As if to prove her point, Supreme Court Justice Lord Sumption claimed that a rush for gender equality among the judiciary would have "appalling consequences for justice" – yes, "appalling" - and women should simply be "patient" and wait half a century for equality, by which point I would be 77.
In fact, the Reagan administration was notable for its long refusal to mention the issue of Aids, a silence that had appalling consequences.
Supreme Court Justice Lord Sumption cautioned recently that a rush for equal representation of women at the top of the legal profession could have "appalling consequences for the quality of justice".
She said: "Asking women to disclose very difficult information and expecting them to be able to prove it – in what is frankly a very hostile environment when the DWP is trying to take your money away – will have appalling consequences".
Sumption, however, is worried that a rush for equal representation at the top of the profession could destroy the judiciary and have "appalling consequences for the quality of justice".
The convent's patriarch, played with tormented, haggard patience by Valeriu Andriuta, is a flawed leader whose decisions have appalling consequences, but he is less villainous than tragic, a man motivated by real compassion as well as a desire to prove his own goodness.
Her speech at Birmingham University was read as a deliberate rebuke to remarks from her fellow supreme court justice Lord Sumption, who had claimed that any attempt to speed up the process of achieving gender equality in the senior judiciary could have "appalling consequences".
