Emily Blunt, a practically perfect Mary Poppins

Emily Blunt attending an awards ceremony in Los Angeles in January, above, and in character as Mary Poppins, right

Do we really need a new Mary Poppins? Truthfully, I’m not sure we do. But if we must, then I can think of no better candidate than Emily Blunt, who looks practically perfect in every way.

If we overlook the filthy lucre aspect, this reinvention of Mary Poppins is felicitously cresting the current wave of girl-power role models.

If it’s not the critically acclaimed movie Wonder Woman slaying ’em in the multiplexes, it’s the feminist sci-fi novel The Power, which has just landed its author Naomi Alderman the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction.

So what more wholesome icon could there be than Mary Poppins, whose cheery disposition and plain speaking surely reinforce the message of female empowerment?

I’m a huge fan of Emily Blunt, and am curious to discover whether she manages to bring some of herself to a role so synonymous with Julie Andrews.

But at the very least she will inspire selfsufficiency in a new generation, and remind them they don’t need a man to define them. To conquer the world, a girl requires just two things: impeccable manners and a really big handbag full of furniture.