So it’s official, the most powerful woman in the UK is the Queen: well according to the Women’s Hour panel anyway. In fact 3 out of the top 5 women had inherited their position rather than working their way up the ladder. Chaired by Eve Pollard, the panel had the tricky task of deciding what constitutes ‘power’: money, control or influence. Oona King pointed out that Britain may talk a lot about multiculturalism but is still a monoculture at heart. Heather Rabbatts said that rather than quotas, what we need is to support people by putting in ‘floors not ceilings’. Her mum was her best champion telling her that she would ‘always need her own knicker money’. Good advice.

There were no knitters on the list. I was saddened and surprised to have my knitting confiscated and sealed in a plastic bag. For the 2 hours that we were sat in the audience I could have done a lot of rows. Perhaps they think knitting is powerful after all?