Sketch: Nick Clegg plays Mummies and Daddies All very progressive, although it's understood that our hero had originally hoped to go further in his quest for parental equality, after his attention was drawn to some troubling research. As many as 100 per cent of children, he learnt with dismay, are born to women; men, by contrast, hardly give birth at all. Ablaze with righteous ire, Mr Clegg strode straight to No10. Prime Minister, we have to do something. When it comes to giving birth, women are doing far too much of the work. No, don't just shake your head - their careers are suffering because their partners expect them to do all the "getting pregnant." Well, men have got to start sharing the burden. I want us to set a target. By 2020, 50 per cent of children to be born to men. Look, Nick, it's a nice idea, but... I'm sorry, Prime Minister, but a modern economy needs flexibility. Couples must be free to decide whether it's the man or the woman who gives birth and does the breast-feeding. Nick, I'd love to help, really I would. But I just can't see "men with wombs" playing well with the core Conservative vote." With respect, Prime Minister, you're living in a 1950s time-warp, and come 2015 you'll see that reflected at the ballot box. After his speech, Mr Clegg went on Radio 4 to spread the word. Possibly he'd imagined it would be simple to sell a pro-women idea to a woman interviewer on a show called Woman's Hour, but Jane Garvey sounded sceptical, and fired questions at him as briskly as if she were spraying greenfly. Mr Clegg let out that little long-suffering sigh of his - the sigh of the lonely visionary, doomed to languish unappreciated in his own lifetime.