So friggen dumb.

Via Telegraph:

Thomas the Tank Engine is setting a poor example to children and needs more female engines to encourage girls to become train drivers, Labour’s shadow transport secretary has said.

Mary Creagh described the lack of female train drivers in Britain as a “national scandal” and said that children’s television shows and “negative stereotypes” are partly to blame.

She called on train companies recruit more female drivers by advertising in magazine’s such as Good Housekeeping and Women’s Own, and suggested that they need to offer more part time work.

Mrs Creagh, a mother-of-two, singled out Thomas the Tank Engine for criticism. She said that while the books and television series have “wonderful stories” and are “incredibly popular”, they have almost no female characters.

All the main characters – Thomas, James, Edward, Henry, Gordon, Percy and even the Fat Controller – are male.