I know there’s a lot of serious things I could and perhaps should be writing about right now… but sometimes you’ve got to stop scouring the news, stop refreshing your Twitter feed and enjoy life’s good stuff. Tina Brown went to Oxford at 17, was published by the New Statesman while still a student, and… Continue reading Sunday good stuff
Category: feminism
On skincare and sanctimony
Drummer Boy and I once had an argument about skincare so fierce that once we’d calmed down, we had to agree to never discuss the topic again. It began when I mused – innocently, I thought – aloud, “I probably know more about skincare than you, to be fair,” and ended with us shouting at… Continue reading On skincare and sanctimony
On mixed signals
In the 2012 film Mud, the eponymous hero – played beautifully by Matthew McConaughey – utters the line: “a boat in a tree – hell of a thing, ain’t it? A hell of a thing.” A hell of a thing. “Mixed signals” – hell of a phrase, isn’t it? It can mean whatever the person… Continue reading On mixed signals
Too many men
I’ve always thought I’ve been extraordinarily lucky with men. Most of the ones I’ve come across have been good, kind, decent guys. Pretty much all the ones I have in my life right now would rather remove their own eyes with a spoon than hurt a woman. I can honestly count on one hand the… Continue reading Too many men
Changing the agenda
I don’t listen to the Today programme anymore – I did for a while, and when I’ve got the hang of leaping out of bed on the dot of 6am rather than hitting snooze five times and eventually stumbling into the shower at 6.20, I daresay I will again – but I was quite intrigued*… Continue reading Changing the agenda
Man walks into a bar – because it was set so low.
I think this is where the title joke came from but please forgive me if I’m wrong. If you know who made the original quip, tell me and I’ll credit them. Poor Robbie Tripp. Heard of him? The guy who thinks “finding one’s wife attractive” is a noteworthy, enlightened feminist act. You’ve probably seen… Continue reading Man walks into a bar – because it was set so low.
On politics and anger
It was about twenty years ago that, following one of her traditional Sunday roasts, my darling Granny managed to serve someone’s portion of rhubarb crumble with mayonnaise. It went down in Parnell-Helyer history, and became a kind of family shorthand for an act of foolishness: “it’s all gone a bit mayonnaise-on-the-rhubarb”. Whenever I recall it… Continue reading On politics and anger
The price of power
There’s a talk by American activist and media pundit Dan Savage about romantic relationships and their “price of admission”. Essentially, the price of admission is the thing(s) you’re willing to put up with to have your partner in your life. It might be a bad habit, an obscure fetish, or a political belief. A friend… Continue reading The price of power
If ignorance were a crime
Ched Evans makes me wish ignorance was a crime. He makes me wish we could prosecute for stupidity, and for callous entitlement. I’m not usually one to hold a grudge, but if a sheer lack of decency were punishable by law, we could lock men like Evans up and lob the keys into the nearest… Continue reading If ignorance were a crime
In the ink crowd
For reasons I’m yet to fathom, the last couple of weeks have seen a flurry of articles about the ‘politics’ of tattoos. Maybe it’s because someone famous only for being on The Apprentice said she personally didn’t like them. Maybe it’s because ripping into anyone under 30 is the right-wing element of the media’s favourite… Continue reading In the ink crowd
Inbetween Girl 