Now it's the 'manopause', but can't we finish the fight for female equality first?

IF THE week so far was subjected to one of those trendy word clouds, the biggest by far would be change — both with and without the definite article

- Rachel Johnson

For starters, an ambulance service in the East Midlands is allowing staff to take a year of paid leave for the male menopause. Yes, you read that right, even though in my mother’s day the menopause was called “The Change” — if it was mentioned at all and only women had it.

The service is also offering blokes going “is it just me, or is it hot in here” while fanning their faces “extra uniforms” — to accommodate sweating and man boobs? — and allowing them to flex their shifts around their symptoms.

Then, as morning coffee time rolled around yesterday, there was more change in the air. Like you I was “sat”, as we must say now, in front of the telly for the main event from the man billed as the Candidate for Change (admittedly only by his spin doctors and client MPs) after “30 years of the status quo”.