BBC News – Friday, 29 December 2006:

The research on more than 200,000 women from nine European countries found doing household chores was far more cancer protective than playing sport.

Dusting, mopping and vacuuming was also better than having a physical job.

Out of all of the activities, only housework significantly reduced the risk of both pre- and post-menopausal women getting the disease.

Housework cut breast cancer risk by 30% among the pre-menopausal women and 20% among the post-menopausal women.

So what does Angry Harry have to say about this?!

The reason that men do less housework than women is because, quite simply, they are less easily offended by any given level of mess.

Men just do not respond to the same low levels of untidiness as do women. And so whenever the female-threshold is reached, and the good woman must whisk herself away to tackle the debris around the house, the man remains undisturbed, at peace, and contented with his surroundings.

And if women want to keep their habitats more tidy than would men, then why should they not be allowed to do so?

And so, “Let them do most of the housework,” I say. They seem to be doing pretty well out of it.