Anne marches on for women rights
DALE Winton was back on our screens on Friday, two months after his tragic death aged just 62. His travel show around the Sunshine State, Dale Winton’s Florida Fly Drive, had been pulled after one episode as a mark of respect, but now returned to Channel 5 as a tribute to the much-loved TV star. Scenes of Dale strolling along a prom, flirting with men on Muscle Beach, delighting in his “new addiction”, a Cuban coffee, and gawping at the homes on billionaires’ row were fun, yet tinged with sadness. Most poignant were his laments for the untimely deaths of Gianni Versace and his friend, restaurateur Prady Balan. Dale said: “It’s a real shame. I miss him. But life goes on.” ANNE Robinson has been called many things but she happily carried a march placard which read: “Bloody difficult woman.” “That is definitely me!” laughed Anne, whose hosting of the Weakest Link led to her nickname the Queen of Mean. On Thursday’s The Trouble With Women With Anne Robinson she quizzed fellow protesters on whether or not they are warriors. “I think so,” said one. “Feeble,” noted Anne. She had a point. One hundred years since some women won the right to vote, she wanted to know if there had been such little progress that we’re still marching for equality? Leafing through old copies of the Daily Mirror, where she was a columnist in the 80s, she remembered how noticeable it was that she was female. “A few of us smashed through the glass ceiling,” she said. Now she fears women are too “fragile”. Recent months have seen revelations about the gender pay gap, as well as campaigns against sexual harassment such as #Metoo and Time’s Up. Unsurprising then that Anne received a massive backlash when she “despaired” saying her generation had a “much more robust attitude to men behaving badly.” It’s a provocative view.
Talking to 20-somethings, one revealed she’d been the subject of horrifying sexual harassment. This wasn’t just a whinge about wolf whistles, Anne admitted she’d underestimated the problem.
Shock
But at Brands Hatch she met a group of women happy to be grid girls, despite F1 recently ditching the outdated idea.
“How do you cope with the males gazing down your breasts?” Anne asked.
“I don’t really find that guys do that,” said one, clearly either naive or in denial. But one felt empowered, saying the money paid for her nursing degree.
Anne also met a mum of five who, whisper it... works full time, and, big shock, has a house husband. You can almost see the headline: Man Cooks Dinner And Takes Care Of Kids. Hold the front page, he also does the shopping and the cleaning.
Did he feel diminished? asked Anne. Not one bit. Good for him.
And in a probe into the pay gap, I was practically cheering when engineer Sarah finally got a pay rise after Anne’s pep talk.
But the most eye-opening part was when Anne visited a primary school, revealing how girls are limiting their ambitions.
“Draw me a mechanic, a surgeon and a firefighter,” Anne told the seven-year-olds. You could guess what was about to happen. They all drew men. Then in walked three women – bless their shocked little faces.
“Girls can be brave but I just thought that boys were a little bit braver,” said one little girl as my heart sank.
In a toy shop, Anne’s eyes were opened to the tsunami of pink and blue. Lego for boys and princesses for girls. Can you think of a more boring ambition than marrying a prince? Meghan Markle really hasn’t helped the matter.
This doc woke the suffragette in us all. Anne might despair sometimes but, as saying goes, a woman’s work is never done. BRITAIN’S Best Home Cook reached scotch egg looked like “a genital its finale on Thursday, with Tureet, sum quipit commy nos nim deformity”. Pippa CHANGED a Mary Berry contestant Philip lamenting the end of his at, quis alit aliquamet, verosti cake recipe. Was she mad? place in a “Dipa and Pippa sandwich” (not “I’ve mangoed it!” she exclaimed, like that, doluptat, corem don’t be rude). ncincilit veros digna dolore te mincidunt delirious with rebellion. Fortunately, the Y es, the BBC1 competition faccumsandio lobor acilit has been gamble paid off as she was crowned the biggest love-in on TV, conumsa praesenim alit ver with the winner. And Mary, God love her, noted: best be mates forever squeezing ndionsequi aut landiamet in “We’ve had a spankingly good last as a many group hugs erciduipit lorper accummo as possible sum quis acilisit challenge.” Smirks from the other judges. before b the final “showdown” ipit dipsum ing ea Only she could get away with saying that. aka “hugely supportive augiat. Sum in ute cooking There had been no Great British Bake Off session”. There were sparks of tent, bunting or fights over custard, but it naughtiness. Philip worried his had heart, it had warmth and it had Mary.