Happy Friday! It’s been a week where I’m still embarrassed by Boris, in a way I’ve never been embarrassed by a prime minister before but at least I’m not American. I feel so sorry for the diplomats in the Foreign Office and the State Department because my limited experience tells me that they are dedicated public services who serve their countries faithfully and it must be so hard right now. For the record, I don’t really discuss the ins and outs of it with my friends (both of them) because they wouldn’t because they understand discretion and doing the right thing…

Here are this week’s links….

Council ban on protests outside abortion clinic upheld by appeal court. Yay! I signed that petition and I wrote something that’s was used by Sister Supporter in their submission to the council. I still object to the guys sitting in their designated spot saying the rosary (Matthew 6: 5-15) but that’s a religious objection. During the original consultation, they argued that they had local support and that’s proved untrue so now they’re arguing that they weren’t causing anti-social behaviour to local, also untrue, I have pro-life friends who are glad not to have them there. I wish they would put as much money and effort into actually helping children alive and suffering as they’ve done in having the ban overturned…

‘Self-care’: how a radical feminist idea was stripped of politics for the mass market

Here’s what I learned from my privileged, western failure to go plastic-free for a month

King of the castles: a cabin stay on Northumberland’s mighty coast. I’ve been to every castle listed…

Want to see the future? Take a trip on Wales’ model railway

Greta Thunberg’s attackers are morally bankrupt, but her deification isn’t helpful. I don’t like it when a person is held up as a model or as inspiring. Honestly, I’ll chose my own hero’s and deifying a 16 year old is dangerous for us and for her. This sums up my feelings about the whole situation really brilliantly.

Denying single women IVF is a cruel policy that belongs in the past. I know lots of brilliant single mothers and it seems terribly unfair that people who would love to have children and would be good parents don’t get to be. It seems even worse that having a child seems to come down to whether you have money or not, but life is terribly unfair. I’m too old to get pregnant now but if I had the money I would love to adopt or foster but without a lottery win or a tripling of my salary that won’t happen because I can’t afford a house big enough for a child  If you ask any parent, they will tell you how even if they were ready for parenthood, the actual reality of a real, live child is something you’re never prepared for. Ma used to work with someone who when it alone and she had it all worked out but she couldn’t cope with a full time job and a child and instead went to another part time job and benefits to fill the gap. We live in society, if my taxes go to help parents of all types raise and educate and care for their children I’m all for that, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t. However it’s stupid to pretend that most successful parenting is generally about balancing resources, emotional and financial. Genevieve Roberts is taking this decision very personally, no one is criticising her for her choices or her family, but often single parents struggle with emotional and financial resources. My preference would be that IVF wouldn’t be offered at all on the NHS, but this policy is about a rationing of resources and it could and should been better explained but it’s a reality. A disappointing reality for single people who want to be parents but it’s not really a cruel one.