Women in high places

My very first editor gave me a sound piece of advice when I started out. “Always write about what you know,” he told me.

Despite this, I am moved to write once again on the subject of women. Although the new head of IMO is now confirmed to be a man (I don’t mean to imply that there was any doubt about his gender), the good news is that a woman has, for the first time, been appointed head of the IMF.

She is charged with putting in place a more open and transparent procedure. We should expect great things, because women are much better than men at openness and transparency. As the new IMF boss herself says, “Leman Brothers would never have collapsed if it had been Leman Sisters”. She also has to restore the credibility of the IMF following the resignation of her predecessor – a man. Good luck with that.

The only other candidate for the IMF job – a man – said in the run-up to the election that he was like a football team starting a match five goals down. The result was a foregone conclusion. Women are better than men at most things, including - in England, at least - football.

It was interesting to see that the manager of North Korea’s women’s football team claimed that the side lost a World Cup match to the United States this week because several of the players were struck by lightning a month ago.

The manager of the North Korea football team is a man. Men are better at making excuses than women.

chris@merlinco.com