Fear must not win out
WOMEN live in fear in Britain simply because they are women.
That is the unmistakable conclusion from the outpouring of emotion after the tragic death of Sarah Everard.
Murders are, thankfully, still relatively rare in the UK.
But it is apparent that most women feel on guard every time they walk our streets on their own. Unprovoked abuse is common. And verbal and physical attacks are a regular part of life if you are female.
Isobel Dickinson, the Daily Star Sunday’s Chief Reporter, tells of her own experiences in today’s paper.
It is shocking and disturbing.
The most surprising aspect, however, is that it is in no way unusual.
Women are saying enough is enough and demanding that something must be done.
There is no simple solution.
But the biggest change, and the easiest to achieve, is in the attitudes and behaviour of men.
It can be as mundane as being aware of women in the street.
If a man finds himself, quite innocently, walking in the same direction as a woman on the way home, he can stop, cross the road, or go a different way.
If a man sees a woman being harassed or abused, he can intervene.
A polite “Are you OK?” could be enough to stop an incident developing into a more serious situation.
It won’t end the problems women face, but a little civility will help.
CHILDREN’S sketches of a flying saucer sighting were so believable they ended up with the Ministry of Defence’s UFO desk.
A spacecraft was said to have hovered over a primary school in 1977 during a lunch break.
The pupils, from Macclesfield, Cheshire, were told to independently draw what they had seen – and the images were so alike they were passed on to police and the military.
Dr David Clarke was working at the MoD when the sketches surfaced. He later used them in a book, UFO Drawings From The National Archives.
The Sheffield Hallam University professor said this week: “The teacher must have thought this was something to be taken seriously and sat them down to get them to draw what they had seen.
“Then this dossier ended up being sent to the Ministry of Defence in London and passed to the UFO desk. The images are really quite amazing.”
GOOD Morning Britain has been hit by a ratings crisis since Piers Morgan quit the ITV show.
It lost 500,000 viewers in just a few days and the channel’s share price plunged by 3.8% – taking
£193million off its market value.
Almost 1.9 million people saw Morgan, 55, storm out of the studio during a row with weather presenter Alex Beresford on Tuesday following Oprah Winfrey’s bombshell interview with a publicity-shy woman.
But viewing figures have since dropped to around
1.4million.
A string of petitions calling for Morgan to return to the show have clocked up more than
227,000 signatures. In response, an unrepentant Morgan said: “I won’t be going back, but thanks to everyone who has signed these petitions.
“Normally, people start petitions to have me fired or deported, so this is a pleasant surprise.”