So, it's official – the worst place in the UK to be a woman is, er, Islington. That was one of the findings of a big survey commissioned by Radio 4's Woman's Hour, which applied various criteria – housing affordability, personal wellbeing, safety, crime, education, etc – to every part of the UK and ran the figures. The two best places to be a woman were both rather nice parts of lowland Scotland – East Dumbartonshire and East Renfrewshire – with prosperous West Oxfordshire coming in third. And there, right down at the bottom, was that jewel of North London – Islington (379th of 380 in personal wellbeing and 369th in crime). As a confirmed South Londoner who could never understand why anyone in their right mind would wish to live North of the river (unless it was in the pleasanter parts of Kensington or Hampstead), I am unsurprised and, I must admit, rather gratified by this result. Heaven knows what those fine people at Woman's Hour (a continuation of the Guardian woman's page by other means) must make of it. Trendy, vibrant, diverse Islington, home to so many right-thinking PC feminists, turns out to be the worst place in the UK to be a woman. Can such things be?
To change the subject, I can't resist linking to this story, which Bryan A tweeted earlier. Yes, the universe shouldn't exist! I feel this is almost as startling – and oddly pleasing – as the Islington finding.
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"We are aware of the current outage and are working hard to get the site back up and running. Sorry for the inconvenience." Looks like the website Bryan indicated doesn't exist either. Like that word "outage." You can't even trust the Cosmos these days.
ReplyDeleteTry this link Guy - https://web.archive.org/web/20171023031525/https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/universe-shouldn-t-exist-cern-physicists-conclude
ReplyDeleteThanks. That did it. Now I too am wandering a non-existent universe. Feeling like Schrödinger's cat.
ReplyDeleteAndalucia is a bit too far south to qualify as sarf London Nige but lifting my eyes, as I just did toward the heavens, I can confirm that the universe does exist in the shape of both swallows and swifts, still dotting the skies hereabouts, with seemingly no interest in Africa, clearly visible on the horizon.
ReplyDeleteAh that's good to know, MM...
ReplyDeleteYou certainly read widely, Mr. Nige - or was it in this case was a feminist Mrs. Nige who called your attention to this report? Whatever, the Islington figure is intriguing, and I know that area well. But Blackpool North West the second worst place? Astonishing. What are they doing to women to make their lives so unpleasant in that itty bitty Las Vegas, with fish and chips, by the sea?
ReplyDeleteAfraid I've never been to Blackpool, Newman - and no plans to remedy the omission.
ReplyDelete