JENNI MURRAY: Now I know why Rebecca Ferguson's career never took off…

I'll never forget going to watch The X Factor in 2010 and seeing a young working-class girl from Liverpool take to the stage. Her name was Rebecca Ferguson. She was 23, beautiful, elegantly dressed and when she opened her mouth to sing, I could hardly believe my ears. She was so good, I felt like I could have listened to Aretha Franklin.

I followed her through the next few episodes. I even voted for her, which I have never done before or since in a TV talent show. I was sure she would achieve worldwide fame and fortune.

It didn't happen and I didn't understand why. Now it is. This week she spoke to the cross-party Women and Equality Committee to give evidence to its inquiry into Misogyny in Music. It concluded that women face 'endemic' discrimination in the music industry, which was described as a 'boys club'.

Ferguson had some success with her first album and some TV appearances. She then announced in 2012 that she would sue her management company for allowing her to work until she collapsed.

It is only now, over a decade later, in this new report that we learn how poorly she was treated.

When she tried to separate from her management team, “security personnel were told to infiltrate and purposefully destroy my personal relationships.”

Comments were made to her or about her behind her back. “When you make as much money as you do, you do what we say” or “She's good, isn't she?” We just have to break her spirit.”

Another staff member told her, “He only wants you to perform because you're black.”

Both racism and misogyny run through many of the stories told to the committee. Former Radio One DJ Annie Macmanus said there is 'a tidal wave of revelations about sexual violence in the industry waiting to be told'.

It almost seems like the #MeToo movement has bypassed music to some extent. So many women and girls had to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and were terrified that speaking out about rape or sexual violence would end their budding careers.

Fellow The perpetrator, she claims, was a member of the reality show team. . She did not file a formal complaint, “because I thought I would be blacklisted and never work again.”

Annie Macmanus painted the picture of a 'boys club' where women faced expulsion and, in some cases, legal action if they spoke out about abuses. Other anonymous contributors told stories of waking up with male colleagues on top of them trying to undress them. When they challenged them, they were fired and put in a situation where they had to choose between quitting or paying the bills.

Another woman told how she successfully brought a wrongful dismissal case against a record label, but then found it impossible to find work in the industry. “They had to pay me off, but I, the victim, lost my career,” she said.

The committee is aware that many of the stories told to it of abhorrent sexual and bullying behavior had to remain anonymous due to non-disclosure agreements.

But they didn't need anyone to tell them how poorly women in the music world are generally treated. Women earn much less than men. Female artists are expected to comply with their management's demands on how they dress, sexy performances and personal appearances in a way that never happens with a man.

It doesn't matter how high you go, or how powerful you appear to be – no woman is safe from abuse. Look at Taylor Swift – universally loved and admired by both men and women. But some horrible pervert used artificial intelligence to edit the most obscene pornography so that the faces were those of Taylor. It can happen to anyone.

Revenge porn, which involves posting an individual's real photos, is illegal in Britain, but manipulated images like Swift's, known as 'deepfakes', are not. They should be.

There is plenty that the Women and Equality Commission can work on. MPs have welcomed the creation of a single, recognizable body, the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, which they say should help shine a light on 'the unacceptable behavior in the music industry'. The committee's MPs have made a number of recommendations to tackle misogyny and discrimination. It also says it is essential that non-disclosure agreements are prohibited in cases of sexual abuse, harassment or bullying.

Let's hope this opens up the possibility that young women in the music industry can finally say #MeToo. So far, the government has agreed that all women should be able to work in a music sector free from misogyny and discrimination.

It said: 'The government will carefully consider the committee's recommendations.' I hope I'm wrong in thinking this means, “We will read them and put them away.” The stories are too painful and too many to ignore.

Of course, it is committee chair Caroline Noakes who came up with the only proposal likely to have any real effect. 'A shift in the behavior of men – and it's almost always men – at the heart of the music industry is the transformative change that is needed.' In blunt terms, this means “Behave, guys.” Hear, hear!

It's hard to get back to your old self, Kate

Two weeks in the hospital and then home. I doubt whether the Princess of Wales will feel any better than I did when I had to leave the comfort and constant care of the ward earlier this month. It's hard to be the person everyone wants you to be at home with.

Obviously I don't have young children anymore, so you don't have to say, 'Be careful, don't try to pinch me there!' But even older people have expectations of cheerfulness if you really can't handle it.

I'm constantly improving so that things can get better. It is also a relief not to have your blood pressure measured six times a day.

Finally, an acknowledgment that those massive SUVs known as Chelsea Tractors don't belong in any city. They cause potholes and take up too much space on the roads. And as a result, they will now have to pay more for parking in London. SUV drivers should pay a fortune, please – get rid of them and give me and my little Mini a chance.

Is Ukraine now pressuring men to fight?

Zoriana, my Ukrainian guest, deals with the fact that her son is at university in Lviv while she is here with courageous calm. Air raid sirens regularly sound on her phone; even the west of the country is at risk of being bombed. However, yesterday was the first time I saw her shed a tear.

She had news: a friend had been pressured into the army. He had been on a business trip in an area he was unfamiliar with. He saw two men on the side of the road and stopped to ask for directions. He was taken out of the car.

He was allowed to make one call and the phone was confiscated. He was the victim of extreme military service.

His wife managed to prove that they had three children, one of whom is a baby, and that he could go home. But it suggests that Ukraine is so desperate for soldiers that the press-gang method, used by the Royal Navy in 17th and 18th century Britain, is now in force. Men are now afraid to go to bars or clubs in case they are picked up to fight with minimal training. Terrifying.