The Labour majority is huge enough to repel even the best orchestrated of mutinies

The Labour majority is huge enough to repel even the best orchestrated of mutinies. “We should have your problems,” would be the envious response of other European leaders. The opinion polls reflect a population that feels more at ease in Tonyland than it did in latter- day Toryland. A shrunken Conservative army mills around and jabs at its war drums but most of its swords are made of cardboard.

HERE IS the conundrum at the heart of Mr Blair’s Britain: if the Prime Minister and his approach to Government are so popular, why is he so anxious? The economy appears to have skirted recession, and unemployment remains blissfully low by European standards. And when all the glossy, gleaming, glamorous heroines are found to have feet of clay, and you’re stuck with ordinary women instead, then you realise that it’s no good putting your faith in anyone else to change your life.. They come to us with a sharp eye for whatever is absurd and amusing about themselves and their environment.And isn’t it, in some ways, rather nice if women have started to feel that they don’t really need those larger-than-life heroines so much any more? Because it’s only when people are feeling pretty confident that they’re able to laugh at themselves. I think I want freedom.”None of them have it all, but all of them have something And all of them are good at laughing at themselves. Melissa Bank’s Jane Rosenal knows that she’ll never be a Manhattan powermonger, but she finds out that “I didn’t think I wanted power. Bridget Jones still knows that her girlfriends will always be around to have fun with if her boyfriend of the moment runs out.

But they still have a good idea of where they’re going.Ally McBeal still knows that she’s one of the best lawyers in her circle, and can always talk herself out of a tight corner in court. They aren’t perfect, but we needn’t see them simply as wholly negative, part of some kind of backlash against growing female power. Yes, these women might think too much about their bodies and their boyfriends and they might both laugh and cry rather uncontrollably. You can think that Madonna as fortysomething mother or Posh Spice as pretty bride isn’t quite the same as the kick-ass girls they used to be. You might be waiting for some bigger and better heroines to come along. In fact, they’re still around if you want to go looking for them, and no doubt one day they will take centre stage once again.But in the meantime, you can see that the way that these anti-heroines behave is rather endearing.