Our thanks to J for this. From the start of the article:
Boys should be encouraged to play with dolls to make them more “nurturing and caring”, Lib Dem equalities minister Jo Swinson has suggested. She said it would make them more likely to work in the adult care sector when they grew up.
Why should boys play with dolls, you might reasonably ask? To solve a forthcoming crisis. The article continues:
The MP had warned of a shortage of care workers in future years and said it was important to persuade more men to work in the sector.
Presumably it’s ‘important’ to persuade more men to work in this low-paid sector – most jobs pay the minimum wage – for the same reason it’s ‘important’ to persuade more women to work in well-paid sectors such as medicine and engineering.
I thank Ms Swinson – also a business minister, as if British businesses don’t have enough problems to cope with – for reminding me why she was such a worthy winner of a Gormless Feminist of the Month award just two months ago.
From her Wikipedia page:
She is an active campaigner against packaging of chocolate Easter eggs, and each year since 2007 has seen her attack confectionery manufacturers for what she sees as excessive packaging of the seasonal children’s treats, which generally involve a hollow egg covered in aluminium foil accompanied by a branded sweet, encased in plastic and cardboard to provide branding and protect the hollow and fragile chocolate foodstuff. She has named Guylian as the worst offender, followed by Lindt, Baileys and Cadbury.
How can anyone so mind-numbingly silly be elected not once, but twice, to parliament? We can but hope the voters of East Dunbartonshire will have more sense on May 7 than to elect her for a third term. Maybe she could be replaced by an Easter egg, thereby sparing us from exposure to any more of her ridiculous views.