Last night I heard an interview with David Crystal on BBC Radio 4's Front Row. The programme has not made it onto the BBC website yet but should appear eventually http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/frontrow/. The reason for the interview was that it has been agreed that ships will no longer have female names. I'm not sure who did the agreeing as I can't find a report in the press but I'll post a link below if I find one.