And while I further procrastinate writing the article that was due on Friday...

Did anybody notice this headline: Rescued boys' mother 'shopping', in which lifeguards at Wirral beach blame an absent mother when they find two young children in deep water at the beach. This, perhaps, would not be problematic criticism except that the children were at the beach as a part of a larger family group and the boys had wandered off. Their grandmother and other family members were searching for them further up the beach.

It seems to me that if a mother leaves her children with people she trusts while she goes shopping, she is only very indirectly responsible when they wander off. Why is she been targeted? Where is the father [I'm going to assume there is one]? Is he just not there that day- well, shouldn't he share some of the blame? I mean, he clearly left his children with their mother, a woman who was irresponsible enough to leave them with a family member who let them wander off.

The lifeguard also told off the grandmother for not keeping a close enough eye on them, so it seems that who is to blame is not entirely clear, but it's definitely a woman.

What do we want?

Marks and Spencer's Chairman, the boy Sir Stuart Rose, in a rant about how 'you've [women] got more equality than you ever can deal with,' while simultaenously pointing out that 'there are many girls in here who've got two kids who come to work', asks the question: 'What is it you haven't got?'

Well, we don't seem to have men in top positions not patronising us for starters. 'Girls' anyone?

Is it just me or is becoming more and difficult to buy an ethical bra?

Who was she anyway?

This article from the BBC, which I have quoted in full, annoyed me. It discussed the murder of Kinga Legg by her boyfriend, but throughout the article, her boyfriend is discussed as a businessman, while she is his girlfriend. We learn about his businesses, his houses, where he lives, and his bankruptcy in 2006. In the last sentence, it is noted that she too is a successful businesswoman, and owns a tomato growing company with sites in the UK and Poland. But while he is the focus of the article, she is reduced to the bloody body in the bed. The effect is to make her ancillary to her murderer throughout, reducing her to his partner and a victim, rather than a human being.

Porsche recovered in murder hunt

Police in Cheshire have found a sports car thought to belong to a businessman whose girlfriend was found beaten to death in a Paris hotel room. Ian Griffin, 39, is at the centre of an international manhunt after Kinga Legg's body was found at the l'Hotel Bristol on Tuesday. Cheshire Police recovered a Porsche 911 they were looking for during searches of properties connected to Mr Griffin. Surrey Police have also been searching a property as part of the inquiry. Ms Legg, 36, from Poland, checked into the £1,000-a-night hotel on Monday. Mr Griffin arrived later.

Company owner

Her body was found by a hotel cleaner the following day. French police said she had died from "internal bleeding caused by multiple blows". Mr Griffin, originally from Warrington, previously lived in Knutsford and had several businesses listed in Cheshire. In 2006 he was declared bankrupt at Warrington County Court. Two plain-clothes officers from Cheshire Police had been standing outside his parents' home in Delph Lane, Winwick, on Friday. Ms Legg owned international company Vegex, which supplied Tesco and other supermarkets with tomatoes. The company has a site in Oxshott, Surrey and Opatówek, Poland.

The alternative, in case you were wondering, could be something like this:

Police in Cheshire have found a sports car in the murder investigation of businesswoman Kinga Legg, found beaten to death in a Paris hotel room. Legg's partner, Ian Griffin, 39, is at the centre of an international manhunt after her body was found at the l'Hotel Bristol on Tuesday. Cheshire Police recovered a Porsche 911 they were looking for during searches of properties connected to Mr Griffin. Surrey Police have also been searching a property as part of the inquiry. Ms Legg, 36, from Poland, checked into the £1,000-a-night hotel on Monday. Mr Griffin arrived later. Ms Legg's body was found by a hotel cleaner the following day. French police said she had died from "internal bleeding caused by multiple blows".

Kinga Legg owned international company Vegex, which supplied Tesco and other supermarkets with tomatoes. The company has a site in Oxshott, Surrey and Opatówek, Poland. Mr Griffin, originally from Warrington, previously lived in Knutsford and had several businesses listed in Cheshire. In 2006 he was declared bankrupt at Warrington County Court. Two plain-clothes officers from Cheshire Police had been standing outside his parents' home in Delph Lane, Winwick, on Friday.

It's not just the reordering of Ms Legg's person via that of her partner, but the use of her name throughout the article, instead of 'she', that makes her a central part of the text; a central part of the story- which after all is about her. To be honest, it would also be nice to get the words domestic violence in there and the 'found beaten to death' does disembody the crime from the murderer. But, equally, at this stage in the investigation it may be problematic to accuse a particular suspect of the crime.

An open letter to the SNP

Dear SNP,

I have just read your manifesto in the run- up to the European elections. Unfortunately, your European manifesto is just a nine-point statement, which strikes me as a bit lazy- I want details, not random and unclarified promises. Furthermore, of the 9 statements, 5 are about the economy, 1 the environment (and indirectly the economy), 1 is about education (and indirectly the economy); and 2 are statement's about Scotland's place in Europe. Is there not more to your politics than the economy? As a result, I went to your 2007 Scottish Parliament manifesto and found that you have no gender equality statement. You do have a broader equality statement, although rather worryingly it is this:

Prior to independence the SNP will not promote or support legislation or policies which discriminate on the grounds of race, disability, age, gender, faith or religion, social background or sexual orientation.

And after independence?

You then highlight your commitment to the Disability Equality Duty and the Race Equality Duty, which is good- but what about gender? Where is your support for the equal pay act, which study after study is showing to not be implemented? What is your stance on the low level of rape convictions? On the fact, that women are more likely to be jailed for lesser and non-violent crimes? What's your stance, and for that matter, what are you doing about increasing the representation of women in politics at all levels? Why is only one out of six of your candidates on the European election list a woman? And don't get me started on why Nicola Sturgeon isn't First Minister. Why are you ignoring 52% of your population?

What's worse is that I know that the SNP have made an effort to address certain gender equality issues- so why aren't you highlighting them?

This voter is feeling a bit disillusioned.

Best,

Feminist Avatar.

Dear BBC

England is not the UK. [and yes it is England that is getting the heatwave, not Scotland- are you shocked?]

That is all.

[ETA: Ha! They changed the title- who says random blogging doesn't work.]