Peter Rhodes on votes for women, pay rises at Tesco and empires ending in tears

THERE are calls to pardon Suffragettes who planted bombs, committed arson and smashed windows in the campaign for Votes for Women. Leave well alone. The Suffragettes rejoiced in breaking the law. They boasted of the number of times they were force-fed, like a badge of honour. What right have we, 100 years later, to pardon them for crimes they were proud to commit?

LAWYERS are preparing cases to prove that women employees of Tesco are doing "work of equal value" to male employees in different jobs, and deserve to be paid the same. This follows the Birmingham City Council campaign where school dinner ladies were judged to be of equal value to binmen and received pay rises and back pay. It has so far cost the council more than £1,000 million. Tesco could be ordered to pay £5,000 million.

THE case I am longing to see is that of Anna, the minimum-wage cleaner in a large legal practice specialising in employment law. While Anna has no legal qualifications, she keeps the place tidy, disinfects the kitchen and loos and washes the mugs. She provides a clean environment allowing the partners to work in safety. And one day a judge rules that, although Anna's work is very different from that of the lawyers, it is "of equal value" and she therefore deserves the same pay as the average barrister in the practice. Anna gets an immediate rise of £200,000 a year and £5 million back pay. Strangely enough, her bosses do not stand outside the High Court and claim this is a great victory for equal rights.

A READER writes: "What the hell has identity to do with leaving the EU?" Seriously? Can some people really not see the difference between the UK as one of 28 members of a political bloc governed from Brussels and the UK as an independent nation governed from Westminster, making its own trade deals, passing its own laws and guarding its own frontiers? What a fine job the EU propaganda ministry has been doing.

MEANWHILE, this week's threats from Brussels to punish Britain in the transition period are a reminder, if we needed it, that the EU is not a big, jolly, benevolent organisation but a hard-nosed capitalist federation, hell-bent on preventing any other states from quitting. Britain must not only be punished but be seen to be punished. As anyone with an education knows, this is a high-risk strategy. I cannot think of a single example in history of a people asking to leave an empire, their request being refused and it not ending in tears.

A READER draws my attention to "energy shots," which come in tiny 60ml bottles at health shops and promise to "boost your focus." He says the price works out at £31 per litre - more than a bottle of malt whisky. True enough. On the other hand, no-one ever claimed that pure malt boosted anything, with the possible exception of the pub's profits. Another 40-year-old Glenfuddle, sir?