Express & Star

Cathy Dobbs: A matter of alarm or control?

In the future, will we all ask ourselves: "Where were you when the emergency alarm test went off?”

Published

I hope so, although if you live in areas like Bewdley, Ironbridge and Shrewsbury that siren-like sound could become a regular occurrence as local emergency services send out warnings of flooding. Maybe wildfires on Cannock Chase will trigger the alert for locals, or even knife-wielding gangs in Birmingham.

We’ve all managed OK up until now, so with Covid restrictions mainly over is this just another way for the Government to control us?

Few people can get away with infiltrating the ‘royal box’ during a performance or stealing Jay Leno’s show from him. But then Dame Edna Everage proved that housewives can get away with practically anything. Like when she asked Jeffrey Archer: “Do you laugh at yourself? Because if not, you’re missing the joke of the century.”

When asked if she was going to retire early, Dame Edna said: “No, because the world needs me. People adore me and I’ve tried to analyse that, and the answer is so simple – I adore myself. And I think my self-esteem is infectious.” She will be greatly missed

In a career filled with laughter at so much political incorrectness, there was a downside for Barry Humphries. He came in for criticism from trans activists after he described being transgender as “a fashion” and gender-reassignment surgery as “self-mutilation”. So they renamed a major comedy prize that had been named after him. Thankfully Dame Edna didn’t let it bother her. She once said she believed in regular doses of vitamin L – as she told an interviewer and doctor, the L stands for Laughter.

In Canada Liberal MPs hoped to spread awareness of violence against women. So, what did they do? Visit a women’s refuge, put more funding into rape crisis centres, or maybe change laws on domestic violence to increase protection for women? Nope, the men all donned pairs of bright pink heels and paraded around a room.

The video of their ‘Hope in Heels’ efforts has gone viral and the men look self-conscious as they struggle to walk in the stilettos.

I don’t see how this will have any effect on violence against women, it just makes them look out of touch and utterly ridiculous.