Of all the animals of prey, man is the only sociable one.
Every one of us preys upon his neighbour, and yet we herd together.
The Beggar's Opera: John Gay

Sunday 7 October 2012

Quote of the day

‘They don’t have iPads or Xboxes but they make their own entertainment. We cook together. They take their daddy’s magnifying glass into the garden on bug-hunts.'

On sunny days, presumably. This is from an interview (in the Daily Mail) with Britain's oldest IVF mother, who gave birth to twins at the age of 58.

Insect immolation aside, the interview itself raises some interesting points, not least of which is the implication that the lack of iPads and Xboxes is somehow unusual for ten-year-old children. Most striking of all is the mother's headline conclusion that she 'should not have been allowed to have' IVF at 58.

To pay for private fertility treatment at such an advanced age and yet to fail to make financial provision for the children, so that the death of her live-in partner (when the twins were five months old) meant that his estate reverted to his first wife and left her 'penniless', argues for a certain abdication of responsibility, perhaps understandable given a desperate desire for children.

However, to turn round ten years later and suggest that someone else should have stopped her doing it in the first place almost defies belief.

5 comments:

  1. It is a truth universally acknowledged that it is always and forever someone else's fault!

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  2. Zeus, imagine having teenagers at home when in your mid 70's.

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  3. Crikey - I've just imagined as Demetrius suggests. Now I need a lie down.

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  4. DD, indeed - one might call it the faith that launched a thousand writs.

    Demetrius/AKH, I'm struggling with that one too - and with the idea of entering early adulthood with an octogenarian parent to think of.

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  5. To pay for private fertility treatment at such an advanced age and yet to fail to make financial provision for the children, so that the death of her live-in partner (when the twins were five months old) meant that his estate reverted to his first wife and left her 'penniless', argues for a certain abdication of responsibility, perhaps understandable given a desperate desire for children.

    Oy yes sir. Haven't got into IVF as a topic yet - it's too vast and anger producing.

    ReplyDelete

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