy, except it doesn’t of course. It’s always seemed to me like a bit of a con trick.’
For this podcast episode, That’s Not My Age visits the Houses of Lords (the second chamber of the UK parliament) to talk to the brilliant Baroness Young of Hornsey OBE. The self-nominated, independent peer is co-founder and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion. We first met back in April at a Fashion Revolution Week panel event, where she spoke insightfully and eloquently on sustainability in the fashion industry, improving working practises and how we should all consume less, take better care of our clothes and keep them longer (AKA the That’s Not My Age way). She loves to shop her wardrobe, ‘I deliberately leave things under my bed, for a couple of seasons, and when I go back to them they feel brand new’ and tries to buy to buy the best she can afford, taking a moment to appreciate the craftsmanship of her clothes.
This week we discuss what it’s really like at the House of Lords, tackling tricky situations, social justice and ‘leading by doing.’ Along the way, we talk about Lola Young’s career, first in acting and then in academia as a professor of Cultural Studies, and what she does in her downtime (plays 5-a-side walking football). All punctuated with with occasional dinging of the Speaker’s division bell.
Lola Young is currently reading the entries for the Staunch Prize, an award which champions authors who produce thrillers without violence against women, which she is judging.
What Lola Young wears:
N.B. This podcast was recorded before the government rejected the recommendations from the Environmental Audit Committee report.
PODCAST LINKS
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PODCAST CREDITS
Producer and audio engineer: Linda Ara-Tebaldi
Host: Alyson Walsh
Guest: Baroness Lola Young
Artwork: Ayumi Takahashi
Music: David Schweitzer
Digital technician: Tom Hole at Stirtingale
Coordinator: Helen Johnson
Thriller without violence against women – YES! Love this woman!