Can’t say I entirely approve of such things – what is the POINT? I can’t help asking – but interesting that a British woman is about to break the record for walking to the south pole unassisted. No, that’s not the women’s record, that’s THE record. I must find an occasion to use this on Comment is Free some time, where a certain set of commentators always get very exercised about how I’m being “unrealistic” about women’s physical capabilities.

Two years after giving up her job as a marketing manager in Berkshire, Ms McKeand, 33, was on course to knock a full day off the previous record of 41 days 8 hours.
To complete her trek Ms McKeand, from Newbury, Berkshire, has spent nearly six lonely weeks dragging a 100 kilo (220lb) sledge across 690 miles of ice plains in temperatures as low as minus 35C.

President-elect Rafael Correa appointed seven women to his Cabinet on Wednesday, including Ecuador’s first female defense minister, saying he wanted to promote gender equality in his South American nation.
In other appointments to his 17-member Cabinet, Correa named women to head the foreign, health, housing, and social welfare ministries. He said he would keep outgoing President Alfredo Palacio’s ministers of tourism and the environment, the only women in the current Cabinet.
Correa, who takes office Jan. 15, said he would “try to achieve gender equality.” He acknowledged it was “something we are not going to reach, but at least we will get close.”

Makes the number of British female senior ministers look pretty paltry, doesn’t it? As a writer on Comment is Free today noted, women are still notable only for their tiny numbers in so many areas of public life.