WHEN is a woman not a woman? One possible answer to the conundrum, according to Australia's conservative prime minister, is when she assumes the function of a chairman. John Howard, elected a year ago on a family values cum anti political correctness ticket, this week breathed new life into this hoary old area of titular management semantics, ordering a return to the word "chairman" in day-to-day political business and in official legislation, suggesting that private sector companies do likewise.

A spokeswoman (spokesperson?) for the previous Labour government, which favoured the gender-neutral word "chairperson", said that, with unemployment stuck at 8.5 per cent, the administration could itself be better employed than playing terminological gymnastics. An accusation which could be equally applied to the stalwarts over at ISME and the INOU.