The world changes before our eyes

The conviction of one of America’s most iconic and, in his day, most bankable stars would have been unthinkable just last year, when a hung jury let Bill Cosby off the hook. Last time around, Cosby’s lawyer, Jim Masereau, the world's most high profile Native American, and the man who secured an acquittal for Michael Jackson in the face of apparently unassailable evidence, prevailed, but the world has changed under his feet, and he could not pull off the same trick this time.

What has changed? Everything is the answer. And if you want to put a name to it, that name is Harvey Weinstein. Women are on the march and there’s no stopping them now. I watched University Challenge on Monday, and was foxed by a number of questions about women, as were the far cleverer contestants on that show. The questions were placed there deliberately, following complaints that too many questions hitherto have been man-based. Of course the problem there is that women’s voices have been silenced by men for so long there is a terrible paucity of women making their mark in history, culture, the arts and, I guess, everything else.

But they’re out there, and it’s our job to learn about them if we wish to be considered as truly well-rounded people.

The time is approaching rapidly when women will be equal to men in every walk of life, from pay, through artistic and political representation, all the way through to mentions on University Challenge. 
And a good thing too.