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| INSPIRING: Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy opposition leader in Burma |
'PANDAMONIUM' ran the headline as two Chinese pandas arrived in Edinburgh Zoo earlier this month to a fanfare of bagpipes at the airport and crowds lining the streets. Now the pandas are in the news again - but for less enthusiastic reasons.
The female animal, Sweetie (Tian Tian), has taken one of the slots in the BBC's women of the year list, alongside Gabrielle Giffords, the US congresswoman who survived a gunshot to the head, and Eman al-Obeidi, the Libyan woman who burst into a press conference to announce her gang-rape by Gaddafi's militia.
The BBC's list is being seen as a gender gaffe too far, coming just days after criticism of its all-male shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year.
If you wanted to bash the BBC a bit more (and why not, it's a national sport after all), you could take issue with at least half the entries on the list.
For example, why did Auntie pick Nafissatou Diallo, the immigrant maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault in a New York hotel room, over the formidable and uber chic Christine Lagarde, who took over DSK's position as head of the IMF?
Or Charlene Wittstock, who married Prince Albert of Monaco in July, over our own Kate Middleton?
Then there was a woman who went on a date with Justin Timberlake after making an appeal on YouTube. You know her name? No… do you care?
The end of the year offers an inviting opportunity to look back and celebrate the life, work and good deeds of people. By this standard, the BBC has served the second sex badly.
An obvious omission is Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy opposition leader in Burma, who has dedicated most of her adult life to her cause. What a moment it was when she was able to receive US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a formal dinner in Rangoon a few weeks back. Next year, Aung San Suu Kyi will stand for parliament as Burma moves slowly towards democracy. Her bravery and struggle have inspired a new movie, The Lady, which is released today. Pity she couldn't have inspired the BBC.
Another worthy inclusion on the eve of Olympic year would have been Lucy Shuker, Britain's number one in wheelchair tennis, who is hoping for a medal in the Paralympics.
Closer to home, there are plenty women in York worthy of a place in any women of the year list.
How about young mum Sallyanne Gatus who won an award in The Press' community pride awards for setting up a gardening club at Dringhouses Primary School following treatment for breast cancer? On accepting her award with six-year-old daughter Laura, she said: “When you're diagnosed with breast cancer or any life threatening illness it changes your life and makes every second of every day mean so much.”
York teenager and budding actress Josie Bellerby has been equally inspiring and displayed her own bravery in a TV documentary about living with a cancer time-bomb.
Several women in Josie's family carry the gene that gives them an 80 per cent chance of developing cancer. In the documentary, the crew followed Josie and her two sisters, Lucy and Emma, as they wrestled with the dilemmas of genetic testing and possible surgery to remove their breasts and ovaries.
Following the film, inquires to a helpline (breastcancergenetics.co.uk) increased making the girls' courageous efforts all the more worthwhile.
And guess who made the film? Yep, that's right: the BBC.
The female animal, Sweetie (Tian Tian), has taken one of the slots in the BBC's women of the year list, alongside Gabrielle Giffords, the US congresswoman who survived a gunshot to the head, and Eman al-Obeidi, the Libyan woman who burst into a press conference to announce her gang-rape by Gaddafi's militia.
The BBC's list is being seen as a gender gaffe too far, coming just days after criticism of its all-male shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year.
If you wanted to bash the BBC a bit more (and why not, it's a national sport after all), you could take issue with at least half the entries on the list.
For example, why did Auntie pick Nafissatou Diallo, the immigrant maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault in a New York hotel room, over the formidable and uber chic Christine Lagarde, who took over DSK's position as head of the IMF?
Or Charlene Wittstock, who married Prince Albert of Monaco in July, over our own Kate Middleton?
Then there was a woman who went on a date with Justin Timberlake after making an appeal on YouTube. You know her name? No… do you care?
The end of the year offers an inviting opportunity to look back and celebrate the life, work and good deeds of people. By this standard, the BBC has served the second sex badly.
An obvious omission is Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy opposition leader in Burma, who has dedicated most of her adult life to her cause. What a moment it was when she was able to receive US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a formal dinner in Rangoon a few weeks back. Next year, Aung San Suu Kyi will stand for parliament as Burma moves slowly towards democracy. Her bravery and struggle have inspired a new movie, The Lady, which is released today. Pity she couldn't have inspired the BBC.
Another worthy inclusion on the eve of Olympic year would have been Lucy Shuker, Britain's number one in wheelchair tennis, who is hoping for a medal in the Paralympics.
Closer to home, there are plenty women in York worthy of a place in any women of the year list.
How about young mum Sallyanne Gatus who won an award in The Press' community pride awards for setting up a gardening club at Dringhouses Primary School following treatment for breast cancer? On accepting her award with six-year-old daughter Laura, she said: “When you're diagnosed with breast cancer or any life threatening illness it changes your life and makes every second of every day mean so much.”
York teenager and budding actress Josie Bellerby has been equally inspiring and displayed her own bravery in a TV documentary about living with a cancer time-bomb.
Several women in Josie's family carry the gene that gives them an 80 per cent chance of developing cancer. In the documentary, the crew followed Josie and her two sisters, Lucy and Emma, as they wrestled with the dilemmas of genetic testing and possible surgery to remove their breasts and ovaries.
Following the film, inquires to a helpline (breastcancergenetics.co.uk) increased making the girls' courageous efforts all the more worthwhile.
And guess who made the film? Yep, that's right: the BBC.
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