Helen Mirren is perfect to play Golda Meir

The word ‘actress’ used to be interchangeable with ‘prostitute’ and though it’s a good thing that this little misunderstanding was cleared up, it’s a pity that ‘living saint’ has been substituted for hooker. Modern actresses are variously ‘activists’ and ‘humanitarians’ – or whingeing nepo-babies mistaking themselves for the first two. But they are rarely ‘broads’ anymore, the way the great female stars (Taylor, Gardner, Mae West) used to be. Except, that is, for Helen Mirren.

The word, though originally meaning a woman of flexible sexual morality, has come to indicate an ultra-tough, good-humoured woman, the binary opposite of the non-binary cry-babies who now frequent the bazaars of Thespis. Mirren has gone from sultry Shakespearean starlet – of whom one wag said that she only kept her clothes on if the plot absolutely demanded it – to great character actress. Now she is playing the ultimate political broad, Golda Meir, in a new film.

When we consider female political leaders, they generally present themselves in one of three ways: Warrior Woman (Margaret Thatcher), Mother Of The Nation (Angela Merkel, often somewhat sickeningly called ‘Mutti’) and Irritating Older Sister (Theresa May.)