Loose Women cuts sparked outburst of lazy misogyny from – mainly male – trolls who have NO IDEA why show’s so important

I WAS walking (some might say roaming) around Cotswold Wildlife Park when a young woman pushing a pram approached me.

“I just want to thank you and the other Loose Women,” she said. “I was feeling very isolated and depressed as a new mum, and it was hearing all your stories that made me realise my feelings weren’t unusual.

A huge ITV shake-up was announced last week, with Loose Women set to air for only 30 weeks of the year from JanuaryRex Features RexNigel Farage said Loose Women is one of the ‘scariest things’ he’s ever done[/caption]

“You saved my life. You feel like friends.”

And there, in a nutshell, is what the long-running ITV daytime show Loose Women means to its immensely loyal, core audience which, aside from stay-at-home mums and office workers on their lunch break, includes people living with disability, shift workers, ­students, and the elderly — many of whom live alone and like the ­company the show brings.

Earlier this year, the programme won a Royal Television Society award for its Facing It Together campaign against domestic violence, and was nominated for a Bafta too.

Unexpurgated bile

So, when it was announced that one of the precious few, all-female shows was being cut back to 30 weeks a year to save money for, among other things, more sport, the snooty reaction from some quarters was immensely disappointing.

One male commentator for a broadsheet casually dismissed Loose Women — on air for 25 years — as a “gabfest”.

Clearly he hadn’t seen the episode when Janet Street Porter turned to then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and demanded: “Why do you hate pensioners?”

Or when I took a clearly uncomfortable Sir Keir Starmer to task over why his drink with Labour ­colleagues in Durham during a Covid lockdown was any different to Boris Johnson’s “Partygate”.

Or when a squirming Nigel Farage was put on the spot and declared afterwards “that was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.”

We are not a political show and, yes, we have a good laugh too — often talking about lighthearted subjects such as, among other things, how to stack a dishwasher correctly, wardrobe malfunctions, and the key to growing excellent tomatoes.

But we always cover the day’s main news stories, as well as ­important topics such as, among many other things, miscarriage, post-natal depression, menopause, midlife female invisibility (oh the irony) and breast cancer awareness.

It’s primarily debate “through a female lens” but if you have a problem with that, then may I humbly suggest that the problem is you.

Perhaps it’s simply part of the casual misogyny that pollutes so much of public discourse these days.

On Loose Women, the panellists have all achieved success in their fields of acting, singing, journalism, podcasting, presenting and athletics, and range in age from 25 to 85-year old TV legend Gloria Hunniford.

All interesting, funny women with wisdom to impart and great stories to tell, yet dismissed by some as though all we’re doing is gossiping over the garden wall after pegging out our washing.

Similarly, unlike shows involving primarily male presenters, we’re plagued by regular reports about “cat fights” (yawn) backstage. It’s nonsense but hey, why let the facts get in the way of clickbait?

What surprises me is the amount of keyboard warriors who swallow it hook, line and sinker, then use it as an excuse to post unexpurgated bile about a programme that, judging by their factual inaccuracies, they have rarely, if ever, watched.

In the Wild West of online ­message boards, the panellists who are under 40 are sometimes trolled as “bimbos” or “airheads” while the older ones like me are called “old hags” or “fishwives” by people who really should know better. And sadly, some of them are women.

‘Deeply depressing’

We try to laugh about it backstage, but I do wonder where this constant denigration of the female gender is leading us.

Thankfully, there are still plenty of allies out there. Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour questioned why it’s female-centric programming that’s being cut, and Richard Osman put up a spirited defence of ITV’s “successful” daytime shows on the podcast The Rest Is Entertainment.

Loose Women panellists have all achieved success in their fields and range in age from 25 to 85-year old TV legend Gloria HunnifordRex Features Shutterstock EditorialJanet Street Porter turned to then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and demanded ‘why do you hate pensioners?’[/caption] Shutterstock EditorialJane took Sir Keir Starmer to task over his drinks with colleagues during a Covid lockdown[/caption]

Journalist Bryony Gordon, writing about the cutbacks to Loose Women and Lorraine, said: “I find it deeply depressing in a world that sometimes feels as though it’s going backwards when it comes to the ­visibility of women’s issues.

“These shows might feel like ­trifling entertainment to those who don’t watch them, but the reality is they provide a much-needed space for important subjects that would otherwise be ignored.

“I’ve seen first-hand how engaged the viewers of both shows are, and how passionate the presenters and production staff are when it comes to their work.”

Indeed. And it’s the dedicated staff behind the scenes, rather than the on-screen freelancers, who will bear the brunt of the job losses that come with both shows being cut back to term-time viewing only.

Look, if a commentator sits and watches a week of Loose Women and decides, quite genuinely, that they found it devoid of any ­enjoyment, I would fight to defend their right to say so.

But so much of what I read, day in, day out, are just lazy, anti- female tropes that simply add fuel to the fire of the modern-day ­misogyny being stoked by the likes of Andrew Tate.

It’s just one of those things that ITV has to make programme cuts for business reasons, but let’s not use it as yet another excuse to treat women’s viewpoints as irrelevant.

Nige straight to the point

FOR anyone still baffled by the Reform party’s rapid rise in the polls, it’s not rocket science.

It’s because it’s fronted by Nigel Farage who, when asked a question, seemingly gives a straight answer.

APNigel Farage actually gives a straight answer when asked a question[/caption]

Lots of voters have become sick of hearing variations of the following from other politicians.

“I’m really glad you’ve asked that question, so let me be clear. I’m not going to speculate . . .”

Er, right. So you’re actually saying nothing at all, then.

Mind you, how many of Farage’s bold solutions would actually become reality if he ever got into power is debatable.

Mothers know why Lila sizes up Kate

GettyLila admitted she raids her mum’s wardrobe to find outfits to wear at Glastonbury[/caption]

LILA Moss has admitted that she raids the wardrobe of mum Kate.

Well if your mother was a supermodel, you would, wouldn’t you?

But equally, this scenario will be familiar to anyone with an adult daughter.

Both of mine are exactly the same height, dress and shoe size as me.

And quite frankly, it’s a wonder I’m not permanently naked.