In the mood for a story?

Then I’ll begin . . .

One day, Mister Sillyread a silly newspaper article that was much sillier than the silliest thing he’d ever done.

It was a study by the University Of Lincoln into the Mister Menand Little Missbooks, created by Roger Hargreaves 47 years ago and which have sold more than 120 million copies.

Bizarrely, the study branded the books ‘sexist’ because the female characters are less powerful than the males – no doubt Mister Strongcame in for particular criticism – and the Little Misses are saved by the Mister Men in more thanhalfof their stories, while the Mister Men are only saved in one thirdof them.

Furthermore, the female characters were given an average of 53.5 wordsin their stories while the male characters had 61.5.

Remember, your taxes helped pay for this national scandal to be uncovered!
Reality check!

Hundreds of children’s stories feature a ‘damsel in distress’ rescued by the proverbial ‘knight in shining armour’.

Adult female fiction often replaces ‘knights’ with ‘handsome young doctors’ and no-one complains.

Except perhaps uglyyoung doctors.

This forensically-detailed research was done by academics with degrees that entitle them to engage in highly specialised work . . . like analysing every word in books written for very small children.

The University’s website states that it is engaged in ‘world-leading research projects’ and in the latest national research assessments it received a £2 million additionalincrease.

If that’s only a ‘top-up’, what’s their totalincome and why is it being used to denigrate much-loved children’s characters who’ll be treasured long after these findings have been filed away and forgotten?

In the wake of this ludicrously pointless study, I’ve got an idea for two new books in the series . . .

“Little Miss I Really Should Get A Proper Job” & “Mister Some Academics Have Far Too Much Time On Their Hands”.

THE END