During a segment on Saturday’s BBC Breakfast, Naga Munchetty could be heard beckoning Charlie Stayt back to the studio as he featured in a live cycling piece in Salford Quays. The BBC presenter ordered Charlie to return and then accused him of “ignoring” her before asking crew members to “go out and get him”.
Introducing the segment Naga said: “If you’re wondering where my partner in crime is he’s outside.
“He’s gone outside in the glorious sunshine on the piazza because miles of new footways, cycle lanes and pedestrian crossings are set to be built as part of plans to create a so-called golden age of cycling and walking in England.”
Charlie spoke to Olympic Gold medalist and Cycling and Walking Commissioner for England Chris Boardman about the scheme.
At the end of the segment, Charlie asked Chris: “Shall we tootle off and go and get a coffee or something?”
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She joined the hosts to discuss how society has changed since she launched the Everyday Sexism Project 10 years ago.
Charlie argued that men may say a comment to their female friends and family members about wanting to keep them safe but it could in fact be damaging.
“They are going out, and they say ‘Wear a big coat’, ‘Take something with you – an alarm’, because they care.”
He asked: “To what extent are they contributing to the problem by doing something that is straightforward, wanting to know someone is safe? You often hear these conversations and think, it is not right that anyone should be required or feel the need to take all those precautions, but what do you say as a man?”
Laura replied: “I understand that it comes from a position of care, and I know it is well-meaning but actually if we really look at that, what that shows is that as a society we are willing to start from a point of accepting that women, on the whole, should be constraining their lives.
“Doing things differently as a response to a small number of men committing small acts of violence.
“But what we would never be prepared to accept is the idea that all men should be constrained in the same way.”
BBC Breakfast airs on BBC One daily at 6am.