Lauren Laverne: 'I take a no-brow approach to culture'

Indie girl turned cultural bigshot Lauren Laverne talks to John Harris in the latest of his National Conversations series of interviews. In a wide-ranging and candid conversation, they discuss sexism on TV, the break-up of her band Kenickie, nostalgia, and her once calling the Spice Girls 'Tory scum'.

Back in her native north-east, Lauren Laverne's father's an academic and her mother's a Labour councillor. While still in her teens, she moved south to launch her band Kenickie at the tail-end of the Britpop era.

When Kenickie fizzled out, she deftly moved into television presenting, and then writing. She's now got her own radio show on BBC 6Music; she's the face of the BBC's Glastonbury coverage; she's a published novelist; she has a column in Grazia magazine; as well as two small children.

In a wide-ranging and candid conversation, John and Lauren unpick no end of issues: sexism on TV, whether radio is also one big boys' club, what to do when you realise your pop career is over, whether or not you should go public with your politics, and much, much more.