It’s amazing how things have changed in the past 25 years or so.

Back in the early 80s, when I was a young political activist, everything had to be seen in the context of gender. The political atmosphere could be stifling in its over-sensitivity, and some manifestations of the zeitgeist were comic in their absurdity.

A generation on and it is trendy if not de rigueur to mock “wimmin’s issues”. In the mainstream media and blogosphere we encounter this all the time from former leftists who have since turned into curmudgeonly, reactionary, even sexist middle-aged conservatives. And that’s just the women! Sad creatures all.

Now, as Madame Baroque points out armed with statistics in addition to a justifiably sarcastic tongue, rape convictions are down, domestic abuse of women is rife, and bishops talk of the ‘inevitability’ of sharia law. Fucking hell, we appear to be regressing.

Happy International Women’s Day!