A while ago, to amuse myself, I ran a search through my text archive for the phrase “I can’t stand it”, which delivered pages and pages of returns. Some recent things I can’t stand, in no particular order: the phrase “clutching her pearls”; a very obviously made-up anecdote in a big profile in a major magazine; someone’s passive aggressive use of the word “anyway” in an email; a reporter friend’s colleague who, every time she finishes a story, goes into the system and changes two small things on it so he can shoehorn his name next to hers on the byline; David Beckham sucking up to the royals; Jimmy Fallon’s large face; the opening episode of the Russell T Davies show Tip Toe; weather, specifically high wind.

If I was transported with rage by all of these things, I assumed it was a byproduct of age. You can’t miss the sheer amount of menopause content floating around at the moment telling us how age makes us angry, even though, apparently, the menopause remains a taboo (it could be more of a taboo!). As it turns out, however, it isn’t just me and other women in midlife who are furious, but rather British women in general, and to a degree that outstrips our........

© The Guardian