I’VE always described myself as a post-feminist rather than a feminist.

My reasoning is that women are equal to men - it’s no longer a subject up for debate, therefore the big feminist fight is over and now it’s just down to ironing out a few rough spots here or there.

But recent events seem to have turned my perhaps naive theory on its head.

For a start, there’s the hoo-ha over Doctor Who and the appointment of Jodie Whittaker, which has led to a rather paltry petition signed by a few saddos who need to get a grip and numerous sexist jibes such as ‘who wants to see the Tardis full of bras?’.

If Doctor Who fans can suspend their disbelief long enough to be scared of Daleks and Cybermen, surely they can handle the notion of a woman adventurer travelling through space and time?

But that’s not what has me on the verge of burning a Tardis full of bras.

It’s the BBC’s flagrant attachment to good old-fashioned sexism when it comes to its ludicrous pay scales.

If the super rich elite stars of the Beeb have such a vast discrepancy in their pay depending on whether they’re male or female, one can only assume this is replicated throughout the organisation down to the lowliest office clerk.

The fact that Claudia Winkleman, the highest paid female star, earns only a quarter of the salary of the highest paid male star, Chris Evans, is shocking. We’re not talking a few quid here - she earns a whopping 75 per cent less.

To add insult to injury, the BBC’s Director of Radio and Education, James Purnell, appeared on Radio 5 Live’s Breakfast Show in a bungling bid to defend the indefensible.

Yes, he agreed, the pay discrepancy was unacceptable - and he assured listeners the Beeb was ‘aiming for equality by 2020’.

Excuse me? By 2020? That’s a fifth of the way through the 21st century. The suffragettes were pointing out that women deserved equal rights over a century ago. The BBC, surely, should have embraced equality some time during the 20th century.

I found Mr Purnell’s comments so astounding I couldn’t resist finding out more about him. It turns out prior to working at the Beeb, he spent nine years as a Labour MP, highlights of which include a to-do over a faked photograph and a flirtation with the expenses scandal during which he claimed £247 for 3,000 fridge magnets... must be one hell of a big fridge.

He joined the BBC in 2013 as its director of strategy on a salary of £295,000. I’m not sure if his current role was a promotion, demotion or sideways step, but you can bet he’s still earning top dollar.

So here’s a thought, BBC bosses, as you set out on your steep and thorny path towards equality: get rid of Mr Purnell and all those like him who are stuck in the past, and employ a bunch of women instead. Not only will that flood the corporation with a much-needed deluge of common sense but it will quarter your wages bill.

Shame on you

SORRY about your loved one who drowned at sea. I was near the edge of the boat but I didn’t want to go right to the edge so when I held my hand out, they couldn’t quite reach me and they drowned.

Sorry about your cherished family pet, but when I turned up to put the fire out at your house, even though the fire was under control and I could have easily saved Fluffy, it was much less hassle not to bother, so I didn’t have to get, you know, all sooty.

Oh and sorry about three-year-old Eurasian wolf Ember, mother to five cubs, the first to be born at Cotswold Wildlife Park in its 47-year history.

When she breached the electric fence, which wasn’t properly charged, our staff were too far away to tranquilise her.

So we shot her.

Ember may have taken the easy way out but did we humans have to do the same?

No cheap imitation

I’M sure somebody somewhere said something about imitation being cheap.

But it seems that may not be entirely true.

Just look at the price of going to see one of the tribute bands who regularly appear at venues across the country, including Swindon.

More often than not it’s half the price to see an original piece of theatre than it is to see a bunch of people who aren’t the people you are fans of but who look, sometimes, vaguely similar and have some sort of witty, or not, variation on their name.

Which reminds of the taxi driver I got a lift with a few years ago who told me he was dying for someone to form Earth Swindon Fire.

Anyway, the irony is it was much cheaper to see the original bands back in the day than it is to see their imitators now.

Make of that what you will.