WOMEN are more intelligent than men ...acording to Huddersfield Labour MP Barry Sheerman.
Mr Sheerman, who chairs the Commons education select committee, made his remarks after a discussion on whether boys found it more difficult to learn to read than girls.
He said there was a danger of becoming "obsessed" with issues such as boys falling behind at school.
Mr Sheerman said: "My own personal view is that women are brighter than men."
"Women now earn more than men on average as middle managers," he added.
"We should celebrate this, shouldn't we? The brightest kids are coming through and they happen to be women."
In recent years girls have outshone boys in scoring the top grades at both GCSE and A-Levels, although traditionally men have gone on to get the most first-class degrees at university.
Mr Sheerman's views will come as no surprise to viewers of Channel 4's Countdown.
For 20 years, fans have marvelled at Carol Vorderman's wizardry with mental arithmetic on the programme.
Her IQ of 154 has earned her membership of Mensa.
In recent years, several conferences have been held by education chiefs in Huddersfield, in a bid to boost boys' achievement.
Dads have been invited into schools and workers from local companies such as Holset and Ben Shaws have talked to youngsters about careers and the need to work hard in class.
Some experts think that desire to be "cool" can interfere with academic achievement.
A contestant in this year's Miss England competition was a member of Mensa, the high IQ society.
Laura Shields, a 22-year-old graduate from Rochdale, was taking a year out before going back to university for a masters degree.
She has an IQ of 150 to go with her 32-24-35 figure, putting her in the top 2% of the smartest people in Britain.
