Absent Fathers

[anotheoldgit]

Someone said in a previous thread:

/// "Heterosexual people have various partners and manage to bring up unconfused children". ///

Perhaps they should read this?

/// Absent fathers are a common factor among criminals, drug addicts, and self-harmers ///

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2359643/My-week-man-desert-In-parts-Britain-70-children-live-fathers-YASMIN-ALIBHAI-BROWN-visited-discovered-devastating-consequences.html

[ummmm]

Rocky - you're pure class, treacle :-)

[rockyracoon]

Lol Ummmm, lol, just off to get my jellied eels and roll mops.

[FredPuli43]

I say chaps, shouldn't that be " 'untin', shootin' , and fishin' " ? Toffs are good at apocope (they can't touch you for it, you know).

[emmie]

rocky, nah, pie and mash, and don't forget the liquor..

[rockyracoon]

Em, bleurgh to the liquor :)

[emmie]

ya can;t have pie and mash without it, nor jellied eels

[ummmm]

Speak English :-)

[DTCwordfan]

What about absent maters too?

[emmie]

rarer than absent fathers i suspect.

[emmie]

liquor is English,

[naomi24]

//It's that kind if superiority complex that makes Middle England such an odious place.//

I would be considered 'Middle England', my former husband was neither a criminal, a drug addict, nor a self-harmer, I’ve ‘single parented’ very successfully, I am remarried, I vote Conservative, and although I haven’t had the opportunity to indulge for years, I adore pie mash and liquor (note the absence of an ‘and’ between the ‘pie’ and the ‘mash’ – an indication that my roots are not forgotten).

Where does that leave me?

[FredPuli43]

Naomi, my old history teacher used to solemnly read out the following, from a great historian, "In the middle of the 15th century, the middle class was rising". There would be a dramatic pause and then he would round on us and declaim "The middle class is ALWAYS rising ! That is the very definition of middle class. They are rising, and when they don't think they are rising enough, they talk and act as though they are!"

Does that define you? Your choice of husband does not matter.

[emmie]

naomi, where you belong, in the human race, alongside the rest of us,

[naomi24]

Fred, no, it doesn't define me – and I don’t believe it defines a lot of other people either. Defining ‘Middle England’ as ‘odious’ is actually insulting, and just as short-sighted as defining the ‘Working Class’ as ‘poor’. Unless we are in a position where we don’t need to work for a living, we are all ‘Working Class’ - and I know few people who do not aspire to a better life whatever their situation. Snobbery works in more ways than one.

It’s true, my choice of husband doesn’t matter – but the fact that I have been a ‘single parent’ is relevant to the OP.

Em, exactly.

[andy-hughes]

naomi24 - my reference to 'Middle England' is more specific that perhaps I outlined in my response -

it refers to the section of the community that regard anyone who does not live life as they do as being inferior.

It is not intended to encompass an entire section of the community, because I do believe that such people are a small minority, but they are fortunate in having their very own 'hate bate' daily newspaper to give them something to tut about over their cornflakes.

[naomi24]

Andy, but people who think that Middle England is odious tut over their cornflakes too. All of us, without exception, think someone else is wrong.

[andy-hughes]

A fair point naomi - but thinking someone is wrong, or disagreeing with their lifestyle is a world away from taking some spurious moral highground and using that position to look down on people less fortunate for a variety of reasons some of which are beyond their control.

I have as many negative views about some of the people i share the planet with, but i try not to regard myself as better than them, or them as worse than me, simply because some of our choices and circomstances differ.

[naomi24]

I try to do that too - but 'negative views' says it all. I don't think either of us can honestly claim to succeed every time. ;o)

[Sharingan]

It's a very hard trick to pull off though isn't it andy? I try to do the same as you, disagree with some people but not actively look down on them, however I have real issues with some elements of the far right, and it's I find it tremendously hard, after I've taken into account, they might have been brought up with those views, might not be very educated, might not etc etc etc, not to just think ' you know what mate, you're just a knuckle dragging moron'.
I think 'Middle Englander' and ' little Englander' is another of those tempting remarks to sort of embody smug, stuck in the mud Daily Mail readers, but even most of them are not that black and white.

[andy-hughes]

Indeed - but we are aware of this, and indeed other shortcomings, and that puts us on a higher level from all the plebs (DOH!) LOL!