I see that Lord Coe has finally put his foot down.

The president of the International Association of Athletics Federations has just announced that no transgendered woman may any longer take part in athletics events for biological women athletes. That means the cut-off point (no pun intended) is established as puberty. If an athlete goes through puberty as a male and then decides he would rather be a she, he/she will, from now on, be barred from appearing in any exclusively women's athletics events.

And about time too. I am old enough to remember some of those Russian and East German "female" colossuses, like Tamara Press and her sister Irena, who used to win all the Olympic medals in shot-putt and discus back in the day, when Communism determined not only how people lived but also how they performed in sporting events. Then there was the tennis player Richard Raskind who opted for the chop (again no pun intended) and became Renée Richards. As a man Raskind had been a fairly average performer on the tennis court, but as a "woman" he was dynamite. A burly six-footer he/she regularly demolished many of the real women on the WTP tour back in the 1970s. Lord Coe's committee's decision won't hold any sway over women's tennis, but at least some of the more masculine female athletes will be excluded from athletics events for proper-born female ladies.

And Lord Coe's committee members haven't just put the boot into trannies, they have also gone after those extremely butch ladies with elevated levels of the male hormone testosterone. Such as the successful South African middle distance runner Caster Semenya, who will henceforth have to undergo male hormone suppressing treatment before being allowed to compete in women's events. One has to feel a certain amount of compassion for Semenya; it's not her fault she was born this way. But she is extremely masculine in most respects. Her appearance... obviously, but also her voice. If she ever got up to serenade us at a karaoke session, she would sound less like Beyoncé and more like Barry White.

Having sorted the ladies out, in the pursuit of even handedness it might seem like a good idea to also go after effeminate men. But what used to be called pansies, back in the days before the term "woke" was invented, don't often go in for sporting pursuits, unless you count ice skating and needle point as sports.

But to return to the ladies, I for one certainly welcome the clarifying of, what had become, a somewhat opaque situation. Suffice it to say that at long last we should see more genetic women competing against other genetic women rather than against hormones.

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And now for something completely different: I understand that Teatru Manoel has appointed a new artistic director, a certain Adrian Mamo... bravo! Although I have no idea what Mr Mamo intends to do with his new-found "power", one thing I sincerely hope he will address is the appalling seating arrangements apparently put in place by his predecessor.

Readers of this column will be aware that in recent years I have eschewed visiting one of the loveliest theatres on the planet due to the crass decision to remove the central aisle in the auditorium. This was done presumably to be able to cram in a few more punters. So, while I understand that Mr Mamo will certainly have his work cut out on the artistic side, I do hope he will give a thought to audiences as well.