Holly Cairns is the Social Democrats spokesperson on agriculture, food and the marine, and further and higher education and disability.

In the interview, Holly questioned the source of figures that indicated that the difference in earnings between men and women was concentrated in the over-40s, with no statistically-significant difference in earnings for those under 40. This information comes from the same Eurostat studies that Holly draws her 14 per cent earnings difference from; the Journal have an excellent article on it here, which includes this graph:

The same article notes that among full-time workers:

women, on average, work fewer hours each month than men – 129 as opposed to 149.

So men work 20 hours more per month, almost exactly one hour per day. That creates a difference between the gender earnings gap and the gender pay gap - with the latter adjusted to reflect the difference in working hours.

Figures on the pay gap are sometimes also adjusted to account for qualifications and years of experience, but are generally not adjusted to reflect what happens during those years, such as the difference in working hours.

As Holly noted, all these figures are typically calculated based on full-time workers only, bypassing the fact that part-time work is dominated by women.

The most dangerous professions, as calculated by the US department of Labor is as follows:

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I try to steer away from jargon on this podcast, but I’ve got two jargon words to give you here. The words are MUP and BOGOF.

Before I tell you what those mean, let me apologise for the background noise. I'm not in my usual little back bedroom improvised studio at the moment, I’ve managed to get away, so I’m complying with all the covid regulations by self-isolating by the seaside. On a small Greek island. Good weather, nice beaches, small taverns, cheap wine. Try not to be jealous.

But maybe you should be a bit jealous of the cheap wine.