We can love only a beloved. For all the others, try courtesy | Simon Jenkins

Her hymn to love was beautiful, but Jeannette Winterson's mistake is to generalise this most specific of emotions

The Guardian honoured Valentine's Day on Tuesday with a front page piece by Jeanette Winterson on love. It was a fine idea, given prominence over the euro, phone hacking and Syria. Winterson is a glorious writer and a delightful person. But why a woman? Why is it that only women can write of love?

The stereotype holds that women do love and men do lager. Women are delicate and...