Society

A friend of mine who commissions book reviews has added a sub-category to the list of titles coming up: ‘femtrend’, books about the female condition from a feminist perspective. ‘Grit lit is over,’ she says wearily, referring to edgy books about the marginalised. ‘Now publishers can’t get enough of the feminist trend about women who for centuries have been airbrushed out of history by toxic masculinity and oppressive patriarchy. Airbrushing the toxic white male. Female tribes. Modern courtesan. Now it’s draining down into children’s books too.’ It started with Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, a collection of accounts of inspirational role models; Malala, Maya Angelou et al, which was

There is one form of female under-representation which no-one seems concerned about – the fact that a mere 4.5 per cent of the prison population is made up of women. No one says we must rebalance that so as to make it 50-50 by 2025, or whatever. It just seems to be accepted that men are more prone to greed, lust and violence, and that greater numbers of them deserve to be behind bars. I guess that is right. If we have 20 times more male offenders than female ones, then I want the prison population to reflect that. But why the need to readjust the criminal justice system in

If you’re on the hunt for a mortgage, a fixed rate one will ensure that your repayments stay the same. Here are some of the best rates available for five-year fixed rate mortgages on the market at the moment, according to data supplied by moneyfacts.co.uk.

There is a mental health crisis in the UK. The symptoms are often body related, and the causes are complex, but a new orthodoxy now labels some of these people as transgender. This means that instead of getting psychological care, increasing numbers are encouraged to take potentially dangerous hormones on their way to transitioning gender. The World Health Organisation’s recent ruling that it will no longer classify being transgender as a mental illness is hailed by some as a progressive step forward. But could this shift in thinking actually compound matters and mean that transgender patients’ other medical issues are ignored? There has undoubtedly been a cultural change on the

The CEO of Penguin Random House, Tom Weldon, says in his letter to The Spectator last week that his ‘diversity’ goals are needed because ‘some authors face more barriers than others in getting published’. Coming after his assertion that talent is the first and foremost consideration for a publisher, the most obvious barrier is surely a lack of it. Rather like a penguin itself, no other publishing yardstick can fly. This letter appeared in this week’s Spectator

Upskirting is such a pretty word: it sounds like a charming village in Yorkshire, or an olde worlde custom, like swan-upping. Actually, it is nasty, and not as new as people claim. Fragonard depicts it in ‘The Swing’ (though obviously the young man had no camera). Margaret Thatcher, who was most reluctant to wear trousers, nevertheless did so when she knew she would have to climb a ladder, because she did not trust the photographers. Upskirting has been the raison d’etre of the Sunday Sport ever since it was founded in 1986. In 1993, the Mirror published close-up pictures, taken by a concealed camera, of Diana, Princess of Wales, when working out in a gym. It

I can think of many people who deserve to be in jail but perhaps not Stanislaw Skupien. The homeless Pole was watching the London Marathon in April when he suddenly fancied a go himself. He clambered over a barrier and started running. When 300 yards form the finish, he picked up a race number which had fallen from a competitor’s short and decided to cross the line himself, picking up the finisher’s medal which should really have gone to a man who was on a charity run. I guess that is technically fraud, but does it really deserve 16 weeks in jail? It is hardly as if being the 3000th finisher –