It’s way too early to determine the former. Honestly, I don’t like this idea that the husband was a normal, moderate Muslim guy and then got duped into becoming a fully-fledged terrorist by his wife. It’s a bit lady Macbeth and seems too neat. My guess is that this guy was probably leaning toward radicalism before he…

Honestly, the shootings and the obvious incremental attempts to make abortion illeagle are the two things that keep me awake at night and make me reconsider my decison to stay in this country long-term. The other day at work I was idly thinking about what I’d do if we got a shooter at work (I work at a law firm, so…

“Every single person who contributed to the vilification of PP in recent months has blood on their hands. But that’s a scary thought - better to blame the “liberal media”, as per usual. The party of Personal Responsibility strikes again”

Dude, we spent $4000 on our late dog in the course of a fortnight. It was sickening. The only thing that would have been worse was not spending it and not being able to tell myself we gave our girl the best possible chance.

Yeah, my cousin has a cat who will come in to the bathroom and talk to you while you do your business. I actually don’t mind that because I grew up in a single-bathroom household and find company while on the toilet quite soothing.

Dogs are my first love, but we just don’t have the right lifestyle for one right now. I was quite hesitant about cats until I started working at the shelter and got to know them a bit better. They’re so funny!

Yeah, they aren’t litter mates but they were “bonded buddies” at the shelter. They don’t quite snuggle up together but they snuggle up in close proximity. Black Kitty keeps trying to groom Calico/Tabby Kitty’s head, which she sort of reluctantly submits to.

Mixed weekend so far. Our original plans to spend Thanksgiving day on a road trip to visit my MIL’s family fell through (Yay!), which meant that it was decided at 8pm on the 25th that my In-Laws would be coming over to ours for the day (...yay?). They are lovely, polite, Presbyterian people but by Great Satan’s Beard…

Awesome. We had chili and cornbread (with inexplicable Cranberry sauce, because my FIL is a child and couldn’t accept a non-standard Thanksgiving paradigm) this year.

I must admit I like having that monthly “Oh thank God, no baby” moment. Last month I didn’t have one because I ran two packs together previously and I took about 5 pregnancy tests (which is not cheap!) just to reassure myself.

I watched a production of the Mikado the other day and my god if it wasn’t the most wince-inducing colonialist thing ever. But I can’t deny those songs are damn impossible to get out of your head.

I think this is why people get so up in arms about calling certain actions racist, because in their mind that’s exactely the same as calling someone a KKK member. Many if not most people think in racially biased ways, this is what happens when you grow up in a racist society. It doesn’t make them totally evil, it…

Apparently 17 women “did not carry their pregnancies to term.” Which is probably a dscreet way of saying they chose to abort. Not surprising actually- about 1/5.

I remember getting into a HUGE fight with my aunt who triend to claim Golliwog doll’s weren’t racist because A) no-one thought they were racist at the time and B) she loved her Golliwog doll! A couple of years later she did come round and admit that they were pretty damn racist.

I think the problem is people can’t…

Yep, the Narnia books are very difficult for me to read now because of the racism and sexism (I’m fine with the religious metaphors myself, but I can understand why some people would be uncomfortable with them). It comes up in Agatha Christie’s work as well and it’s always so jarring.

Well, yes and no. If it’s been preserved as was, it is a kind of museum piece, and so a similar amount of care needs to be taken. The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’s writing shed in Laugharne is similar, and no-one at all is allowed in there. I think partly it’s because he was quite messy, and so there’s stuff all over the…

Because of our tight timeline and budget I ended with neither engagement nor wedding photos. And, I mean obviously it’s fine. We did not neeeeeeed those photos. The marriage is fine without them.

Does she have a close aunt or another female relative who looks like her father? If so, you might try drawing her attention to them and saying “Look, aunty so-and-so looks like your father too and she’s a lovely looking woman.”

My opinion on this is that it’s as important to nurture a child’s self image as anything else. Focussing on internal qualities and never ever talking about the external would be fine if your child grew up in a vacuum and was never introduced to the outside world. But that’s not going to happen. Children are bombarded…

There is a difference between saying “Looks matter” and “Yes, people do judge others on their looks” though. Saying “Looks don’t matter, what’s important is on the inside” is true, but in practical terms it’s also like sticking your fingers in your ears and singing loudly when confronted with another ugly truth, which…