It may be well said but it is a near slight on womens abilities as to multi tasking.
Women who breastfed their babies before ran homes and ran them to perfection, multi tasking every day and making sure all in the home was in order.

To feed a baby does not stop any woman 'thinking','talking' or 'hearing', that is all that is needed in the commons.
If you also seriously believe too that the vast majority of men and women in the Commons actually take much notice of what is said, and that they don't already know which way they will be voting anyway even before they go into the Commons,then you would get a massive shock to witness same.

William hague, tony blair, norman tebbit, jack straw -- there have always been plenty of tits on open display in the commons.

What is all the fuss about?

:joker: you have made me laugh twice today Kirk.:joker:
Exactly though,I find the fuss ridiculous.

I think the fuss is far from ridiculous, a lot of women work unsocial hours, are they being offered the opportunity of bringing their baby to work, nope, have some free child provision, pay through the nose for the rest, express your milk and shut up and get on with your job or stay at home, while the female MPs and their baby's get the kid glove treatment and get to bond in chambers, that is what I consider ridiculous.

:laugh: Thanks Joey. Kirk still loves ya. :laugh:

in that case it would be fine for women to breast feed while doing open heart surgery or perhaps while driving a bus or a train? Concentration is required to do a job properly

In what universe are those comparable?...

I'm confused.... Being an MP is a job right? Once your maternity leave has ended you return to work and make provisions for your children. Being in a place of work is not the environment for a child, there is no stimulus for them and it's not exactly a comfortable environment. I returned to work when my son was 6 months old, did I want to? Not particularly but I had to provide for my family and so childcare was arranged. I can't get if this is hypothetical or people are serious ....why should being an MP allow you to demand the right to take a child into a working environment. To be clear...I believe women have the right yo breast feed when and where they wish but if you have returned to paid employment after having a child provisions have to be made

I don't think the point is should they or would they... it's can they.

This is turning in to a sketch from Monty Python's Life of Brian.

I'm with Annie. Who takes their kids in to work? I don't know anyone. And moreover, a lot of time and resource is being wasted by Jess Philips, pursuing this frankly ridiculous idea when that time and resource could be put more pressing issues.

Well obviously not, since in all those things, they would 'need' their hands free to do all of them.
As to concentration,I can concentrate on what is going on around me and still watch the TV for instance.
I can decorate a room wile listening to music,ably concentrating on both things.
A Mother does not need her hands free to concentrate and listen and talk.

I work in Law, you are concentrating on any one case at a time but also still working through your mind the next ones coming up and even what happened in the one before.
The human brain is well able to concentrate on juggling 2 things at once and even much more than 2 as well.

I think we have to just agree to disagree Cherie, I love you to bits but will never see what the fuss is about at all on this.
If I were a woman and a Mother, I would find the MPs who are moaning at this as being highly offensive and frankly from the dinosaur era..

With respect, Joey, that's nonsense. None of your examples equates at all to looking after a baby. I don't know anyone who could do their job at 100% capacity while looking after a baby. I can't see anyone else in their working environment putting up with it either. As cute as babies are I don't want them in my place of work.

I agree with what you've said Joey....as a working mother myself, I work in a fairly stressful environment on multiple tasks whilst thinking about bills, football training, parents evening etc etc BUT I would not have had the ability to stimulate my child as he needed as a baby in a noisy work environment. Children need attention and stimulating in a calm environment, not in the hustle and bustle of a Commons session.

What pray is nonsense, that's a bit rude with respect.

I work in law and that is a job and I deal with 2,3.4 and more things at once.
Just what is nonsense and why get at me anyway, I answered bitontheslide who made a comparison as to driving a bus and open heart surgery,which have no comparison to feeding a baby and listening to what is going on.
That is not nonsense however is it not, so how is mine?

Why don't they just make a blanket law that says it's legal for women to breastfeed anywhere, but have separate stipulations that state where you can look after your baby (which would maybe be decided upon by the individual businesses). So then it wouldn't be a question of "can a woman breastfeed in the house of commons" but it would be "can a woman (or man) bring their child into the house of commons.

It seems like there is one side of the current argument which is saying "Yes, women should be able to breastfeed in the HoC" and another side of the argument which is saying "No, people shouldn't be bringing their children into the HoC", but really these are separate issues and so all our points keep missing because we're not on the same page lol.

with respect joey. You don't work on several things at the same time, you time slice. You can't concentrate on specific details of 2 cases at the same time. You work on 1 for a bit, work on the next for a bit etc. You cant think down 2 paths at exactly the same time.

In a real time environment, where information is being constantly sent out, you can't concentrate fully on what is being said and tend fully to the baby, you time slice. You may be aware of what is being said or what the baby is doing, but you cant actively engage in both at the same time

Sorry, but as has been said above, its not about being modern, pc or anything else, its about giving the task the capacity it deserves.

Sorry but with great respect,you clearly know little about law, you can be dealing with more than one case at a time even in different courts too, I talk about magistrates courts which is where my work is done.
Whereby you are even taking calls from others related to future cases coming up too while actively and fully proficiently preparing the case you are due in court with.

You have to multi task and must be able to deal with far more than one thing at a time.
I tell you with no hesitation there is a massive load of information fired at lawyers in courts and outside the court, that they have to not only take on board and concentrate on but in fact deal with too a lot of the time.
Papers are flung at you from all directions and not all just about one single case.

Work on 2 paths at a time, I wish, sometimes it is more like 3,4 and 5 paths I feel myself thinking on while working on in Law.

I repeat again, your brain time slices, it cannot fully engage where concentration is required to do both tasks.

Oh come on, watching the house of commons doesn't show you need to even have your brain fully in gear to follow all that is being said.
Most of the time it is pure waffle and in any event all that is said is kept to be looked at for decades to come.

MPs even forget what they have even said in debates at times and often need to be reminded, Prime Ministers and Leaders of parties too have to.
So much for concentration.

I thought it was nonsense that you likened decorating a room while listening to the radio, to doing a professional job while caring for a baby. I wasn't being intentionally rude, Joey.

No one sits at work and just listens to what's going on, what job allows you to do that? Who takes a child to work? Who works with anyone who takes a child to work? Why are we even discussing this when there are so many more valid issues? It's a time waster.

Do you think you could do all that and care for a baby at the same time?

Is it, is that because there are some following an ethos without really understanding why?

The House of Commons does.
Often there are many in the chamber and very few are called to speak or even try to speak, all the rest are doing is listening, to the debate.
The only active bit comes at the very end when a division takes place and they have to actually then get up and go and vote through the lobbies.

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