With worldwide sales in excess of 15 million albums, the Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Joss Stone is without question among the most iconic soul singers of the modern era. She rose to fame at the age of 13 by winning a BBC talent competition and more recently won The Masked Singer. Joss has now reunited with legend Dave Stewart for her new album Never Forget My Love.

In an exclusive interview in the week that her employment tribunal case continues, Maya Forstater speaks to Emma about losing her role at a company in 2019, after she had posted tweets and had conversations about sex and gender. She took her case to an employment tribunal on the basis that, amongst other claims, she had been discriminated against because of her belief – that biological sex is real, important, immutable and cannot be conflated with gender identity. Maya lost the preliminary hearing, on the basis that her beliefs were not protected under the Equality Act 2010, but she appealed and in June 2021 that decision was overturned. The ruling meant that gender critical beliefs are a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. This week the next part of her employment tribunal starts, and it will decide whether her employer discriminated against her because of her belief.

Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Mangaer: Tim Heffer