Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP, has attracted some ridicule for suggesting that there should be a cabinet composed entirely of women, the better to deal with Brexit. Anyone who was educated in a convent boarding school would see nothing whatsoever to ridicule in a governing body entirely composed of women. Some of those old-style nuns could have commanded a battlefield without moving a muscle. I have known Mother Superiors who could quell a regiment with just one stern look. Cabinet government would have been no trouble to them at all. Nuns come in for a fair amount of flak these days – and, as in any community, there would be flawed characters in any sisterhood – but they were often remarkably capable women who, in effect, ran great estates. Those who founded religious orders – from St Bridget of Sweden to Mother Mary Aikenhead, from Mary Ward to the formidable Mother Teresa of Calcutta – were women of iron will and a driving sense of purpose. A witness who watched Mother Teresa encounter Margaret Thatcher remarked: “It was steel meets steel!” Mary Martin, who founded the dynamic Medical Missionaries of Mary, set out to deliver medical care to all of Africa, and arranged for nun-doctors to fly their own aircraft in that endeavour. So us convent girls would say to Ms Lucas: “You want a cabinet of women? Bring it on!” However, when we get down to the detail, you’d still have to select the right candidate – as you would with any bunch of chaps. In Northern Ireland, three women were entrusted to run the province in recent times: Arlene Foster, Michelle O’Neill and Karen Bradley. They ended up barely on speaking terms, and Ms Bradley, appointed by Theresa May, earned herself a reputation for cluelessness, after admitting she didn’t realise Nationalists and Unionists voted differently. So first off, Ms Lucas: choose your women!