FAITHFUL to the canons of political correctness and to the great delight of the Blairs of this world, Britain is becoming a feminised society - feminised at least in respect of those spheres of life which have traditionally been seen as the domain of men. One symptom of this tendency has been the downgrading of masculine qualities and the proliferation of so-called 'males' in which these qualities are manifestly lacking. Another - equally repulsive - has been the attempt to induce women to play masculine roles - to become, as it were, ersatz and second-rate males instead of first-rate representatives of their own sex.

Nowhere has this latter tendency been pursued to the point of insanity more than in Britain's armed forces - up till recently admired throughout the world for their toughness, discipline and professionalism, but now increasingly becoming just another experimental ground for social engineering, including the nutty theories of human equality - both racial and sexual.

Penny Rushton (24), from Cannock, Staffs., with her crew-cut, back-pack and rifle, is not a picture of femininity. She has served in the Royal Artillery but is now trying to get into the Royal Marine Commandos, one of the toughest military units in the world.

Hard tests

To win the Commandos' famed Green Beret she must complete a ten-mile endurance course in 72 minutes in full kit. She must also do a nine-mile speed march and a 30-mile solo mission on Dartmoor in eight hours. Even half of the male trainees fail to make it in these tests, but Penny (5ft 2in and 8½ stone) is determined to succeed.

An army spokesman talking to the press has said: "A few years ago having a woman join the Commandos would have been unthinkable. This shows how far women have come in the forces. Penny is there on merit. She gets no special treatment."

Well, if this is true and Penny Rushton does make it into the Commandos it can only mean one thing.

She will have gone a long way towards sacrificing those unique feminine qualities that make women special - and which in fact make the world go round.

Which no doubt would delight Tony and his 'New Labour' Government. This crew seem bent on turning women into half-men just as they want to turn men into half-women (some would say setting an excellent example themselves!).

Top brass go p.c.

Of course, we expect this kind of tomfoolery from politicians. But aren't we entitled to hope that the chiefs of our armed services would know better?

Just who was the nitwit who, with apparent enthusiasm, told the newspapers that Penny gets "no special treatment"?

Women should indeed get special treatment - because women are not the same. Our ancestors knew it. Our nation was built upon it. In fact, every nation that has made any worthwhile mark on history has recognised it as an eternal truth.

And an essential part of this difference is that women should not be called upon to perform combat roles in the armed services. This is not because women have any the less courage than men, but only because their courage is of a different kind, also because the physical and psychological hardships of life in the front line in wartime are hardships best suited to the male species - just as women, and women alone, are equipped to cope with the unique hardships of childbirth.

An insult

What the feminists (male and female) of New Labour seem incapable of understanding is that this kind of nonsense, far from raising the status of women and 'liberating' them, simply degrades and insults them by casting them into an environment in which they cannot possibly compete on fair terms with their men-folk. This is the same as degrading and insulting men by casting them into those areas of life that are the natural domain of women and where women perform best.