The only winners are the merchants — I had a rare late night out last week. A trip to the theatre in London saw me racing for a late train and arriving at my station at 11.26 pm. It’s under a mile to my house from there and a lovely walk — in daylight. Despite no rain…

It starts with being quiet — There’s currently a lot of talk about how others (particularly men) can help women facing discrimination, harassment and abuse. Usually called “bystander intervention” (I prefer “upstander”), the call is out for more people to intervene when women are being targeted. This is a good thing. …

“No” should be enough — I’ve written before about how we raise girls to be nice. We collectively give them different messages and apply different standards from the moment they come out. “Sugar and spice and all things nice”, right? Even if we personally don’t raise our girls like that, there’s a societal expectation that…

It never ends well for women. — A thread on Twitter in July saw women reciting incidents where they'd said "No thanks" to a guy, only to be harassed by him. Many involved the guy turning nasty, hurling abuse — the usual stuff. One minute you're a babe, and the next, you're unf***able.

We need to reverse the dialogue around rape and harassment — Amid the furore of the Russell Brand allegations, there’s a recurring theme regarding how society treats women who allege rape, abuse, and harassment. Simply put — We don’t believe them. How often have we heard women say they didn’t report because “No one would’ve believed me?” They’re not only talking…

The double standards of talking about feelings — We’re currently hearing that men are sad, lonely, depressed and so on. Books are launched and training delivered to encourage us all to talk about men’s feelings, show their emotions and not resort to anger so readily. …

Not exactly an unbiased opinion when you begin with the word "beloved". I can't be bothered to argue the points of the text as you've clearly made up your mind, but I'd like to point out that - You have no context either, and yet you assert his innocence - You imply criticism of people " so much involved in the relationship of a Hollywood star" and who are spending their time discussing these matters ...

Don’t let sexists hide behind them — Uber-misogynist and so-called ‘influencer’ Andrew Tate was interviewed on the BBC recently. As usual, he ducked and dived, made up stuff and generally gaslighted his way through. When questioned about specific sexist comments, which would be challenging even for Tate to defend, he didn’t even try. “Mr Tate suggested that…

Women are fine. Really. — I was initially prompted to take up the pen by a tweet from Dr Emily Setty, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Surrey. In truth, it could have been any number of incidents, and they keep pouring in. From cat-calling on the street to ‘constructive criticism’ at work…