Things I learned yesterday morning.
Multi-tasking is sometimes strangely satisfying. I took my netbook to the hairdresser so I could work while being remodeled. No guilt whatsoever and the added bonus of not having to discuss my plans for the rest of the day or whether I have started getting ready for Christmas.
Barbara Castle was a marvellous woman, feminist and politician. She featured in the research I did for a piece at my stv.tv blog about Child Benefit. I wonder whether society has changed enough to bin the benefit.
You don’t need to actually do something to know how it should be done. Barbara Castle was neither a mother or a driver yet brought in benefits and legislation that improved the lot for road users and women with kids.
If you take your netbook to the hairdresser, be prepared to pick hair out of the keyboard for a long time. That’s it really. Also be ready to shut the lid quickly when the come at you with ‘product’.
Floor-length mirrors are not always an improvement. Redecoration time at the crimpers and they have lovely long mirrors at each cutting place. However, I don’t want to be faced with the whole nasty socks and all view of myself every time I glance up. Maybe it’s a psychological trick that any new ‘do’ will be an improvement on the barefaced, towel draped view.
Speaking of hair, never judge a woman by her ‘do’. Babs may have had a Maggie, but her politics were a very long way away.
Barbara Castle is one of the unsung heroes of the feminist movement. She was a woman of great principle and pragmatism, and one of the most capable Ministers we ever had.
Shame that she was never given even more opportunity to make differences on an even wider scale.
Thanks for reminding us of her. Did she write any memoirs or has anyone written her biography? If so, I'd love to read.
SMW, she was all of that. I don't know if she did. I remember listening to a R4 programme about her once. Might still be on the BBC website. I shall look.
I thought Barbara Castle was one of the great feminist icons of our time and a politician who Got Things Done. She said there was a tremendous amount of opposition to the seatbelt legislation but she pushed it through – it must have saved countless lives.