From The Times:
The average woman aged 40 or over has 19 pairs [of shoes], but 5 per cent have more than 100.
Where would you put them all?
And I don’t believe this either …
The “wolves’ lair” – ancient Pompeii’s biggest, best planned and most richly decorated brothel – yesterday reopened to the public…
But I think we can put that down to a journalist having their tongue firmly in their cheek.
A Ramadan sermon (as reported) in Sydney, on the subject of rape:
“If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it … whose fault is it, the cats’ or the uncovered meat,” he said.
“The uncovered meat is the problem.
“If she was in her room, in her home, in her hajib (Islamic headdress), no problem would have occurred.”
Or of course if you kept all the males locked up, there wouldn’t be a problem. No, I’m not suggesting that, but it would be equally logical.
Anna, a journalist, is looking for …
“for a committed feminist (however that is defined for them) who has someone in their family – e.g. a dad or brother -who has perhaps more traditionally patriarchal views – to interview them both for a broadsheet about the issues and challenges of having two strong sets of opinions within a family unit. Interviews would take around 25 minutes on the phone, and interviewees would also need to be photographed. If you can help please email Anna on annamj@mac.com or call her on 07957 454881.”
I said I’d pass the message on, but please contact her about it, not me. Thanks!
Dr Paulson said opposition to older mothers rests not on evidence that they make poor parents, but on prejudice. “Society still has these feelings about motherhood. The way we view the mother is much more circumscribed than for the father: she should be young and attractive. That is underneath all this talk about the ethics and legality of treating older women. Deep down, society has a fixed idea of what motherhood should be, and this causes deep discomfort.â€
From a Times piece about a study that found mothers in their 50s have no more troubles coping than those in their 30s and 40s.
Perversely good news: the scheme to provide grants for renewable energy for homes in the UK has run out of money. Perhaps in part due to a Green Party drive to get a high take-up rate. But it looks like the government is going to be forced into providing more money.
There is meanwhile a quite decent sounding EU drive to cut energy use by 20 per cent by forcing producers to make power-using items more efficient. Sadly, however, it seems, it has hit a hitch. I can’t find a news story on it, but the word I have is that it is meeting strong resistance and will be delayed. Anyone know more?
“In the good news but…” category, milk that tests positive for antibiotics (and detergents!) is going to be banned from the food chain. But … shouldn’t it always have been?
Finally in America … cars could be banned from Rodeo Drive, “the four-block mecca of luxury shopping in Beverly Hills”.
Meanwhile in California, a Bioneers conference in California – perhaps a bit on the alternative side for my taste, but some interesting ideas.
It could multiply their pay five times. As a result of a deal with the unions 15 years ago, dinner ladies are earning as little as 20 per cent of what men doing similar unskilled/semi-skilled jobs receive.
One of those cases where you have to ask just what unions and managers thought they were doing…
About