But to dismiss these developments would be a mistake, for something is under way which could have far-reaching consequences for men’s role in our society.The switch in male and female traditional roles is starting at school. Girls outnumber and outperform boys at school and at university. Now the roles are reversing, or at the very least, men are losing the privileged status they once had.You do not need to be a cynic to be sceptical of the claim that men are becoming victims. After all, it’s a well-trodden route for men spoilt by the privileges of their upbringing to cry foul as soon as the going gets tough. Indeed they are laying claim to an identity that many thought was a female preserve: men are becoming victims of virtually every force in modern society, economic, technological and cultural.
It is all a far cry from the Seventies and Eighties, when the women’s movement built itself around a politics of victimhood.

Women were denied rights and equality, subordinated and excluded from the all-powerful world of men. Their jobs are no longer as secure as they were, if they exist at all Demand for their work or home skills is declining They are increasingly prone to violence Women seem ever more confident and able to do without them. They march against the iniquities of the Child Support Agency. They worry about their looks and how to preserve what is left of them Men are becoming more like women in many respects. If gender politics in the Eighties was dominated by Margaret Thatcher, a woman who often acted more like a man, gender politics in the Nineties seems to be dominated by men trying to be more like women – complaining about their oppression, their status as victims and how the world is conspiring against them. Few strangers penetrate the depths of the French countryside, and non-local cars are immediately identifiable by their number plates.

Not so in Britain, and back in Celine’s village of Ferrieres-les-Scey, where her aunt is mayor, friends and relatives were reported to be waiting anxiously to hear when the police would release her body to be brought back to France for the funeral.In the meantime, it is the efficiency and thoroughness of the British police investigation, the sympathy and courtesy shown to her relatives by the British authorities, and the messages of regret from ordinary Britons that are – in a sad and unusual triumph of entente cordiale – making the news in France.. According to her father, she had liked the country and people so much that she wanted to go back. In this, she was not alone; many French girls, especially from close- knit families and communities, find a comparative, and attractive, freedom in Britain.But therein lies the risk. Hitchhiking remains more prevalent in France than in Britain, partly due to the lack of cheap local transport, and it appears to be relatively safe.

When it transpired that Celine had not reached her destination, he drove at once to her father’s house to set the record straight.Celine herself, the second of four children, spoke English and had spent time at Fordingbridge, in Hampshire, last year. She was not an inexperienced or foolhardy traveller, and the lorry that took her to Britain was driven by a family friend. He negotiated with a French colleague for the second leg of her journey.The second French driver personally saw her to the third lorry, and ascertained – or so he thought – its route. But reports eschewed any tendency to talk about British “monsters” preying on foreign girls, or Britain as an inherently dangerous country; they even resisted the temptation to draw parallels with previous killings in the UK.By any standards, the case of Celine has unusual features – and not just that she was, as the police put it, “in the wrong place at the wrong time”. The discovery of her body last week headed most domestic news bulletins. MARY DEJEVSKY

Paris
The poignant image of Celine Figard’s father laying bunches of flowers at the roadside near Kidderminster where her body was found featured in almost all French newspapers yesterday – as did, for the third or fourth day running, the photofit picture of the wanted lorry driver.The investigation into her disappearance which turned with grim inevitability into a murder inquiry has figured prominently in the French media. “Last year so few tickets were sold on New Year’s Day and so many shops are closed anyway that it was a practical decision for us not to operate machines.”.

But emphasising the game’s effectiveness in raising money for good causes, Camelot’s spokeswoman said: “Last week we sold an extra pounds 10m worth of tickets which meant an extra pounds 2.5m for causes.”The previous record pay-out was pounds 23.4m shared by two partners in a glazing business, Mark Gardiner and Paul Maddison, from Hastings, East Sussex.Explaining the decision to close for business yesterday, the Camelot spokeswoman said so few shops were open that it did not make sense to run the system. The Camelot spokeswoman said: “Roll-overs are very popular with the public.” The jackpot can be rolled over for one more week if it is not won this Saturday.If there is still no winner, it will be shared equally among those who pick five out of the six correct numbers plus the bonus ball.The size of the potential pay-out came under fire from leading churchmen at the weekend who branded it “obscene” and called for the size of the money on offer to be capped. “We would advise people to buy their tickets early this week to avoid queues or to avoid being disappointed,” a spokeswoman said.
The jackpot has soared from about pounds 9m because it has “rolled over” twice. There were no winners on 23 December for the pounds 11.7m top prize, nor for the record pounds 23.9m last Saturday.The first National Lottery jackpot of 1996 could soar past the pounds 40m mark, depending on the number of extra punters who gamble on becoming a multi- millionaire.Sales usually increase by up to 20 per cent in roll-over weeks and a last-minute stampede could leave some aspiring players ticket-less when the system closes. The lottery organisers last night warned the public to buy this week’s tickets early as the prospect of a pounds 40m jackpot raised fears of last minute chaos before Saturday’s record draw.