Even The Queen

Time: 11:30

My Queen has disappointed me.

@Queen_UK: Very disappointed that Hamleys have removed their "toys for girls" signs. How is one going to find a Christmas present for Ed Miliband now?

Your Majesty, surely you can insult politicians without pandering to the idea that women are the weaker sex. And that goes for everyone else who feminises men in order to mock them as well (I'm a republican at heart, after all).

Labour's Leadership Contest

Time: 7.20am

Labour is having a leadership contest after being trounced in last week's election.  The candidates are all men except for Nanaia Mahuta, who is David Cunliffe's proposed deputy.

Over to the sadly predictable ex-Labour MP John Tamihere, who says she was only chosen because she's a woman and Maori. He wasn't even first in the queue…

"The only thing she's lacking is she doesn't have a limp. Then he would have got the disabled [vote] too."

I haven't spotted any comment from him about leadership contender, and fellow Maori, Shane Jones.

But it's Nanaia Mahuta's turn,

"John's comments show male parochialism is alive and well in Maoridom... If John Tamihere thinks that Maori women should be in the home cooking kai, then he's wrong.

I would advise him to stick to his knitting. He's a failed politician who is never making it back in, and it's a bit rich for him to advise Labour on its leadership team."

Nothing to add to that!

Strike Out

Time: 9:29am

Today, 2 million public sector workers in the UK have gone on strike to protest cuts to their pensions. These cuts, like others, will have a disproportionate effect on women.

What had me cursing? The fact that the Sure Start Children's Centre down the road still opened its doors today. It can do this because the majority of its staff are so-called temporary workers. Part-time, low paid, inevitably almost all women.

Sure Start Children's Centres have suffered big cuts all over the country. These particular women are the staff left over from a sudden cull at Easter. So even if they were unionised, they're not likely to protest any shitty treatment while in such a precarious position.

Doth The Lady Protest?

Time: 1pm? The hourly news, anyway.

An item about Tahrir Square, something about an anti-government protest and how the march organisers didn't get the million men they'd hoped for.

Argh.

Vince Cable and Pregnant Women

Time: just after 8.30am

I wasn't listening too closely to Radio 4's Today program but the topic was proposed changes to employment law. The interviewer asked something about protected conversations and what would happen if employers gave out about pregnant women taking lots of time off. Vince Cable reckoned that was an extreme example.

Because women being fired due to pregnancy is such a rare problem.