FEATURE:
Trouble Man
IN THIS PHOTO: Caitlin Moran
The Trouble Club in 2026, and Being a Better, Vocal Feminist
__________
I am not going to look back…
IN THIS PHOTO: Emma-Louise Boynton
at all the events I have attended this year with The Trouble Club. You can follow them on Instagram. They are wonderfully led by its CEO and owner: supreme queen Ellie Newton. An amazing team around her too (including Zea and Jen). I was really affected by the most recent event I attended. I want to look ahead to a few, including one where I have a double booking dilemma! This year has been a terrific year for The Trouble Club. In terms of new faces, I attend a lot of new talks/events and I see a lot of fascinated Trouble members who are here for the first time. Thee have been some incredible highlights from this year. Kate Ade and Lyse Doucet were terrific. Maybe Kate Adie was the best guest I have ever seen speak for The Trouble Club. In terms of her honest and the things she has seen. Reporting from hostile and violent territories, she is amazingly brave and inspiring. To be honest, there has been a rich variety of guests. I am going to look ahead to some events upcoming that I am excited to attend. However, the one I am referring to happened yesterday (9th April). Journalist, broadcaster and royal commentator Afua Hagan and multi-award-winning barrister Dr. Charlotte Proudman were in conversation with Ellie Newton. Going into the evening, I knew about the work of Hagan and Proudman. I had actually seen the later speak for Trouble last year. However, I was probably not prepared for what was to come! I have been following the Epstein Files and the news around it. The development. How it has been buried, and the conflict in Iraq has taken over. Almost like a man mentioned in the Epstein Files thousands of times started it to divert attention away from it! It was such a fascinating evening at the Century Cub. What was said again and again is, despite the fact there are millions of pages and so many names (redacted), no arrests have been made. The only person in prison – who is deservedly in there – is a woman: Ghislaine Maxwell. A system set up to serve me is protecting men. Also, in terms of what we know, the truth is so much worse! Dr. Proudman and Afua Hagan made that very clear. In their capacities and roles, they shared so many fascinating insights and facts. To be honest, I was in a bit of a daze leaving the event, as it was so disturbing and dark at times.
What was clearest from all of this is how little consideration had been given to the victims. The brave and amazing women who have had to endure years (and sometimes decades) of not getting justice, it is unimaginable what they are going through! There was a Q&A at the end of the event. There were some great questions asked and a couple of tense moments. It was charged but respectful. There was one question asked with a bit of a caveat (if that is the right word?!) before. I think one woman who asked a question gave the impression that women were on their own when it came to this. How it was women fighting for the truth and, when it comes to cases of sexual assault and abuse, it is women on their own. It was pointed out that many men – including those at the Trouble event – were shocked and appalled by the Epstein Files and how there have been no arrests and so many horrible men are living free. It got me thinking about this dilemma. It certainly seems on paper that women are completely alone and have to fight without support. Though it is not the case that no men are invested, whether identifying as feminists or simply showing care, there is relatively little vocalisation. I would consider myself an ally, and yet I am not as proactive and vocal as I could be. The recent Trouble Club event lit something in me. The severity of the Epstein Files and what I, and so many other men, can do. It does seem completely helpless at the moment. A woman at the event asked what can be done. When it seems to horrendous. Whilst there is no easy fix and we might never have the Epstein Files unredacted and bring men to justice, there are small steps and continued efforts that can be taken. I do wonder about what I can do. I write a lot and raise issues and highlight problems. Yet, what do I do beyond that? I think one of my main ambitions and goals this year is to be much more proactive and involved. I keep thinking back to what was revealed about the Epstein Files. Women, the victims, are almost seen as anonymous and sub-human. They have not had justice served. It is being buried under war and horrifying events from around the world. Donald Trump, one of the key names in the Epstein Files, creating war to take the heat off of something that should be at the front and centre of the news!
Looking ahead, there are some incredible events that I am looking forward to. Including one where I am double booked and in a bit of a dilemma. The Culture Roundup with Lara Olszowska, on Tuesday (14th April), will be amazing. Olszowska has hosted for The Trouble Club a number of times and her Cultural Roundup will be a must-see/hear. Dame Harriet Walter: When She Speaks, The World Listens! takes place at Ladbroke Hall on 22nd April:” Name a great Shakespearean woman (Cleopatra, Lady Macbeth, Portia), Dame Harriet has worn the frock and got the T-shirt. She’s also strapped on a metaphorical codpiece and taken on some of the greatest male roles too, including Brutus and Henry IV. Dame Harriet knows Shakespeare so well that she decided to write some new dialogue for his best female characters. In She Speaks!, she creates thirty new parts for Shakespeare’s women, revealing what they might really have been thinking. "I worship Shakespeare. His psychological insight is second to none, but the mirror that he held up to nature reflected a predominantly male image of the world. I pondered the long shadow of his genius and tried to think of ways to let a little sunlight in on some of his women’s stories. I like to think he wouldn’t mind." Join us as Dame Harriet describes what it’s like to live inside the skin of so many extraordinary characters and to embody them so fully that you can almost peer into their minds. For one night only, Dame Harriet Walter will speak, and we will all be listening”. On 12th May – a few days after my birthday! -, Sophia Smith Galer: How to Kill A Language will be held at The Conduit in Covent Garden: “As Sophia Smith Galer’s Nonna lay dying, she realised it wasn’t just a beloved grandmother she was losing, it was the language she spoke, too. From Northern Italy, she spoke a dialët that Sophia, like so many children and grandchildren of migrants, can understand but can’t speak. With the death of the language, Sophia would lose a culture, a history, an inheritance, a whole world. This tragedy reaches far beyond her family. Globally we are witnessing an unprecedented mass extinction event. By the end of this century half of the world’s 7000 languages will be gone, killed by war, climate breakdown, migration, nationalism or neglect, along with the vital knowledge that they have sustained for centuries. Award-winning journalist Sophia Smith Galer has journeyed across continents and generations to report from this disappearing world and she'll join us to share the scale of the tragedy and the beauty of languages that may soon disappear forever”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Sophia Smith Galer
On 20th May, Caitlin Moran and Bryony Gordon are in conversation. This is the event of this year that I am most looking forward to! I am a huge fan of both, though I have wanted to see Caitlin Moran speak for years! She is someone I admire hugely. Unfortunately, on the same evening, a gig that was rearranged from last year (Iraina Mancini not aware of my conundrum and Caitlin Moran fandom!). An artist I am a big fan of, there is a bit of a dilemma, so I am not sure what the outcome will be yet. However, it is going to be one of the all-time best Trouble events: “Join us as we sit down with bestselling authors and professional over-sharers Caitlin Moran and Bryony Gordon for a fabulous evening of confession and collective catharsis. Caitlin and Bryony aren’t therapists, accountants, or relationship experts. What they do excel at is highlighting the embarrassing and the very very messy, and talking about it openly so we can all feel a little more okay about being imperfect. Throughout the evening we will journey through Caitlin and Bryony's life via the best and most dangerous advice they've ever received. Friendship, failure, politeness, people-pleasing, sex, sacrifice, it's all on the table along with many existential wobbles. Caitlin Moran is one of Britain's most influential columnists and a bestselling author of many books. She writes regularly on everything from culture to sex and marriage, motherhood and body image to social media, highlighting the existential joys and angst of modern womanhood. Bryony Gordon is an award-winning journalist, author and mental health campaigner. As well as writing a column for The Daily Mail, she is the writer of six Sunday Times Bestselling books, including "Mad Girl" and "You Got This", which both went to number one”. An event I will definitely be at (unless there is another gig rejig!) is on 28th May at The Ministry. Let’s Talk About Pleasure with Emma-Louise Boynton. I have seen Boynton speak for The Trouble Club before, and she is a podcaster and author that I admire hugely. Such a passionate, intelligent and beautiful speaker: “Like every Good Girl or Woman, I had perfected the performance of pleasure with aplomb. I knew how to writhe and moan and move my body to a sexual rhythm; I’d just lost, or perhaps never truly discovered, the ability to enjoy it. And so while my body performed pleasure, my mind wandered off...” Emma-Louise Boynton, author of Pleasure, thinks and talks about sex every day. The founder of Sex Talks will join us at The Trouble Club to discuss her journey from being unable to orgasm and battling a years-long eating disorder, to rebuilding her relationship with sex, desire and intimacy. The story begins in the sex therapy room, where Emma first discovered that her struggle with bulimia was deeply entangled with her experience of sexual numbness. From there, she'll expand outward - drawing on expert interviews, cultural analysis and immersive research (including four days on a porn set) - to reveal that this rupture between women and their bodies is not a personal failure, but a systemic one. From narrow ideals around desirability and sexist narratives about aging, to the policing of women's pleasure, and the emotional alienation of app-based intimacy, Emma will interrogate the forces that teach women to mistrust their bodies and perform rather than feel their pleasure”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Zadie Smith
There are two events in June. Both happening at St Marylebone Church. Zadie Smith: Dead & Alive is going to be a hugely popular event. It takes place on 2nd June. Zadie Smith is one of our most celebrated authors. If you have not booked a ticket yet, then you are going to want to book your place. I am definitely excited to be there:
“Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.”
“You are never stronger…than when you land on the other side of despair.”
Zadie Smith is one of Britain’s most celebrated contemporary writers, penning era-defining titles like White Teeth and On Beauty that have delighted and intrigued readers for decades. Zadie will join us to discuss not only her most renowned, bestselling novels but also her latest book of essays, Dead and Alive.
This evening will be an opportunity to hear Zadie reflect on her greatest works and share what she really thinks about big and small topics such as:
Glastonbury and the ascendance of Stormzy
Films like Tár and artists like Toyin Ojih Odutola and Kara Walker
Changes of government on both sides of the Atlantic
The death of writers like Joan Didion, Hilary Mantel and Toni Morrison
Cultural appropriation, gender and so much more...
Join us as Zadie demonstrates her unrivalled ability to think critically and humanely through some of the most urgent preoccupations and tendencies of our troubled times”.
Having seen her speak before for The Trouble Club, I am very much looking ahead to Lucy Worsley’s All-Time Favourite Women on 19th June. This is going to be another wonderful event. If you are not a Trouble member, then I would thoroughly recommend it. I have just highlighted some upcoming events. There are book club events and member breakfasts. It is a chance for members to socialise and connect in a different way. The events held bring together incredible women across multiple fields. Every one memorable in their own way:
“Five women. Centuries of history. One briliant historian.
Lucy Worsley has read the letters, walked the rooms, worn the clothes and pieced together the lives. Now she's joining us at Trouble to share the five historical women she can't stop thinking about, and why they deserve your attention.
The brilliant, the bold and of course - the troublemakers. Women who changed the course of events, women who survived against the odds and women whose stories are so extraordinary you'll wonder why nobody told you sooner.
Lucy will share the stories, the details, and the facts that make each one unforgettable. Come with your questions, your own nominations, and maybe a few opinions of your own. Fair warning! You'll be down a Wikipedia rabbit hole by midnight.
Lucy Worsley is one of television's best-known historians. Over 15 years of landmark BBC documentaries from Six Wives with Lucy Worsley to Lucy Worsley Investigates, she has brought some of history's most dramatic chapters vividly to life, earning a BAFTA in 2019 for her film on the Suffragettes. A bestselling author of numerous non-fiction and children's books, her most recent publication is a biography of Agatha Christie. She is also the host of Lady Killers, one of the BBC's most downloaded podcasts, and she was appointed an OBE in 2018 for services to history and heritage”.
I am going to leave it there. I wanted to split this into two parts. Finishing off with upcoming events at The Trouble Club. Though I am thinking about the discussion between Charlotte Proudman and Afua Hagan (and Ellie Newton). It was not only one of the most powerful and best. It has also affected me in a way to make change and be better. Maybe not even as a feminist. As a human being. Hearing about the horror of the Epstein Files and the women who have not found justice and the men who are walking free, it shows that justice is set up by men to serve men. That is something that needs to change in the world. Victims need to be heard, honoured and supported. The bravery they display is simply astonishing! Things will not change quickly or easily, yet there will be better days and improvement. Collective action and concerted effort (from everyone). A better and more just future is…
WONDERFUL to imagine.