Oh, what a tangled web we weave . . .

with a turkey baster to conceive!
NOW here’s a headline that captures the spirit of the times: “Son caught in middle as lesbians accuse gay father of breaking access deal”.

Apparently the mother of the boy, who is now two years old, met the father in a London restaurant and, over a no doubt lavish dinner, agreed that he would be the father of the woman’s child but would not pursue parental rights. In other words he would be a sperm donor.

Fortunately, we are spared the details of how the enterprise was accomplished, whether by the, shall we say, natural method or whether the turkey baster added to its prime function by facilitating the conception, but however it was achieved the impregnator and the impregnatee now find themselves locked in a court case. The dad has decided that he wants to be, well, a dad.

He wants to play a part in his son’s life (and it is his son, after all), having him stay for weekends, taking him on holiday and doing all those dadly things that dads, who no longer live under the same roof as the mother of their child or children, regularly do. But the mother and the mother’s partner (an inadequate word, I know, but sadly there is no other) are adamant that they don’t want to extend their little tribe by including the child’s dad.

In fact they claim that it would be positively harmful to the boy if he grew up in the kind of surroundings that thousands of children these days regard as absolutely normal.

There are those who would say that is not ideal, but what is? Is a home with two same-sex parents ideal?

So far so complicated, but what is missing from this tale of our times are the interests and wishes of the little boy.

Have any of the adults in this saga considered what is in the boy’s best long-term interests, whether he would like to have a dad on the scene (if only at weekends and holidays) and whether he might, in fact like to have a relationship with his biological father. Shouldn’t he at least, at some juncture be given the choice?


THE blue-badge scheme that allows disabled drivers (and, it has to be said probably thousands of cheats, too) to park on double yellow lines and to park in many car parks without paying) is to undergo major changes from April.
Whether those changes will reduce the number of cheats (costing the UK some £45 million a year) remains to be seen, but the estimated 2.5million genuine users could find it easier to park once (or maybe that should be if) the cheats are removed from the system. But will they be?

Putting up the cost of a badge to £10 (incredibly it has been only £2 for 30 years) is not likely to deter the fraudsters.

“We would all pay £10 for a licence to park where and when we want for a few years.

The blue badge scheme, of huge value to legitimate users, will give on-the-spot powers to councils to recover badges that have been cancelled, eligibility tests for a blue badge are to be toughened up and instead of being hand-written and easier to forge badges will be electronic.

But does anyone really think that it will stop blue-badge fraud and free up parking spaces for the genuinely disabled? Just look at who uses the mother-and-baby parking spaces on supermarket car parks.



FINAL WORD: Ken Hulme, who died last week, was a highly respected and admired sparring partner of mine for many years. Effectively the only socialist in Saddleworth for some years, his voice rose above the cosy cacophony of the Lib-Dem and Tory hegemony at the parish council, challenging its actions or lack of them.
Ken fell out with Labour and recently he headed a welcome group of parish council independents. He was finally due to become the parish council chairman in May, a job he relished and would have undertaken with style, good humour and a real vision (a vision certainly not shared by everyone) of what was right for Saddleworth.

Ken was a character in the very best sense of the word, passionate about what he believed in and marvellous, lively company.

He will be missed and wherever he is now, he will be telling those who run the show how to do it.