Monthly Archives: October 2006

Feminism

Older mothers: Indeed

October 23, 2006 – 7:32 am

Dr Paulson said opposition to older mothers rests not on evidence that they make poor parents, but on prejudice. “Society still has these feelings about motherhood. The way we view the mother is much more circumscribed than for the father: she should be young and attractive. That is underneath all this talk about the ethics and legality of treating older women. Deep down, society has a fixed idea of what motherhood should be, and this causes deep discomfort.”

From a Times piece about a study that found mothers in their 50s have no more troubles coping than those in their 30s and 40s.

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History

Gentle oral history

October 22, 2006 – 11:20 am

Just found on Radio 4 a lovely little piece of oral history, Honeymoon Hotel, about newly married couples making a great adventurous journey, to Jersey, in 1956, lured by a tax break that one says gave them £25!

It is a reminder of how far and fast the world has changed. For virtually all of them this was the first time they’d been on a plane – which made it a great exciting adventure. And they were so shy – embarrassed about being seen to go to bed that the barman had to chase them out in the evening.

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Blogging/IT

I’ve surrendered to IM

October 22, 2006 – 11:16 am

I have been resisting signing up to Google Talk and other IM for fear of them consuming even more of my hopelessly overcommitted time, but I’ve finally surrendered, and probably predicatably am now wondering why I was so stubborn for so long.

For communicating with a techie helping you through a new procedure, for example, it is invaluable – so quick and easy – without the inevitable waits of email.

But I suspect my use of IM will always tend towards the prosaic, and consequently not very entertaining, unlike Petite Anglais. She had her “status” as man shopping, and she sets out the conversation, which I fear some men might find disheartening. (You’ve been warned.)

I noticed the other day that Google saves all of these talks, as though they were email. The biographers of the future might have a lot of fun…

Meanwhile, you’ll find me at my Gmail address… but please forgive any faux pas; I’m still working my way through the social protocols of the new world.

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Theatre

Boys’ games

October 21, 2006 – 7:23 pm

Over on My London Your London I’ve a new reviewer, welcome Robert!, who had something of a baptism of fire at the Baron’s Court Theatre with what sounds like a pretty radical, but pretty good, show. Not for the delicate of sensibility, however.

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Early modern history Women's history

Old Mother Red Cap and Mother Shipton

October 21, 2006 – 7:08 pm

These are two of the lost “famous female” pubs of London – a loss chronicled today by Marina Warner in the Guardian.

…when the old hags drop from view, so does an idea of human vagaries and fates, of idiosyncratic and oddball people, with strange histories and surprising fortunes – good and bad. Pub names and signs are some of the oldest surviving traces of exchanges and folklore in a particular place. More and more names and phrases in the public arena are tied to adverts and commodities – global creep of meanings for everybody and no one. They’ve gone because no pub owner wants to admit that there’s any link between disreputable winos and what they are selling. Perhaps they’ve disappeared, too, because we’ve become sensitive to the sight of derelicts with their tins of Strongbow and plastic bagged bottles and don’t want to be reminded. Perhaps the old hag is just too rude for the times.

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Environmental politics

Small enviro round-up

October 21, 2006 – 9:59 am

Perversely good news: the scheme to provide grants for renewable energy for homes in the UK has run out of money. Perhaps in part due to a Green Party drive to get a high take-up rate. But it looks like the government is going to be forced into providing more money.

There is meanwhile a quite decent sounding EU drive to cut energy use by 20 per cent by forcing producers to make power-using items more efficient. Sadly, however, it seems, it has hit a hitch. I can’t find a news story on it, but the word I have is that it is meeting strong resistance and will be delayed. Anyone know more?

“In the good news but…” category, milk that tests positive for antibiotics (and detergents!) is going to be banned from the food chain. But … shouldn’t it always have been?

Finally in America … cars could be banned from Rodeo Drive, “the four-block mecca of luxury shopping in Beverly Hills”.

Meanwhile in California, a Bioneers conference in California – perhaps a bit on the alternative side for my taste, but some interesting ideas.

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