Breast vs Bottle War

I have not eaten Nestle for half my life. 14 years. Now you all know how old I am. That is how much I value breastfeeding.

I complained about a display in a local shop that had cow's head's on female dressed manikins with a sign declaring 'Breast is Best', I value Breastfeeding.

But I cannot walk round the adult world and tell who was breast fed and who wasn't.

It's just not as important as we'd like to make it. Sure there are questions to be asked about capitalist marketing, about women's body image and support of the wider community, but at the end of the day what matters is that the child was fed and held and loved.

Pendulum's swing and in reacting against pressure we must ensure we don't create it. There are women distraught because they cannot breastfeed or can't produce enough milk or don't want to, or want to return to work or have to return to work.

Feminists need to create a rhetorical environment that values breastfeeding but also values choice. That values the best for the child recognising that that is not divorced from the needs of the mother. In responding to a situation where women where coxed and coerced into using formula lets not create a situation where they are coxed and coerced into not using formula.

Stop the mummy wars join the movement for parent peace.

I vow to thee, the market

As promised in my previous blog my take on an old hymn:

I vow to thee, the market, to support your bet,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of your debt;
The debt that asks no question, the debt that fails the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The debt that’s bound to falter, the debt that pays the price,
The debt that makes unquestioned the final sacrifice.

I heard a country calling, away across the sea,
Across the waste of deficit it calls and calls to me.
The people all are paying for a future full of dread,
And round her land are lying the dying and the dead.
I hear the noise of cut backs, the rhetoric of what’s fair,
I haste to pay taxes, but not all pay their share.

And there's another system, I've heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that seek it, most great to them that know;
We may not rate its credit, we may speak of her King;
Its fortress is not usury, her pride not profiting;
And soul by soul they don’t care if the shining bonds increase,
As its ways are ways of generousness, and all its paths are peace.

Yearning for a Jubilee

What sort of country do we live in? A country that buses 300 people into London, makes them sleep under a bridge in bitter weather and work for free? 


A country that makes an elderly couple stand for 80 minutes on a boat in freezing whether? While our grotesque colonial history is celebrated, while a crowd that is totally unrepresentative of London looks on, while the bankers take a holiday from making debt and young girls aspire to being a princess just like Kate, cause there sure aren't any other jobs around.


Oh yeah its a country that sings this totally un-biblical and ridiculous song:


I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above, 
(Don't even get what 'all earthly things above means?)
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love; 
(that surely is idolatrous? to vow your love to something other than God?)
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
(yeah cause Jesus didn't do discursive teaching he was all about dictatorship)
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
(This is a huge thing to vow and again it is idolatrous to vow it to your country, but didn't Jesus say something about not swearing by anything or making vows?) 


I heard my country calling, away across the sea,
Across the waste of waters she calls and calls to me.
Her sword is girded at her side, her helmet on her head,
And round her feet are lying the dying and the dead.
I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her guns,
I haste to thee my mother, a son among thy sons.
(We don't normally sing this verse hey? totally revolting. Why has Britain never repented of this humiliating part of our history? why do we remember it with such a romantic gloss? While we continue to bash the Germans and continently forget that taking other people's countries was something we lead the way in.)


And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,
(It is not "another country" it is the rule of God, there is no comparison. Neither is it the thing of long ago - it is at hand, subverting power structures)
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
(Somehow this line reads as a little patronising)
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
(You would quail in your boots if you saw Him - but He is there to be known by anyone who wants)
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
(We are not proud to suffer - there is nothing biblical in that idea, we rejoice through suffering not because of it and take pride only in Jesus Christ)
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
(It is not silent - there is more rejoicing in heaven luke 15:7)
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.


Think I feel a hymn re-writing coming on.


Come Lord Jesus and sort us out we need a jubilee sooo badly.