I tip-toe around this subject, as I have no
wish to revive the battle of the sexes, and anyhow, half the world’s population
is female and we all know how wonderful and talented most of them are.
From Cleopatra to the Hapsburg Empress Elizabeth
(“Sissi”) and to Queen Victoria, ladies have enchanted and inspired us men, but
it is only relatively recently that they have actually been in charge of
affairs. We remember our past admiration for Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi, Benazir
Bhutto and above all our revered idol Maggie Thatcher, who saved the UK
Romy Schneider as
Sissi (1955)
But there has been a noticeable decline in
wholly positive vibes in more recent years. Starting at the top in the UK, the
esteemed Elizabeth II’s female successors include Charles’ Queen Camilla,
Princess Kate and Andrew’s Duchess Fergie. All of them carry past baggage of
varying weight and I cannot see the population warming to them easily.
Some
recent figures have been much more controversial. I am thinking of Angela
Merkel (too tolerant of Russia), Liz Truss (a 30-day disaster), Hilary Clinton
(losing even to Trump), Nicola Sturgeon (resigning as first Minister of
Scotland in murky circumstances) and Jacinda Arden (New Zealand’s Queen of
Woke). It is perhaps too early to take a dogmatic line - History will judge.
There are plenty aspiring ladies in the UK – Penny
Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch for the Tories, Angela Raynor and Rachel Reeves for Labour,
not to mention US Presidential hopeful Nikki Hayley. But these people have not
really been tested in very high office and only then can we judge their mettle.
The fact is that several high-flying ladies in
the UK and US have come down with a bump recently:
1. Alison Rose, Chief Executive of
NatWest Bank. She broke her bank’s first requirement for client confidentiality
by babbling to a reporter about the “de-banking” of right-wing politician Nigel
Farage. Maybe her actions were animated by a compound of arrogance and
political bias but Farage raised a stink and Rose lost her job.
2. Paula Vennells, once head of the UK
Post Office who presided over a grave miscarriage of justice affecting more
than 700 employed as sub postmaster/postmistresses often in small town or
village locations. The Post Office introduced in the late 1990s a new computer
system bought from Fujitsu called Horizon. The cash would not balance in some
cases, but the PO insisted there was nothing wrong and prosecuted many
sub-postmasters with theft. Some suffered imprisonment, all lost their jobs and
reputations. By 2010, it was discovered that Horizon had a computer glitch
causing the imbalance. Quite when the PO management knew this, what they did
about it, and how and when they advised ministers is not clear. Vennells has
returned her CBE and apologised but that will hardly be enough. The luckless
taxpayer will have to bear very high costs and the present Tory government has
proposed a £600,000 compensation payment each to those affected. Senior
PO officials and Fujitsu are being implicated, and in a delicious twist, LibDem
leader, holier-than-thou Sir Ed Davey, is facing calls to resign. He was the Minister
for Posts for 2 years and predictably did precisely nothing. Watch this space!
3. Sharon White. Ended her term as
chief executive of John Lewis, of department store and supermarket (Waitrose)
fame. She is blamed for poor performance in an admittedly difficult sector, but
critics say she drove a cherished brand into the ground with her misjudged policies.
4. Claudine Gay. Appointed President of
Harvard 5 months ago, she has been accused of several cases of academic plagiarism.
Then she gave evasive evidence, along with the presidents of MIT and the
University of Pennsylvania, to a congressional committee about campus
antisemitism. They refused to condemn calls for the genocide of the Jews, to
public outrage. All 3 presidents have now had to resign. In her resignation
statement, Gay airily stated she would return to her old academic duties at
Harvard. The US has some peculiar rules about academic tenure and entitlement,
but Gay has done serious damage to Harvard’s reputation. I expect the new President of Harvard to throw
her out on her ear.
What do these 4 cases prove? We may feel some
unworthy Schadenfreude (pleasure at the misfortune of others) but that
is inappropriate.
Claudine
Gay
These cases simply prove that Women are as
prone to error and misjudgment as Men. To that extent we are all truly equal (at
least in the West), which is the conclusion we want to proclaim.
Don’t worry, Ladies, we love you more than
ever!
SMD
10.01.24
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