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Joan Smith: It's not older women the BBC lacks. It's women in general

It's official: the BBC has a problem with older women. The director-general, Mark Thompson, has admitted as much, acknowledging that the BBC's treatment of Strictly judge Arlene Phillips and former Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly – she won an age-discrimination case against the corporation – has damaged its image. There are "manifestly too few older women broadcasting on the BBC", Thompson admitted. The only bit of that sentence I take issue with is the word "older".

Joan Smith: The opposition in Syria needs our help, and now

Here is the brutal truth about Syria: no one knows what to do. Six months after Barack Obama said bluntly that Bashar al-Assad should go, and with the Arab League calling for him to resign, there is no sign that the country's President is willing to listen. Two days ago, on the 30th anniversary of the massacre carried out by his father Hafez al-Assad in the city of Hama, the younger Assad ordered the Syrian army to bombard residential areas of the country's third largest city, Homs. Shocking TV pictures showed buildings ablaze against the night sky, the wounded rushed to makeshift casualty stations inside mosques.

Joan Smith: Strong religious belief is no excuse for intimidation

It's been a dreadful week for free speech. A meeting at a prestigious London college had to be abandoned on Monday evening when members of the audience were filmed and threatened by an Islamic extremist. Then the president of a student society at another London college was forced to resign after a Muslim organisation called for a ban on a joky image of the Prophet Mohammed. Finally, on Friday, the author Sir Salman Rushdie cancelled an appearance at India's largest literary festival, saying he feared an assassination attempt after protests by Muslim clerics.

Joan Smith outside the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday

Joan Smith: I've waited for this ever since they told me I'd been hacked

Yesterday confirmed the degree of suspicion that was created between husbands and their wives

Joan Smith: The Big Society can be about more than cheap labour

During the election campaign two years ago, one of David Cameron's big selling-points was his intention to create a Big Society. He was short on detail but the general idea was that a Conservative government would encourage volunteering and get us more involved in our communities. I suspected it might turn into something more coercive, along the lines of the workfare schemes which have been so controversial in the United States.

Joan Smith: Is Mrs Obama related to Miriam Clegg?

The New York Post raised the spectre of a woman making a covert bid for power

Joan Smith: The difference between write and wrong

Sending messages in a hurry is not malicious

Joan Smith: Marriage is worthwhile – but not at any price

The single most effective means of reducing the number of unhappy relationships is education

Bargain-hunters wait for Selfridges' sale to open on Boxing Day

Joan Smith: I tried to bag a bargain, but I was outrun

Our writer wonders why sales shoppers are so mad for accessories

Joan Smith: Hitchens was witty and clever, but he was no secular saint

There is a kind of man – witty, dashing, raffishly handsome – who is attractive to both men and women. Lord Byron was one such, and so was the writer Christopher Hitchens, who died on Thursday at the cruelly early age of 62. Appreciations have focused on his ferocious intellect and contempt for cant (another trait he shared with Byron). I admired his disdain for religion, which he maintained to the end, and latterly I enjoyed his forensic demolition of the death-loving cult of jihad.

Joan Smith: Control can lead to family slaughter

Whenever one of these tragedies occurs, it always has a long history

Joan Smith: Filling your face with popcorn is not a human right

As a breed, Conservative politicians hate the nanny state. So do right-wing columnists, some of whom are still whining about the fact that they can't smoke in public places.

Joan Smith: Dominique Strauss-Kahn is irresistible. Allegedly

It could happen to anyone, surely? You walk naked from the bathroom of your hotel suite and encounter a cleaner, who gives your genitals a seductive look. In a moment, and without a word being spoken, the two of you are at it like rabbits. The whole thing's over in six minutes and you put on your clothes, ready to enjoy an agreeable lunch on your way to the airport. Then you board your plane, first-class of course, heading for Paris and Berlin where you have important meetings.

Joan Smith: A woman's place is off the pitch, is it?

The insidious bit excuses the 'experts' and places the blame firmly on the public
Writer Joan Smith arrives to give evidence at the Leveson Inquiry

Joan Smith: There's a camaraderie among those of us who were victims

The 'core participant victim' on the day she gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry

Career Services

Day In a Page

Apple admits it has a human rights problem

Apple admits it has a human rights problem

After years of complaints and workers' suicides in China the technology giant faces up to the human cost of its gadgets
Peter Moore: 'I feel guilty I'm the only one alive'

Peter Moore interview

'I feel guilty I'm the only one alive'
Sellafield faces nuclear option as overspending threatens plant's future

Sellafield faces nuclear option

Overspending threatens plant's future
Israel blames Iran for embassy bomb attacks

Israel blames Iran for embassy bomb attacks

Tehran rejects Netanyahu's 'lies' after diplomats in India and Georgia targeted
Former manager enjoying Apoel crack at the big time

Tommy Cassidy interview

Former manager enjoying Apoel crack at the big time
James Lawton: Patience may not be a virtue this time, Roman – Andre Villas-Boas looks all at sea

James Lawton: AVB looks all at sea

Abramovich's visits to training reinforce the idea of a coach feeling pressure from above and below
The 10 Best sledges

The 10 Best sledges

Not all of them require snow...
Procrastination: Not now  – I'm busy

Procrastination: Not now – I'm busy

Confronting the real reasons for puttting things off can help us beat it
Fun in the sunset years

Fun in the sunset years

A new movie follows retirees moving to India for low-cost care and a culture of respect for the elderly. For many Britons, it's already a reality
Picture preview: Lucian Freud drawings

Lucian Freud drawings

Picture preview
Silent revolution at the Baftas as the French take top awards

Silent revolution at the Baftas

The Artist wins in seven categories, with Meryl Streep the other big success story
Whitney Houston: The diva who had – and lost – it all

The diva who had – and lost – it all

Nick Hasted charts the highs and lows of Whitney Houston's life
How Picasso won over (some of) the British

How Picasso won over (some of) the British

Winston Churchill and Evelyn Waugh hated his work, but Picasso provided inspiration for a whole generation of UK artists
Topshop: A Decade Of Design

Topshop: A Decade Of Design

When London Fashion Week starts on Friday, Topshop will celebrate 10 years backing its brightest young stars
John Prescott: 'My wife thought I'd just retire, but I'm not a slippers man'

'My wife thought I'd just retire, but I'm not a slippers man'

At 73, John Prescott isn't mellowing. In fact he's taking a shot at becoming a police commissioner