bridge too far

Not so much an issue these days as male ballet dancers are taller than they used to be. That was always the problem - the girls, when en pointe, couldn't be taller than their male partners. A current prima ballerina of world renown, Sylvie Guillem, is 5ft 8

All sorts - cabaret, show dancing, tap dancing, jazz, contemporary. But ballet is my love - just wish my mother had put a brick on my head so I never grew beyond 5ft 4!

- OIC! *Doh - I'm slow on the uptake tonight* . Wish it was my leg -I was too tall for ballet

Eh?

Formerly dancer / dance teacher Capital Projects Manager Procurement Manager Capital Projects and Procurement Principal Auditor Now doing the hardest job of the lot - full time grandmother!

This government has borrowed more in the past 5 years than the previous Labour administration did in its 13 year tenure

But a lot of left-leaning folk living in a safe Tory constituency might well vote Green if they know their Labour candidate doesn't have a cat in hell's chance of winning. You never know, the Greens could well be part of the next coalition with Labour and the SNP

Political parties' manifestos should be based on their principles, not necessarily the same as the popular view. This is where the LibDems fail - they are seasoned fence sitters, saying what they think people want to hear. In local politics, this sometimes means that LibDems say one thing in one area and a diametrically opposite thing in another area.

Listened to car radio the other day when Dusty Springfield was on - Son of a Preacher Man. Awesome voice that girl had.

See here Facebook keep censoring this beautiful picture of a mother breastfeeding (presumably because some people have complained) yet the Sun gets away with its Page 3. Double standards or what

If I were a conspiracy theorist, which I'm not, I would wonder if the delay in setting up the Child Abuse enquiry was deliberate in that they knew Leon Brittan was about to shuffle off this mortal coil and with it his evidence / cross-examination

That's OK. I get quite sad, as the mother of a woman who suffered very badly with anorexia in her teens and twenties. It is a misconception indeed. Most young people become anorexic in a vain attempt to establish some sort of control over their lives at a time when their bodies are telling them they're growing up. My own daughter felt she'd lost control when her school (and to some extent her parents, if I'm honest) expected a great deal of her - she was very, very clever and a talented musician. She had no interest in 'fashion' or 'image' and didn't conform to peer pressure. After years and years of hard work on her part, and the birth of her daughters, she's a lot, lot better. But the condition doesn't really get cured. It just gets controlled.

Do you know anything about anorexia Lighthouse? Thought not.

Quite a few male sports commentators would fit this description but that's OK because we don't judge sports presenters on looks, after all.

I wouldn't advocate banning it but that's because I'm against censorship. I absolutely support the idea of freedom of speech but with that freedom comes responsibility (to respect and to not offend). I don't think the Sun is being responsible.

Thank you. A far more eloquent explanation than I could ever muster but you're absolutely right on all counts. Thank you again

But I don't fancy him! I don't know him, so how can I fancy him? He's pretty, I grant you but is he good fun, intelligent, kind etc.? Far more important in most women's 'fancying' criteria than looks (that don't last) and money.

Of course they wouldn't put such a caption - it's more subliminal than that. Impressionable young girls THINK that men / boys judge them by appearance and so they might well be tempted to emulate artificially enhanced / airbrushed / surgically enlarged girls. They might well look at Katie Price and think 'look how much money and fame she gets because of her breasts and makeup' and try to copy that. They think this way because that's how they see young boys and some brains-in-their-dicks men react to these photos. I don't think women look at men in the same way at all. OK I posted about Pelle on the MB but that was a firmly tongue-in-cheek post to underline how superficially some on here judge, for example, female sports presenters or sportswomen.

Possibly driven by a desire to appear as attractive as the girls on page 3 that the blokes drool over?

Sorry to disabuse you but I can't anymore, since I buggered my knee about a year ago (not literally buggered!) I haven't been brave enough to try the splits since then.

e You're probably right but all the time women are met with 'phwoar' then their attributes remain objectified. I speak with a forked tongue here because, when I was a dancer, we used our bodies to get noticed. Not that I ever stripped, I hasten to add! If women weren't noticed because, and only because, of their bodies, they would be on an even footing with men. But it won't happen. Strange isn't it that some of these 'models' dress up as little girls but child abuse is rife. Strange too that many people object to mothers breastfeeding in public (even discretely) but think nothing of girls baring all in a newspaper. It even filters down to some rags judging female politicians, for example, on their appearance or their shoes. They'd never do that to a male politician. So yeah, double standards all the way.

Because women's boobs are objectified (by men) and women are judged on their boobage, unlike men. This is why some teenage girls see a career path in paying to having implants so that they can flaunt them and attract footballers / become 'models'. If they were judged on their humour, intelligence etc as men are in the main, then boobage wouldn't be an issue.

And me

There used to be an allegedly dodgy company called Kitchens Direct a few years ago. I think it was based in the Manchester area. It used to re-invent itself periodically, following bad press, usually using a slightly different name.

Whoop de woo! Just booked to see Tim Vine soon and Stewart Lee in June!