Last modified on Mon 10 May 2021 12.03 EDT
Men who harass women from cars should face criminal charges, a cross-party group of MPs has urged, as the government comes under mounting pressure to criminalise sexual harassment.
Labour’s Harriet Harman and Caroline Nokes, the Conservative chair of the women and equalities select committee, have formed a cross-party alliance to push the government to beef up anti-misogyny measures via amendments in the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill.
“It makes absolutely no sense that kerb crawling is an offence if its aim is to solicit prostitution, but kerb crawling a schoolgirl to shout sexualised abuse at her is not – the law needs to be changed,” said Harman.
DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP via Getty Images
She’s a devil, she’s an angel: she’s a pushy and whimsical ‘Princess Nut Nut’ or a steadfast friend who has long campaigned for animal welfare and feminist causes, reviving the faltering modernisation of British Conservatism. She’s modest and keeps out of the limelight – standing alongside staffers rather than in front of the glossy black door of No 10 when Boris Johnson returned to Downing Street after his December 2019 election victory – or she’s a siren in a high-stakes Game of Thrones, dubbed Cersei after the glamorous villainess, whip-cracking her way through Westminster and driving out loyalists.
Back in June 2019 – when it became clear Boris was sailing to victory in the Tory leadership election, but there were serious divisions between his official campaign and allies of his partner Carrie Symonds – I wrote: ‘There cannot be two competing Boris campaigns. There cannot be two competing Boris Downing Streets.
And there cannot be two competing Boris administrations. At the moment there is Team Boris and there is Team Carrie. The next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is going to have to choose between them.’
Boris never chose. Which is why this morning his Government is eating itself alive.
My London: Nimco Ali Joanna Taylor
Where do you go to let your hair down?
I used to hang out in The Conduit before it closed down. This city is really walkable, so I’ve been doing lots of walking and hanging around in parks with my friends.
What podcasts do you love at the moment?
One is called The C-Word, with Lena Dunham. It’s really good because it looks at women throughout history who have been called crazy and digs deep into their experiences. Also Guys We F ed I listened to the whole catalogue, I find it fascinating. In the bath I listen to Modern Love, the podcast of the column in The New York Times; I find it really interesting the way different people talk about love.