Peter Rhodes on working women, a mysterious pile-up and being upended by a Gladiator
In the glory days of Jaguar, the British-built limousines were promoted with a catchy, three-word sales slogan: “Grace, Space, Pace.” This week brought images of of a “rogue” electric Jag which according to its owner (and disputed by the manufacturer), developed a sudden unexplained brake fault, resulting in a four-car, £150,000 pile-up. So that's “Grace, Space, Pace – Brace!”
Gladiators, ready! Eight million hopelessly addicted viewers, ready! This weekend brings the Grand Final of Gladiators (BBC1) which has grabbed a huge audience, just as the original Gladiators did in the 1990s, with an alluring blend of physical perfection and tongue-in-cheek humour. I've particularly enjoyed the weekly wit and wisdom of Legend, the Gladiator who, over the past few weeks, has cornered the market in self-centred petulance. His take on the wise old saying about teamwork and the letter I bears repeating: “There may be no I in “team,” Legend told us. “But there are five Is in “individual brilliance.”
During its first run 30-odd years ago, I interviewed a Gladiator who, at the photographer's suggestion, grabbed me in a headlock and turned me upside-down. In the words of the old movie cliché, resistance is futile. You just have to hang there and pretend you're enjoying it.
We have heard much about the so-called Waspi women who claim to have lost out financially through not being properly informed that their state-pension qualifying age was rising from 60 to 65. But there was another group of women. They are the ones who were facing compulsory retirement at 60 but had no wish to go. Their financial security, self-esteem and social lives were built around jobs they loved and when the pension age was raised from 60 to 65, granting them another five years of employment, they punched the air with joy. In the current row, we haven't heard much about these women. But then contented citizens do not make great headlines.
The general weather-forecast consensus for the Easter break is rainy and miserable. Even in the teeth of the most violent climate change in a million years, nature can still produce a traditional, sopping wet English bank-holiday weekend. Enjoy.
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