Helen Lewis

News and views about writing, eating, gaming and watching

Budget 2012: A great day to be a white middle-aged man sitting in a row

By Helen Lewis Published 21 March 2012 16:54

The Commons Chamber, 13:47:

BBC News studio, 14:16:

Sky News, 14:17:

* to be fair to the Beeb, Stephanie Flanders is sitting out of shot, to Huw Edwards's left. Still, you can see why Broadcast magazine is trying to get news programmes to use more female experts.

More from Helen Lewis

View the discussion thread.

30 comments

Tue, 2012-07-17 09:44 — jasmine11

Post is nicely written and it contains many good things for me. I am glad to ﬁnd your impressive way of writing the post. Now it become easy for me to understand and implement the concept. Thanks for sharing the post. feshion style

Thu, 2012-07-19 09:35 — ahouseoffashion (not verified)

reat blog. Its hard seeing a loved one struggling with addiction. The first step to recovery is getting help and there are rehab clinics that really do help. Riverview Manor is one and I made a full recovery witht he help of professionals there. Get help and take your life back ahouseoffashion

Sun, 2012-04-29 17:09 — BADGE-GIRL (not verified)

Funny pictures, more please Hel :)

Thu, 2012-07-19 21:02 — Pavlova

Whereas men are unbalanced by their hormones all month long.

Men suffer more mental illness than women. Commit more crimes. Are responsible for more road deaths. Cause more economic crises. Fact.

Thu, 2012-03-22 10:48 — Lisa Campbell (not verified)

We are not asking for positive discrimination or quotas but positive action to address the current imbalance. There are plenty of women experts who are informed and engaging. What message does it send out if it appears that womens opinions don't count? How likely is it that young girls will consider careers in politics or the upper echelons of business if they so rarely see those roles reflected on screen? Broadcasters need to ensure they are rigorous in their casting and research but women also need to put themselves forward more, and be encouraged to do so. 8

Wed, 2012-03-21 17:08 — Shinsei67

Vicky Price was on Sky. There were a couple of women in the BBC's line up of local business people commenting on Budget. Jo Coburn was at a factory in Stratford-on-Avon. The BBC had a female strategist at Rabobank commenting on the City's reaction.

Wed, 2012-03-21 17:12 — fdfdfd

@Shinsei67

One of the interesting things about the Broadcast pledge is that it asks for more female *experts*, not female faces. It's (relatively) easy to find non-white non-male non-middle-class "normal people" to talk to about issues, or who have been "victims".

Thu, 2012-03-22 12:49 — Yolanda Hatchback (not verified)

@ Flashbuck

Can you tell us how right wing you think the EDL are?

Fri, 2012-03-23 11:45 — Belle (not verified)

@ Flashbuck

Quiet about your support for the EDL and vocal about your disdain for women. I can only assume you're a hermit with a grudge against an ex girlfriend from an ethnic minority, lumbered with no access to TV or the net other than being stuck inexplicably on the pages of the NS website. Good luck with that.

Wed, 2012-03-21 17:54 — Jamie (not verified)

If there'd been a sixth man with a black tie on the front bench we'd have had the complete set of Power Rangers.

Fri, 2012-03-23 12:15 — McMac (not verified)

The patent figure since 2000 isn’t hugely different since. Which is genuinely bizarre!?

I remember a woman at work who wasn’t happy with a gizmo she was using coming out with “I bet it was invented by a MAN” using that special inflection for the word “MAN” woman have perfected over millennia, and I thought to myself “Yes it probably was”. But I didn’t think it was a 98% chance.

I guess this is way matriarchies tend to be tribal societies living off tree moss and snails unencumbered by the horrors of the patriarchy, such as central heating, evidence based healing and a life expectancy more than 40 years.

Is their a cabal of patriachical fundamentalists at the patent office shredding any submissions with a female name on the front. Perhaps the 2% that get through are from the woman with gender ambiguous names?

Sat, 2012-03-24 12:34 — ex plod (not verified)

The New statesman is hardly noted for its "diversity". They've got one token islamocrazygoatfucker in the shape of Mehdi "kuffar" hassan, but everyone else seems pretty whitebread bourgy steretypical public scholl and oxbridge. The "institutional classism of the grauniad/BBC/New statesman axis is something they just take for granted, like the fish takes the sea for granted.

Wed, 2012-03-21 19:17 — Flashbuck (not verified)

The NS commentating on the budget and the economy? HahaHaaha that's so funny.

I mean, The NS is virtually bankrupt and relies on bungs from other equally equally credulous fascist left loons.

A laughable defunct irrelevent so-called magazine that can't hold it's own in the real world and which is staffed by dilletantes and deadbeats giving economic advice and talkling budget stuff? HaHa!

Fri, 2012-03-23 13:58 — Jesse (not verified)

@McMac

"I guess this is way matriarchies tend to be tribal societies living off tree moss and snails unencumbered by the horrors of the patriarchy, such as central heating, evidence based healing and a life expectancy more than 40 years."

Wow. What a stunning observation for a Troglodyte.

Wed, 2012-03-21 19:27 — A. Cole (not verified)

Once against the concept of diversity is used as a stick with which to beat the white man!

Thu, 2012-03-22 15:45 — plain john smith (not verified)

Calm down dear. If you want an honest account of the total failure of "affirmative action" in the U.S. Read "The Bell Curve" by Murray and Herrnstein and "Paved With Good Intentions: the Failure of Race Relations in the U.S." by Jared Taylor.

Thu, 2012-03-22 15:47 — plain john smith (not verified)

Did you know that in the entire history of the U.S. Patent office, going back to the 19th c, 1% (yup - One per cent) have been filed by women?

Wed, 2012-03-21 19:39 — McMac (not verified)

True.

But to be fair, put middle aged white females in a row and you've got an episode of Loose Women.

Thu, 2012-03-22 16:36 — Yolanda Hatchback (not verified)

@Plain John Smith

Would you also like to share your views on the far right parties EDL & BNP?

Fri, 2012-03-23 14:49 — McMac (not verified)

Hi Jesse,

Thank you for your contribution.

I guess the tribal matriarchies don't have debating societies either

Wed, 2012-03-21 20:38 — Freeman2

Yes, because what is going to improve this society is more women millionaire banking parasites, lying politicians and servile journalists. Women should be proud they aren't included among these crook in high numbers. I thought 'socialists' wanted to eradicate capitalist society, not perpetuate it.

Wed, 2012-03-21 20:52 — McMac (not verified)

It’s a strange world though.

I left school with no exams. Was homeless , skint. Worked hard…worked my arse off, went to college part time, did a degree will still working 12 hours a day in my job. Worked some more and after about 20 years of thrashing myself into a probable early grave, supporting my family, being nice, giving money to charity, all of a sudden I’m a ‘white middle aged male’ and therefore all that is wrong with this country…according to the Oxbridge feminists who want to see my career taken by a 20 year old who’s skin has the right amount of melatonin and goes to the toilette sitting down.

I have worked at a company that did put people in senior positions based on skin colour and toilette habits. It worked OK in some departments, let’s face it you could put a trained monkey in charge of an HR department. There were some problems with the engineers though. You can’t bluff your way through prototyping consumer electronics, some of the ‘diversity intake’ tried, usually by ripping off the work of their colleagues as their own and trying to get promoted into management before anyone found them out.

It was painful to watch though. The good white male engineers got pissed off because they got bypassed and ripped off and the good ‘diverse’ engineers got pissed of by people assuming they only got where they where because of their profile. The only people who really got anything out of it were a bunch of hopeless engineers who became protected and promoted because of their race and sex.

Sun, 2012-03-25 20:29 — Maria-USA (not verified)

Steve Lockett-Stories like these give me cause for real anxiety. Every workplace I have interviewed for, there was the specter of gender lurking about. I subconsciously discredit my experience or skills set assuming they're hiring me to fulfill a quota. Unqualified for a hysterectomy until my 30s, cannot wait to bring those papers to the interview and end this madness once and for all.

@McMac It is a toss up between my favorite trolls, misogynist nutters or EDL nutters.

Wed, 2012-03-21 21:23 — Jamie (not verified)

You can tell Flashbuck loathes the NS by the way he keeps coming back to read all the articles and drive up the page views.

Sat, 2012-03-24 19:43 — celeriac (not verified)

Flashbuck
22 March 2012 at 20:59

Women have menstrual issues which can affect their mnental balance and judgement on a monthly basis. Fact.

------------------

At least we have the mental balance to lose. You, however, are a irredeemable cretin.

Sun, 2012-03-25 22:23 — McMac (not verified)

That made me chuckle Maria :)

Thu, 2012-03-22 21:59 — Flashbuck (not verified)

Women have menstrual issues which can affect their mnental balance and judgement on a monthly basis. Fact.

Sun, 2012-03-25 09:19 — Steve Lockett (not verified)

McMac, a trifle harsh on the sisters but your heart is in the right place. I remember in the 80s one admittedly bright young woman applying for promotion while on maternity leave, winning it, starting the job and then within a year taking off for more maternity leave. All the time, one poor middle aged male sucker was actually doing the work she was paid for. In total she managed 3 years in the office and 2 years out. BTW, she quit at the end of the second maternity to "spend more time with her family". They didn't give the job to the guy who was doing it the next time either!

Sun, 2012-03-25 11:27 — McMac (not verified)

Harsh!?

I'm a perfect man, according to 1957's Good Little Housewife Weekly.

Fri, 2012-03-23 03:53 — Fergus Pickering (not verified)

Men have violence issues all the time which can affect their mental balance, Flashbuck. You gotta take the rough with the smooth. Your average mass murderer is pretty well always a man. It's in the genes, don't you know. And werewolves are invariably male. Fact.