Was it gravity or irony that made a banner at a New Statesman debate about feminism on Wednesday night suddenly collapse so that the “-man” part was removed from sight? 

Fear of feminist flying 

If you look up passim in your Latin dictionary you’ll find it defined as “Mary Beard”, so it was inevitable that the Cambridge classicist was one of the speakers at the above debate. She flew off message at one point, saying that the first time she heard a female pilot’s voice come over the intercom in an aircraft her initial thought was not “hurrah, a woman’s in charge” but “oh goodness, she’s the pilot?