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Courtney Love is back with a new single and will be touring Britain next month. Since her band, Hole first came to fame in the early 1990鈥檚, Courtney Love has been a controversial and striking figure. She鈥檚 known, of course, as the widow of Nirvana鈥檚 Kurt Cobain. But as she approaches 50, has the former wild child grown up? She talks to Jane about her life, her music and what's听next.听

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Courtney Love鈥檚 UK tour opens on May 11th at the Shepherds Bush Empire and continues to May 20th.听This will be her first British tour since 2010.听

When Shirley Williams鈥檚 mother Vera Britten wrote听Testament of Friendship听about her close relationship with the author Winifred Holtby, she felt that female friendship had been 鈥渕ocked, belittled and falsely interpreted.鈥� So, seventy-five years on, what value does society place on female friendship?听 And how is this demonstrated through popular culture? Writer Dawn O鈥橮orter writes books on friendship for young adults and joins Shirley and Jenni to discuss Britten describes as a 鈥渘oble relationship which, far from impoverishing, actually enhances the love of a girl for her lover, of a wife for her husband, of a mother for her children.鈥�

Michelle joins Jane to talk about starring in two of the UK鈥檚 most famous soaps and growing up听 in working-class London with her young single mother in the 60s and 70s. Michelle鈥檚 path towards acting success has included being a punk and starting out as a backing singer. 听As a single mother, Michelle says she鈥檚 been accused of being a man eater and having a bad northern accent, but despite such criticism, she explains how she carved out a successful career in such a competitive industry and how she and her 18 year old daughter are committed feminists.听

As Britain鈥檚 only female Prime Minister, Baroness Thatcher who died nearly a year ago, achieved a record that looks unlikely to be beaten in the near future. But was she a political game changer? Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston and Labour activist and commentator Emma Burnell join Jane Garvey to talk about how far Margaret Thatcher altered the political landscape. With the reveal of听听just a week away, they鈥檒l also discuss who鈥檚 doing what to game change politics today, not just to get more women elected but who鈥檚 helping foster a political culture that people really want to engage with.

Professor Kimberle Crenshaw is the woman who explained why feminism can鈥檛 ignore race. In 1989 she coined the term intersectionality to explain how a woman can experience discrimination because of her race as well as her gender. Many like the way it makes feminism acknowledge the pressing experiences of those outside the white middle class, while others criticise the approach for dividing women. Jenni talks to Kimberle Crenshaw about intersectionality and the how Black women are facing multiple inequalities in the US today.听听

听Pauline Oliveros is an American improvisor, accordionist and composer who is considered a pioneer of electronic classical music in 20th century America. At 81 years old, her career spans some fifty years of boundary breaking music-making, and she听has been听the recipient of numerous awards. This evening she will听perform a real-time improvised performance linking musicians in Stanford (California), Troy (New York) and Montreal. This will be the first performance of this kind in the UK at the听Birmingham Conservatoire.

The performance forms part of听: Extraordinary Music from Downtown New York & Birmingham, a major festival of music presented by Birmingham Conservatoire and Third Ear.

Research carried out by telecommunications operator TalkTalk, recently claimed the most common time to call home is Monday evening at 7pm and the average natter lasts twenty two minutes. It鈥檚 bound to vary hugely between individual families and 听with the rise of social media, the phone is now just one way 听to maintain contact. Is phoning home still the institution 听it once was?听 Actress, Maureen Lipman, who played 听听鈥楤eattie鈥� in the British Telecom TV ads, and Sathnam Sanghera, author of 鈥楳arriage Material join Jenni to discuss.