Can we stop talking nonsense about breast-milk?

If you don’t want to spend £15 on an ice cream made with human milk, that’s A-OK with me. I don’t want to spend £15 on that either. You may have concerns about the commodification of people; I can understand that. You may dislike political posturing; that’s fine.

But if you espouse any of the following points of view, I may well get my leaky friend to squirt you in the eye with some of her finest breast-juice. (It’s great for conjunctivitis!)
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Right-wing wonks claim the battle for equal pay for women has been won

The latest piece of wearying cognitive dissonance from a right-wing think tank is published by Dr Catherine Hakim, reporting on ‘feminist myths’ in employment practices.

Dr Hakim from the Centre for Policy Studies argues that the battle for equal opportunities has been won (yay!), and that further activity by the all-powerful feminist lobby would be counter-productive.

You may be thinking: ‘why should I give a tuppenny sod about what the CPS thinks?’. The problem is, these people are the non-horse-related working parts of Cameron’s brain.
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This is what a Labour agenda for women could look like

These are glum times for women in politics. Plus ça change, plus c’est la freakin’ même chose. We were treated to an election campaign in which senior women politicans from all parties were told to keep quiet, look demure and generally get the dinner on.

Harman, a proper grown-up feminist whatever her other failings, was reportedly told to STFU by Mandelson, whose pricklish anti-woman agenda is as predictable as it is ghastly. The new Cabinet is as light on the X-chromosomes as Brown’s outgoing Brut-scented line-up.

The Minister for Women position is now Westminster’s own PTA post, handed as an afterthought to Theresa May to be accomplished in all that spare time she’ll have as Home Secretary.
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The depressing thing about Tory welfare proposals

I was depressed by the announcement at this week’s Tory conference of plans to remove incapacity benefit (now known as ESA – Employment and Support Allowance) from around 500,000 claimants. Michael Gove puckishly characterised the move as being part of the Tories’ ‘crusade to help the poor’. So far, so Tory.

So I dug around a bit, and I discovered that this isn’t actually the depressing bit.

The Tories propose to subject all ESA claimants to an enhanced medical assessment, which is being touted as a ‘tough back-to-work test’. Those who are adjudged to be capable of work will be taken off ESA and be placed on Jobseeker’s Allowance instead – a cut of £25 per week. As ever, the unspoken assumption is that half a million (at least) of those who currently draw ESA are workshy fraudsters.

But that’s still not the depressing bit.

Two crucial issues – whether those who assess ESA claimants will be required to meet targets, and what training or professional background the assessors will have – are not addressed in the Conservatives’ document ‘Get Britain Working’. The Telegraph’s report of the Tories’ proposals, chillingly, mentions bringing in private firms to carry out the assessments; one can imagine the damage that could result from an army of poorly-trained assessors with punitive targets to meet. Will there be a right of appeal?

But brace yourself, because that’s not the depressing bit.
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