Is it ever OK to call women 'ladies'? No, it's demeaning, sexist and belongs in the dark ages
Claire Cohen for the i news site
After the former England football manager Kevin Keegan said he doesn't like listening to female pundits speaking about men's football, Claire Cohen said she doesn't like "listening to men talking about what women should or shouldn't do". Writing for the i news site, she objected to his use of the word "ladies", arguing that it is "the sort of outdated term that should be relegated to the same dusty filing cabinet as 'females' (gag) and 'the missus' (kill me now)". It's not "violent misogyny", but an "insidious sexist word that needs stamping out".
EU's migrant-curbing agenda risks fuelling Sahel jihadists
Ole Sevrin Nydal for EU Observer
"In its desperate effort to curb migration, the EU has inadvertently bolstered jihadist groups in the Sahel, and now it may be too late," argues Ole Sevrin Nydal for EU Observer. "Given migrants' risk-willingness, the EU-imposed crackdown has inadvertently raised the profit for those willing to supply and govern increasingly dangerous journeys," he adds. Only by "promoting orderly and safe migration" can the EU "reduce jihadist groups' influence and contribute to regional stability".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
SNP's dominance of Scotland is under serious threat
John Curtice for The Times
The scale of Labour's victory in the Rutherglen by-election "suggests the SNP's decade-long dominance of Scotland's electoral politics is now under serious threat", argues John Curtice in The Times. "Any hopes" the SNP had that opinion polls were "exaggerating the threat that Labour poses" have been "firmly dispelled", he adds. Labour should not "count its chickens" but it "does now seemingly have a realistic chance of winning a significant haul of Scottish seats", adds the polling expert.
Britain's pheasant shooting season has begun. And a year-round massacre makes it possible
George Monbiot for The Guardian
Pheasant shooting is "one of the bluntest expressions of class power in the United Kingdom", argues George Monbiot in The Guardian. The season began this week, he writes, "appropriately coinciding" with the Conservative Party conference. "Elite culture is killing culture", he says, because "what greater expression of power can there be than to decree and enact mass death?" But pheasant shooting is "part of the unmaking of both our ecosystems and our humanity", he writes.
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A drive in the desert, prayers with pigeons, and more
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will drought fuel global violence?Podcast Plus why did Trump pardon a drug-trafficking president? And are romantic comedies in terminal decline?
-
Crossword: December 5, 2025The daily crossword from The Week
-
‘They’re nervous about playing the game’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘It is their greed and the pollution from their products that hurt consumers’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘It’s critical that Congress get involved’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Canada joins EU’s $170B SAFE defense fundspeed read This makes it the first non-European Union country in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative
-
‘The choice isn’t between domestic and foreign talent; the nation was built on both’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘Every teacher is a literacy teacher’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘These attacks rely on a political repurposing’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘Latinos bring a wealth of knowledge and cultural connection to the ocean’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
