But that is like saying that British standards of living have not improved since the war because we still have so many poor people. If these feminists were serious about their disenfranchised sisters, they would be devoting themselves to this cause, and joining government task forces instead of writing yet another media-friendly blockbuster on Feminism Today.Finally, we are alarmed that Western feminism has given women licence to behave as badly as men. What is so wonderful about a world where we now have twice as many driven, selfish, brutal people storming around? So mothers should have the same rights to abandon their children as men do. Where does that leave the children?A new report shows that the number of females sentenced for violence against a person has quadrupled since the Seventies. If this trend continues the number of violent girl criminals will outnumber boys by the year 2008.
These are not those sweet, old-fashioned cat fights where you pulled someone's hair and screamed a lot. They are violent crimes which include stabbings, head butts, kicking and in some cases, the long, drawn-out torture of victims.I have worked for some scandalously uncaring female bosses who have left me with no illusions about the inherent virtues of womanhood. This is why I think that Woodhull might not be such a crack- pot idea and why I still want to go: I really am desperate for this feminised world Even if it means cavorting with Ms Wolf.. DENVER, COLORADO - western American values - that combination of self-reliance, local civic responsibility and non-intervention by the federal government - have become the new mantra of more and more US politicians. We heard them a generation ago from Barry Goldwater, the presidential candidate from Arizona, then reviled, now regarded by many as a hero. At the moment you hear them from the supporters of Ross Perot's Reform Party, in particular its one state governor, the former wrestler Jessie Ventura But that is still on the fringe of US political ideas. If, however, the Texas governor George Bush Jr does become the next President (and at the moment that seems likely) then western values become mainstream.
Whenever a set of political ideas suddenly becomes more important, there is usually an economic reason for it And so it is with America's west It is booming. Anyone who has visited a place such as Phoenix or Houston will have picked up the buzz of success, for both are growing with astonishing speed. Up here in Denver it is much the same. Hi-tech firms are attracted by the fact that Denver ranks near the top of most US "quality of life" league tables. The old downtown area bristles with new hotels; turn-of-the-century warehouses are becoming apartments for young professionals - and, of course, there are the Rocky Mountains on the doorstep. America as a whole is booming - this year the growth forecasts have been upped to 4 per cent - but nowhere is the self-confidence quite so evident as in America's west.How does this translate into politics? Well, the great divide in US politics has always seemed to me not to be between left and right (as in Europe) or even between Republican and Democrat, but between the two embedded attitudes of the people: on the one hand, the rugged, individualist "let's do it our way" approach to life, and on the other the legalistic, rule- based, "let's find someone to sue" blame culture.For many years the latter has been in the ascendancy President Clinton's cabinet is 60 per cent lawyers.