Reports and misreports: the link is nursing

Two items, linked by nursing.  The first is a report in The Guardian that Anne Milton, the minister for women, has criticised Sir Philip Hampton for saying that the reason for the much-debated gender pay gap at the BBC is that women had "let it happen" by not doing enough asking.  Sir Philip is not just your run-of-the-mill businessman; he is leading an important review into the role of women in business, so his views matter. Ms Milton took exception to the remark, and rightly so.  Sir Philip's defence is that he was simply acknowledging differences in behaviour, but it was to say the least a careless phrase.  Ms Milton…
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Women After All

Melvin Konner has written a highly original book, with an unusual message.  It pursues a similar theme to the Paula Principle, but much more broadly and with a completely different level of expertise. The subtitle of Women After All  is 'sex, evolution and the end of male supremacy'.  Konner predicts - and advocates - the future supremacy of women.  He opens with a quite striking proposition: This is a book with a very simple argument: women are not equal to men; they are superior in many ways, and in most ways that will count in the future.  It is not just a matter of culture of upbringing, although both play their…
Read More

The PP put into reverse – or is it?

Results for A levels were published yesterday in the UK.  This is the first year to show the outcomes of the reforms introduced by Michael Gove, and the coverage beforehand verged on the hysterical:  would the rushed through reforms lead to a drop in achievement? In the event, the results were something of a damp squib - for the commentators, not for the students, of course.  There was a tiny uplift overall in the top grades.  But since Ofqual had intervened to ensure there would be no dramatic drop in the results, this was hardly an objective improvement. Maybe as a result, the headline-writers fixed on something else:  "Boys outperform…
Read More

Holiday reading 2,3 & 4: Being Wrong plus

I've been interested for some time in our capacity for self-deception (including my own), and so was intrigued by a book title, Being Wrong.  Kathryn Schulz makes a lively case for being more relaxed about the errors we make, and argues positively that it's only by risking being wrong that we get to empathise with each other.  She has a lot of perceptive things to say about certainty, e.g. Our dislike of doubt is a kind of emotional agoraphobia.  Uncertainty leaves us stranded in a universe that is too big, too open, too ill-defined. Overall, I think she tries to do too much with the argument, and doesn't provide us with…
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Holiday Reading 1: City of Friends

One of the odd things about writing the Paula Principle was how hard it was to find contemporary novels which made women and work anything like their central theme.  My better read friends put their heads together, but most of their examples of fiction that covered this were of books from earlier times.  So I was able to include Middlemarch from the C19 and Dorothy Whipple's High Wages from the 1930s, but later examples didn't come easily. One of my holiday books was Joanna Trollope's City of Friends.   I can't remember whether it was a friend or a reviewer who recommended it, but I had it down on my to-read list and spotted it in a…
Read More

Reports and misreports: the link is nursing

Two items, linked by nursing.  The first is a report in The Guardian that Anne Milton, the minister for women, has criticised Sir Philip Hampton for saying that the reason for the much-debated gender pay gap at the BBC is that women had "let it happen" by not doing enough asking.  Sir Philip is not just your run-of-the-mill businessman; he is leading an important review into the role of women in business, so his views matter. Ms Milton took exception to the remark, and rightly so.  Sir Philip's defence is that he was simply acknowledging differences in behaviour, but it was to say the least a careless phrase.  Ms Milton…
Read More

Women After All

Melvin Konner has written a highly original book, with an unusual message.  It pursues a similar theme to the Paula Principle, but much more broadly and with a completely different level of expertise. The subtitle of Women After All  is 'sex, evolution and the end of male supremacy'.  Konner predicts - and advocates - the future supremacy of women.  He opens with a quite striking proposition: This is a book with a very simple argument: women are not equal to men; they are superior in many ways, and in most ways that will count in the future.  It is not just a matter of culture of upbringing, although both play their…
Read More

The PP put into reverse – or is it?

Results for A levels were published yesterday in the UK.  This is the first year to show the outcomes of the reforms introduced by Michael Gove, and the coverage beforehand verged on the hysterical:  would the rushed through reforms lead to a drop in achievement? In the event, the results were something of a damp squib - for the commentators, not for the students, of course.  There was a tiny uplift overall in the top grades.  But since Ofqual had intervened to ensure there would be no dramatic drop in the results, this was hardly an objective improvement. Maybe as a result, the headline-writers fixed on something else:  "Boys outperform…
Read More

Holiday reading 2,3 & 4: Being Wrong plus

I've been interested for some time in our capacity for self-deception (including my own), and so was intrigued by a book title, Being Wrong.  Kathryn Schulz makes a lively case for being more relaxed about the errors we make, and argues positively that it's only by risking being wrong that we get to empathise with each other.  She has a lot of perceptive things to say about certainty, e.g. Our dislike of doubt is a kind of emotional agoraphobia.  Uncertainty leaves us stranded in a universe that is too big, too open, too ill-defined. Overall, I think she tries to do too much with the argument, and doesn't provide us with…
Read More

Holiday Reading 1: City of Friends

One of the odd things about writing the Paula Principle was how hard it was to find contemporary novels which made women and work anything like their central theme.  My better read friends put their heads together, but most of their examples of fiction that covered this were of books from earlier times.  So I was able to include Middlemarch from the C19 and Dorothy Whipple's High Wages from the 1930s, but later examples didn't come easily. One of my holiday books was Joanna Trollope's City of Friends.   I can't remember whether it was a friend or a reviewer who recommended it, but I had it down on my to-read list and spotted it in a…
Read More

Reports and misreports: the link is nursing

Two items, linked by nursing.  The first is a report in The Guardian that Anne Milton, the minister for women, has criticised Sir Philip Hampton for saying that the reason for the much-debated gender pay gap at the BBC is that women had "let it happen" by not doing enough asking.  Sir Philip is not just your run-of-the-mill businessman; he is leading an important review into the role of women in business, so his views matter. Ms Milton took exception to the remark, and rightly so.  Sir Philip's defence is that he was simply acknowledging differences in behaviour, but it was to say the least a careless phrase.  Ms Milton…
Read More

Women After All

Melvin Konner has written a highly original book, with an unusual message.  It pursues a similar theme to the Paula Principle, but much more broadly and with a completely different level of expertise. The subtitle of Women After All  is 'sex, evolution and the end of male supremacy'.  Konner predicts - and advocates - the future supremacy of women.  He opens with a quite striking proposition: This is a book with a very simple argument: women are not equal to men; they are superior in many ways, and in most ways that will count in the future.  It is not just a matter of culture of upbringing, although both play their…
Read More

The PP put into reverse – or is it?

Results for A levels were published yesterday in the UK.  This is the first year to show the outcomes of the reforms introduced by Michael Gove, and the coverage beforehand verged on the hysterical:  would the rushed through reforms lead to a drop in achievement? In the event, the results were something of a damp squib - for the commentators, not for the students, of course.  There was a tiny uplift overall in the top grades.  But since Ofqual had intervened to ensure there would be no dramatic drop in the results, this was hardly an objective improvement. Maybe as a result, the headline-writers fixed on something else:  "Boys outperform…
Read More

Holiday reading 2,3 & 4: Being Wrong plus

I've been interested for some time in our capacity for self-deception (including my own), and so was intrigued by a book title, Being Wrong.  Kathryn Schulz makes a lively case for being more relaxed about the errors we make, and argues positively that it's only by risking being wrong that we get to empathise with each other.  She has a lot of perceptive things to say about certainty, e.g. Our dislike of doubt is a kind of emotional agoraphobia.  Uncertainty leaves us stranded in a universe that is too big, too open, too ill-defined. Overall, I think she tries to do too much with the argument, and doesn't provide us with…
Read More

Holiday Reading 1: City of Friends

One of the odd things about writing the Paula Principle was how hard it was to find contemporary novels which made women and work anything like their central theme.  My better read friends put their heads together, but most of their examples of fiction that covered this were of books from earlier times.  So I was able to include Middlemarch from the C19 and Dorothy Whipple's High Wages from the 1930s, but later examples didn't come easily. One of my holiday books was Joanna Trollope's City of Friends.   I can't remember whether it was a friend or a reviewer who recommended it, but I had it down on my to-read list and spotted it in a…
Read More

Reports and misreports: the link is nursing

Two items, linked by nursing.  The first is a report in The Guardian that Anne Milton, the minister for women, has criticised Sir Philip Hampton for saying that the reason for the much-debated gender pay gap at the BBC is that women had "let it happen" by not doing enough asking.  Sir Philip is not just your run-of-the-mill businessman; he is leading an important review into the role of women in business, so his views matter. Ms Milton took exception to the remark, and rightly so.  Sir Philip's defence is that he was simply acknowledging differences in behaviour, but it was to say the least a careless phrase.  Ms Milton…
Read More

Women After All

Melvin Konner has written a highly original book, with an unusual message.  It pursues a similar theme to the Paula Principle, but much more broadly and with a completely different level of expertise. The subtitle of Women After All  is 'sex, evolution and the end of male supremacy'.  Konner predicts - and advocates - the future supremacy of women.  He opens with a quite striking proposition: This is a book with a very simple argument: women are not equal to men; they are superior in many ways, and in most ways that will count in the future.  It is not just a matter of culture of upbringing, although both play their…
Read More

The PP put into reverse – or is it?

Results for A levels were published yesterday in the UK.  This is the first year to show the outcomes of the reforms introduced by Michael Gove, and the coverage beforehand verged on the hysterical:  would the rushed through reforms lead to a drop in achievement? In the event, the results were something of a damp squib - for the commentators, not for the students, of course.  There was a tiny uplift overall in the top grades.  But since Ofqual had intervened to ensure there would be no dramatic drop in the results, this was hardly an objective improvement. Maybe as a result, the headline-writers fixed on something else:  "Boys outperform…
Read More

Holiday reading 2,3 & 4: Being Wrong plus

I've been interested for some time in our capacity for self-deception (including my own), and so was intrigued by a book title, Being Wrong.  Kathryn Schulz makes a lively case for being more relaxed about the errors we make, and argues positively that it's only by risking being wrong that we get to empathise with each other.  She has a lot of perceptive things to say about certainty, e.g. Our dislike of doubt is a kind of emotional agoraphobia.  Uncertainty leaves us stranded in a universe that is too big, too open, too ill-defined. Overall, I think she tries to do too much with the argument, and doesn't provide us with…
Read More

Holiday Reading 1: City of Friends

One of the odd things about writing the Paula Principle was how hard it was to find contemporary novels which made women and work anything like their central theme.  My better read friends put their heads together, but most of their examples of fiction that covered this were of books from earlier times.  So I was able to include Middlemarch from the C19 and Dorothy Whipple's High Wages from the 1930s, but later examples didn't come easily. One of my holiday books was Joanna Trollope's City of Friends.   I can't remember whether it was a friend or a reviewer who recommended it, but I had it down on my to-read list and spotted it in a…
Read More

Reports and misreports: the link is nursing

Two items, linked by nursing.  The first is a report in The Guardian that Anne Milton, the minister for women, has criticised Sir Philip Hampton for saying that the reason for the much-debated gender pay gap at the BBC is that women had "let it happen" by not doing enough asking.  Sir Philip is not just your run-of-the-mill businessman; he is leading an important review into the role of women in business, so his views matter. Ms Milton took exception to the remark, and rightly so.  Sir Philip's defence is that he was simply acknowledging differences in behaviour, but it was to say the least a careless phrase.  Ms Milton…
Read More

Women After All

Melvin Konner has written a highly original book, with an unusual message.  It pursues a similar theme to the Paula Principle, but much more broadly and with a completely different level of expertise. The subtitle of Women After All  is 'sex, evolution and the end of male supremacy'.  Konner predicts - and advocates - the future supremacy of women.  He opens with a quite striking proposition: This is a book with a very simple argument: women are not equal to men; they are superior in many ways, and in most ways that will count in the future.  It is not just a matter of culture of upbringing, although both play their…
Read More

The PP put into reverse – or is it?

Results for A levels were published yesterday in the UK.  This is the first year to show the outcomes of the reforms introduced by Michael Gove, and the coverage beforehand verged on the hysterical:  would the rushed through reforms lead to a drop in achievement? In the event, the results were something of a damp squib - for the commentators, not for the students, of course.  There was a tiny uplift overall in the top grades.  But since Ofqual had intervened to ensure there would be no dramatic drop in the results, this was hardly an objective improvement. Maybe as a result, the headline-writers fixed on something else:  "Boys outperform…
Read More

Holiday reading 2,3 & 4: Being Wrong plus

I've been interested for some time in our capacity for self-deception (including my own), and so was intrigued by a book title, Being Wrong.  Kathryn Schulz makes a lively case for being more relaxed about the errors we make, and argues positively that it's only by risking being wrong that we get to empathise with each other.  She has a lot of perceptive things to say about certainty, e.g. Our dislike of doubt is a kind of emotional agoraphobia.  Uncertainty leaves us stranded in a universe that is too big, too open, too ill-defined. Overall, I think she tries to do too much with the argument, and doesn't provide us with…
Read More

Holiday Reading 1: City of Friends

One of the odd things about writing the Paula Principle was how hard it was to find contemporary novels which made women and work anything like their central theme.  My better read friends put their heads together, but most of their examples of fiction that covered this were of books from earlier times.  So I was able to include Middlemarch from the C19 and Dorothy Whipple's High Wages from the 1930s, but later examples didn't come easily. One of my holiday books was Joanna Trollope's City of Friends.   I can't remember whether it was a friend or a reviewer who recommended it, but I had it down on my to-read list and spotted it in a…
Read More