That the West has a schizophrenic view of children and their wellbeing is an understatement. We go on and on about not separating children from their parents, as in debates over refugees and asylum seekers, but we extol as a human right the slaughter of unborn children.

The Tavern Pale is the large hedge that surrounds the property, keeping the riff-raff out. That is what a 'Pale' does. Pale is also the hue of white folk, especially old white folk, and specifically men, old white folk who constitute at least half of our customers. The riff-raff think that we are beyond the Pale, being as we are happily on the opposite side of the hedge, drinking our pints.

It seems that belittling men has become an international pastime, with the media, politicians and special interest groups continuing to put put men down for simply being men. The now-infamous Gillette ad has created a huge backlash against this fashionable trend which simultaneously degrades men while elevating women to something which they are not. (Here is a comparison of old vs new marketing from Gillette.) Sure, men have certain weaknesses that they need to reign in. Back in the day, that was called Self Control - something that is sorely lacking in most schools and homes in this sophisticated age. But now are lives are all about The Feels - and how feminine is a society that is based purely on emotion? Well, it's obviously quite dysfunctional. The cognitive dissonance abounds when society (via feminism) thinks all men are scum but also believes that women are equal to men.

In response to those dangerous extremists who believe that a woman’s testimony against a man is ipso facto an unquestionable first principle in ethics; to the irrational mob who would stampede over the presumption of innocence, due procedure and the rule of law; to those rabid revolutionaries who would gladly dehumanise a man on the basis of his gender, political persuasion, “privilege” or class, and then destroy him—the logical outcome of which attitude is the return of the guillotine for conservatives (I would not be surprised if this is their unspoken fantasy)—and finally, to all those “intellectuals”, such as Martha Nussbaum, who in their desire for recognition by other chattering academics have steeped so low as to come to the defence of these mobsters: these words are for you.

Those who know me know that I have never considered myself a feminist. I've always held on to the radical idea that men and women were put on the earth to help each other out, and not to compete with each other. Before I had my family, I worked in a male-dominated industry, but never felt excluded, passed over or discriminated against. (However, I was once asked to help out in a recording studio when an all-female band wanted an all-female crew. They weren't interested in my qualifications, just my gender. Isn't that discrimination?)

Maybe my favourable experience within a male-dominated workplace was coincidence - or maybe, just maybe - this was the fruit of an attitude which sees my femininity as one of my God-given attributes, something to be grateful for and not rebelled against, something which marks us with special features that complement those of our counterparts.