50,000 reasons. One very bad choice
If 2017 was the year that exposed the harassment and abuse that women endured just going about their daily lives, then 2018 was to be the year that things began to change.
And, right on cue, in her New Year’s Day speech, Theresa May pledged to use the centenary of women getting the vote as a chance to “eliminate all discrimination”.
At last, it felt like women’s concerns were being taken seriously.
And with a woman at the helm, how could efforts fail?
But then news broke that May’s Government had appointed Toby Young to the board of its new university regulator, the Office for Students.
His appointment predictably sparked controversy with questions about his suitability ranging from his lack of experience in higher education, to his apparent ridiculing of efforts to make schools more inclusive by installing wheelchair ramps.
Academics who had applied for positions on the new board posted their CVs on social media. Young, meanwhile, spent the day deleting more than 50,000 tweets.
Is it right that a man who has made overtly sexist remarks on Twitter should sit on a student body?
This is not an argument about whether Toby Young would bring an intellect or a “caustic wit”, as Boris Johnson described it, to the boardroom – I’m sure he would – it is about how we approach the future.
Whatever else he is, Toby Young is not the future. He is of another time altogether.