Alonement

This week’s guest is Guy Winch, a clinical psychologist, TED speaker and author of Emotional First Aid (plus other books!). He’s also a loneliness expert – a role which I was pretty intrigued by! Anyway, I learnt a lot from recording this episode: about loneliness; about emotional self-reliance versus when to see a therapist; and so much more. Side note: Guy is also hilariously funny – a highlight...

We’re back, baby! It’s a new year, and with it comes a brand new season of Alonement. My first guest is author and presenter Rebecca Seal, whose latest book, SOLO: How To Work Alone (And Not Lose Your Mind), accidentally became one of the most relevant titles of 2020 as many of us faced home-working due to lockdown. After over a decade of running her freelance career from home, Rebecca shares her...

It's the season finale! Since interviewing this week's guest Camilla Thurlow last month, I have been itching to share this episode with you. The bomb disposal expert turned Love Island star (and former Miss Edinburgh) is one of the loveliest, most articulate people I've ever had the privilege to interview, and I am absolutely empowered by her life philosophy of putting herself in challenging situa...

If I could sum up Felicity Cloake's lifestyle in two words, it would be: solo glamour. From cooking up solo dining feasts to taking an independent six-week cycling holiday across France (albeit joined by pals at intervals along the way), the Guardian food writer and author truly lives her philosophy that, in her words, 'you are worth eating something nice for on your own'. I  love and have been th...

I was touched by the honesty of this week’s guest, Matthew Stadlen. During our candid conversation, the LBC presenter and journalist opens up about the challenges of dating after a recent divorce, navigating a marriage breakdown and living alone during a pandemic. Later on, we also discuss Matthew’s passion for birdwatching (and he answers my VERY basic questions as to what birdwatching actually,...

HELLO and happy September! This week’s guest is radio and television presenter Vick Hope a.k.a ‘The New Voice of a Generation’ (to quote a recent Sunday Times Style article). My conversation with BBC Radio 1's new addition meanders from Nigerian cooking journey during lockdown to love languages and the joy of dancing like no one's watching while alone at home.  During this recording, Vick also rem...

I’m calling it – this podcast should be compulsory listening for all single people. Scratch that –  all people. Shani Silver, host of the A Single Serving podcast, radiates sunshine and NYC cool girl vibes (she's based in Brooklyn) in this episode. She’s a woman with a mission; a key voice, and a lovely one, within the single positivity movement, redefining the way we see being single. In her word...

So – pinch me. If you'd told eight-year-old me that I'd one day get to interview 'Blue Peter' presenter Konnie Huq when I grew up, it would have been way too exciting to process. As it happens, 28-year-old me managed to keep it together (just about) in order to interview the lovely presenter-turned-children's author about alone time, finding genuine happiness away from the spotlight and why she's...

Alonement gets tremendously highbrow this week. Fans of comedy and Philip Larkin alike will love this episode with radio presenter and stand-up comedian John Robins. Since winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2017 with his show, ‘The Darkness of Robins’ – and performing the show on the Live at the Apollo stage the following year – John has become a household name. In this episode, we discuss ever...

So, you know when you’re *supposed* to be interviewing someone professionally and you end up just chatting away like mates? Such was my experience of interviewing this week’s guest, Sophia Money-Coutts – the former features director at Tatler and now a thrice-published author – resulting in a laughter-filled episode which covers everything from egg freezing; solo travel; Zoom fatigue; and what hap...

Introducing my joint first guest of season two, mental health activist Jonny Benjamin MBE! I laughed and I cried in equal measure while producing this episode, which has themes ranging from Jonny’s mental health journey; his experience of growing up gay in the Jewish community; and the perils of hiding your phone from yourself when you live alone. Jonny was SO funny and easy to talk to – qualities...

Florence Given is an illustrator, Instagram sensation and now a debut author, with the release of her bestselling book, Women Don’t Owe You Pretty. It’s not hard to understand why she was voted Cosmopolitan’s Influencer of the Year ‘19. Famous for slogans such as ‘Dump Him’ and ‘Don’t Raise Him He’s Not Your Son’, Florence is an intelligent and refreshingly original feminist voice.    While speaki...

It’s the SEASON FINALE! Meeting Daisy Buchanan earlier this year for this recording felt strangely familiar. I’ve been reading Daisy’s wonderful words for years, and when she arrived at my flat it felt like she had leapt straight out of the page: thoughtful, funny and with superhuman levels of emotional intelligence.   In this episode – the season finale for first ever Alonement series – we discus...

One of the great perks of recording this podcast is the chance to chat to some of my career idols. This week’s guest, former British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman, is not only someone I’ve looked up to for years, but also my former boss. I began my career as a Vogue intern – where I picked up many of the skills that have seen me through my journalistic jobs, and got to see Alexandra – the longest...

It’s official: scientists are the new celebrities – which is why I’m so delighted to have one as my remote guest for the second special COVID-19 episode of the Alonement podcast.   British-born nanotechnologist Dr Michelle Dickinson, a long-term friend to Jacinda Ardern, has been working with New Zealand’s Prime Minister to help communicate the science behind COVID-19 to the public.   Day to day,...

How will we live and spend time alone after COVID-19? I interview Eric Klinenberg, sociologist and author of 'Going Solo', about how our attitudes towards solitude might shift in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. What are the unique challenges towards valuing alone time in an age of social distancing? How will our romantic relationships change? Will companies push their employees towards remot...

From the word go, Poorna Bell was one of my DREAM guests for the podcast  – so I was a little bit delighted when she agreed to be on series one.  We recorded this episode back in February, before Covid-19 worries really hit the UK, yet our conversation will resonate for anyone learning to value their alone time right now.  Poorna shares how she discovered her need for time alone, with her thoughts...

In this week’s episode, I interview one of the most exciting debut authors of the moment – Derek Owusu, the first novelist to sign with Stormzy's publishing imprint, Merky Books. We discuss the role of identity in Derek's writing – which is heavily inspired by his own life – and the difficulty he faces when separating his own emotions and experiences and that of his characters in his debut novel,...

Alice Liveing is a part-time personal trainer, part-time superhero. A three-time bestselling author, she’s a woman on a mission to change our idea of what strength looks like, hosting a podcast of her own, Give Me Strength, where she chats to everyone from Olympians to glossy magazine editors about what their idea of strength looks like.  I’ve followed Alice on Instagram for years, where she share...

Meet Jo Good, the original poster girl for alonement. You’ll likely know Jo as the chatty BBC Radio London talk show host who can – and does – talk for hours a day about everything under the sun for a living. Yet – Jo, a former actress, is also a paradox because, despite her public persona, she most adores time alone when she’s not talking to anyone. Living in a flat in Marylebone with her bulldog...

If there’s one thing Jada, a body-positive model and UN Women ambassador stands for, it’s empowerment – and that quality radiated from her like sunshine throughout this recording.  By the time she arrived at my flat at 10am – looking characteristically gorgeous – she had already appeared on national news to promote body diversity in advertising. The day before, she’d qualified for a motorcycle lic...

Hello, and welcome to the debut episode of the alonement podcast! The show got off to a flying start when Alain de Botton kindly agreed to be my first guest – a brilliant (if not a little daunting) beginning. I was soon reassured upon arriving at Alain’s office in north London. In person, the philosopher, author and School of Life founder is every bit as quick-witted and articulate as those innume...

Alonement is a podcast dedicated to the most important relationship you will ever have: your relationship with yourself. Host Francesca Specter speaks to interviewees from Alain de Botton to Poorna Bell about the time they spend alone, and why it matters.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.