Happy Friday!

The Derry Girls are right – a boycott won’t change Northern Ireland abortion law.

Brexiters beware: Donald Trump will trample all over our sovereignty. This, so much this…

Want to tackle inequality? Then first change our land ownership laws. I should also note that I know one of the authors of the report talked about here, but that’s not why it’s important.

A Middle East Peace Plan Built on Un-American Principles. It won’t work, not because it’s based on un-American principles but because it won’t address the elephant in the room. Which is that it won’t apply a stick to Israel. They get away with it and they keep getting away with it and so they’ll carry on doing it. It being violating international law, ignoring UN resolutions and putting Palestinians in what is effectively a ghetto. Because that always works well.

Why you want oysters and a salt marsh between you and a hurricane

‘I’m such a big fan of the menstrual cycle!’ – the women asking whether it’s possible to have a better period.. I’m not a huge fan of the menstrual cycle….

Too Many People Want to Travel. Apparently we shouldn’t worry too much and it’ll all work out. Seriously? Look I live in a city inundated with tourists, at the moment we are doing that thing where US schools are out and ours aren’t and then European schools are bringing all their kids over for a school trip. Ealing is currently awash with stylishly dressed but completely obnoxious groups of Italian kids milling about in front of entrances and staircases (I don’t know why they are all Italian, they just are!). Mostly I get it, it’s the price of London, and I love my city and wouldn’t deprive anyone of the chance to see it. But 1 billion flights a year? Come on, London’s pollution is bad enough and I live on a flight path. I know not all 1 billion flights are going to go over my head but that much air travel cannot be good for the planet. And for those keeping up, I last few to Strasbourg in 2015 and all my holidays since Washington have been in the UK, so on this one I am walking the walk….

The Myth That Babies Look More Like Their Dads. I think this is hilarious because no-one ever said that Ben or I looked like Dad. Loads of people say that B looks like our maternal grandfather, but no-one has ever said we look like Dad. To the point that when I was 15 a complete stranger, who knew Ma but had never met me or seen a picture of me, asked me if I was her daughter…

Funnily enough, Ma has always looked like Grandad’s family, I have a picture of my great-grandmother (Grandad’s mum) that people have thought was her but there is also a picture of my Grandma, that really looks like my mum. For B, he has one kid that is the image of Lu but with his colouring (Oli) and one that looks like him but with Lu’s colouring (Joe) and J looks like Ben did when he was a three not like he is now. Genetics are funny. I also have a friend with adopted children and one of them looks like his Grandad, which I really have to try hard not to comment on. Maybe we all begin to look like each other…