The
o✝ Beestonian
ISSUE 17: NOT more deadly than the Mail
_Page 2 The University of Beestonia BESTonian _Page 3 Thanks for the mammaries HORACE'S HALF HOUR _Page 4 / 5 NOT the end of the Road: Chilwell/High Road Mind the gap! _Page 6 Au Contraire: Being a man _Page 7 Beeston Beats: Emma Bladon Jones _Page 8 Famous Last Words Thought For The Month
About Us: We are a locally-run, locally-based, regular, free paper for Beeston and its environs. We are independent in all ways and not-for-profit, so if we say we like it, we really mean it. You’ll find us in good Beeston coffee shops, pubs and other places we love.
FREE
Is femme fatal? Before you turn and run – or the pub-goer’s equivalent: put me back in the Nottingham Drinker rack and go have a wee, RELAX. The Beestonian has not turned into 'The Broxtowe Eunuch'. This issue is merely taking a slightly different form to usual. Take a look inside: there's still The University of Beestonia, BESTonian, Au Contraire and Beeston Beats; all your usual favourites are here. We’re just mixing things up a little. Mainly to illustrate that we can, quite easily, but also in the hope that we might discover some fresh perspectives. It was Issue 5 when I came on board The Beestonian as ‘crew’. It was Issue 6 when I, clad not in dungarees, f**ckme shoes and bird's-nest hair, but jeans, a 'No More Page 3' T-shirt and a perfectly-coiffed fringe, mooted the idea of a ‘feminist’ issue. Not so much as a ‘special’ issue, but a regular issue, just with fewer of those ubiquitous Y chromosomes. We all had a good laugh about it, there were particularly jolly japes at suggestions of Jimmy wearing a dress to his next muso interview, and Lord Beestonia offering to make the tea and take the minutes. But I was serious.
I guess in some ways The Beestonian serves as a viable metaphor for society: fifty percent of the regular ‘staff’ (if you can call our half-dozen, troupe of ne’erdo-well volunteers ‘staff') are female, it’s headed by a fella and, though we usually write about things which affect everyone, the majority of our stories, sources and subjects are male-centric. I’ve said before how much more difficult it is to write about female BESTonians. Many of our best known locals have been male. There are women, of course, but less is known about the women of the past, and fewer women exist in positions of ‘interest’ and power than men – even in 2013. Of course, we do have a female MP. But this has, well... how can I put this delicately? erm, ‘not helped’; being as she often calls up more negative than positive comments and strength of feeling. At least we can assert that this is not because she is a woman, but some other reason(s). We all know women. Some of us are women. If you’re not a woman, maybe some of your best friends are women. Women make up 51% of the population, and more women vote than men, but only 22% of MPs; 23% of judges and 31% of local
councillors are female. Women earn 90% of the wage of their male counterparts. That’s 10% less. For just not being a man. If you knew the guy next to you at work earned more than you just because he was called Geoff, you’d probably be a bit peeved. Unless you’re called Geoff. In England and Wales, around 1 in 5 women has been the victim of rape or attempted rape – that’s 69,000 women. Of these, just under 17,000 register as crimes. Of which, just over 2,900 go to court. Less than half of them end in convictions. (I’ve been in court on a jury for such cases. It’s NOT GOOD in there.) Continued on page 3