What is it about Harriet Harman that makes many people react to her as if the anti-Christ has arrived on their doorstep? Those of us who are still around in Blighty enduring this wretched Summer had our patience tried still further yesterday by Harriet’s cosy little interview with the Sunday Times, during which she offered the opinion that: 'Men cannot be left to run things on their own. I think it’s a thoroughly bad thing to have a men-only leadership. In a country where women regard themselves as equal, they are not prepared to see men just running the show themselves. I think a balanced team of men and women makes better decisions.'

On the face of it this might not seem too unreasonable. After all, the blokes have made yet another hash of it, whether economically or politically. We’ve all wondered just a little bit if the crunch and crash would have been so bad if there hadn’t been so much testosterone-fuelled machismo charging around the City and Wall Street. We’ve also considered how women in management might possibly hold some advantages when leading organisations through difficult times, particularly when horrible choices about staffing have to be made. One can even almost cope with the news that Harriet intends to set up an international summit of women leaders to be called the ‘Gender 20' (Item 1 on the agenda: What do do about the Berlusconi problem).

No, it’s Harriet herself who's the problem. It’s an ad hominem (or ad feminam?) argument. It’s the bossy, bureaucratic, slightly third-rateness of the woman. It takes some deputy prime minister to make you long for a Prescott return. It’s the 'cannot be left to run things on their own' bit that gets my goat. That is pure sexist claptrap, and if it came from the mouth of a man he’d be drummed out of polite company. It’s like a bored parent talking about naughty kids – 'leave them on their own and the place will look like a bomb’s hit it after half an hour'. They just cannot be trusted. Nanny knows best.

As the goddess of Equalities in the UK, one can only imagine what horrors have been going on inside Harriet’s pet Equality and Human Rights Commission, an organisation that makes ten rabid ferrets in a sack look like a Carmelite Nunnery. And one can be sure that Harman’s Equality Bill will contain a fair bit of the usual ham-fisted box-ticking that typifies government’s attempt to get stuck into such areas.

In today's bulletin:
Northern Rock sinks again as losses widen
Toyota and BMW caught in worldwide car crash
Workers follow French lead with sit-in protests
Editor's blog: More nonsense from Harman
Too skint to sack people?