Why on earth has Labour decided to reach out to the female voter with a pink van, carrying Harriet Harman (and presumably others…) touring the country and a slogan “Woman To Woman”? Is this a massive step forward in voter outreach, female emancipation, or a rather patronising offensive?

The van is going to turn up at various female friendly locations, like er… supermarkets and shopping malls, offering discussion topics and highlighting policies on issues such as childcare and domestic violence. At first I brushed this all off, as has a sizeable amount of people on social media this morning, as gimmicky tokenism. But now I think more, it could be a winner, couldn’t it? After all, if you’re out and about this morning, you’d certainly notice it. “Hey – that’s that awful pink van they’ve been slating on Twitter! Let’s go and give Harriet Harman a piece of my mind!”

You see, I think it might work after all. Every little helps. More than nine million women who are eligible to vote did not vote at the last general election five years ago

I didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for Vicky Pryce until I saw how she spent her last weekend of freedom – popping out to her local shop and buying bin bags; after perusing shelves of hair dye and socks. (Well, that’s how it was reported by the hacks in her wake.) It made me think – well, yes, those are what you’d probably need if you were contemplating your last moments of ordinary domesticity. What would you do? You’d sort out all of that tat in the kitchen, and jumble all of those old clothes in the back of the wardrobe… You’d fear for personal comforts – like cold feet and warm socks, and as a woman of a certain age – you’d worry about your roots. Crikey, I would. Although I do gather Holloway has its own salon nowadays.

On a more serious note, I’ve also found myself uneasy at the apparent press delight at the jail sentences finally dealt out to Chris Huhne and his ex-wife. Who exactly benefits from their incarceration? Why should the taxpayer fork out for their weeks of private punishment? Wouldn’t we all feel more satisfied from witnessing them, sporting fluorescent jackets, picking up tons of rubbish from our city centre streets, or manning soup kitchens for the homeless? Instead they’re now removed from our lofty gaze to “do their bird quietly”, as Jonathan Aitken advised today – and we won’t hear from them again until at least one of them produces a tome of memoirs!

Anne Diamond Feed

Pink politics

Is this really the best way