An interesting article in the current edition of The Spectator, even if some of the historical analysis and assumptions are deeply flawed e.g. ‘Since the suffragettes won us the vote…’.
From the article:
I was born in 1983, and was fortunate to grow up in a country where it was blindingly obvious that women ruled: with a queen on the throne and a woman in Downing Street. I was a grocer’s daughter, educated at a state school, living in the flat above the shop, and I looked to that real feminist icon Margaret Thatcher as objective proof that I could get wherever the hell I wanted in life, provided I sharpened my wits and gave it my all.
I knew, without having to be told, that where you were born was not necessarily where you’d end up, because Maggie, facing far greater odds, bulldozed every obstacle foolish enough to stand in her way with sheer bloodymindedness and an attitude that screamed ‘never say die’.
Grocers’ daughters are a particularly bright lot, clearly. On the subject of which, Everything She Wants, the second book in a planned three-part biography of Margaret Thatcher – the first volume, Not for Turning, is outstanding – by Charles Moore is available to buy here. She is revealed as a far more complex, kind, and humane person than even her admirers generally realise. All the same, I’d sooner have gnawed off a foot without the benefit of local anaesthetic than work for her, such was her leadership style.
In my view, The Spectator is almost unique in the mainstream media in criticising feminism, and that’s why I’m about to take out a subscription. £1 per week for 12 weeks, thereafter £34.50 per quarter (you can cancel the quarterly subscription within the 12 weeks). Now that’s what I call value for money.
