Polly Toynbee Quotes

The pens sharpen – Islamophobia! No such thing. Primitive Middle Eastern religions (and most others) are much the same – Islam, Christianity and Judaism all define themselves through disgust for women's bodies.

Children know. They breathe it in early, for there's no unknowing the difference between nannies, cleaners, below stairs people and the family upstairs. Children are the go-betweens, one foot in each world, and yet they know very well from the earliest age where they belong, where their destiny lies or, to put it crudely, who pays whom. From a young age their loyalties are torn, betrayal of both inevitable, colluding in complaints with gossip passing each way, upstairs and down...love that nanny, au pair, housekeeper or any paid employee - but never forever. Never equally. Tiny hands steeped young in the essence of class and caste.

As the commentator Polly Toynbee wrote: ‘Diana the Difficult was a problem the Palace could tackle but St Diana is something the Palace can never contend with… If some day the monarchy finally draws peacefully to a close, Diana’s ghostly spirit will have played its part.

The strain of engaging emotionally with all that misery was exhausting. The kindness and hard work of the care assistants here was worth far more than they were paid. But this is unseen, unmentionable labour, hidden away in these human oubliettes we would rather not think about [...]. It is because caring is women's work. That attitude is embedded still in the values society apportions to the jobs people do. It is why there will never be equal pay until women's work is regarded with equal respect [...]. Women's work is still treated as if it should be given almost free, a natural function.