Long gone are the days when abusive husbands like Andrzej Kwietniewski could bully and beat their wives and the law would turn a blind eye.

Controlling, violent and manipulative behaviour can now result in a prison sentence and rightly so. It is a measure of his wife's courage and strength of character that she reported his behaviour to police. Women are not domestic drudges nor should they be treated as such. Men cannot control and order women about as one might a disobedient dog tugging at the leash.

It is sad that in this day and age that something so obvious as this should have to be repeated (rather than simply being understood). A woman does not exist to do the bidding of a man, to fetch his clean socks, to cook his dinner and to iron his clothes. She does not have to do as she's told. Our mothers, wives and daughters should also never have to be deprived of the opportunity to feel free and to grow as human beings.

Any man who laments the death of the old world is in need of a time machine or, if they cannot find one, perhaps a prison sentence will suffice?