The popular broadcaster who hosts an honest conversation about current events and tries to leave listeners feeling hopeful about the future is finding her job increasingly difficult

“An hour for yourself, an hour for family and friends, an hour for your community.” This is what one caller to my LBC radio show has decided is the best way to navigate the coming difficult winter, for himself and for those around him. It struck me as ­having a Franciscan simplicity. Overwhelmed by the bad news and the fear he is witnessing around him, this was his prescription.

Every day we hear about the cost of living crisis – here already for many, but gathering momentum like an approaching tsunami for the rest of us. It’s hard to imagine the cold at the moment, still less that it will be deadly for some. But it will be.
I talk about people’s household bills most days on air, and what the government and energy companies should be doing or be made to do to lessen the pain. As with the darkest days of the Covid pandemic, I’m acutely aware that people don’t tune in to my show to be frightened. The job of curating the nation’s experience of current events has to be done responsibly and, I think, hopefully.