you just made my day with that excruciatingly contrived pun.

Yes! Little Baby Bum’s creators may be British but both Johny Johny and Icecream are sung in 100% Indian English. That ‘icecream’ nasal falsetto is inimitable.

FWIW, I left my husband when I was pregnant with baby number three. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue with the pregnancy, but I knew I didn’t want to continue with the marriage.

It’s the same in New Zealand. It definitely prompts people to think dispassionately about their relationship as they come up to the two year mark. A healthy thing all round.

Agreed. I settled in for dysfunctional family tension that gets out of hand as they confront their grief, and ended up with Zipping blue lights! Multiple possessions! Apparitions! Disembodied clicking noises! Breaking glass! Spontaneous flames! Scampering gravity-defying presences! And then that last inexplicably…

Is it just me or is Meghan’s face looking just a teensy bit rounded and glowing?...probably just me getting over-excited about possible royal babies.

Assume you are trolling, but just for other peoples’ info; it’s not illegal to seek asylum.

They’re honestly not. Our Honours usually go to long-serving military and public sector personnel, a few charitable types and those who volunteer on boards and such, a couple for the arts and then someone like Dame Catherine. A couple of years ago it was a woman who stood up for people who care for disabled family…

Sounds good; just one question; who funds these rewards, that are substantial enough for someone to live comfortably?

Hi Slut Panic, I just wanted to share that this weekend in New Zealand our top sex worker advocate, the woman who started the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, the wonderful Catherine Healy was made a Dame of the British Empire. As you know sex work has been legal here since 2004 (I worked on the legislation) and…

“Forced labour, child sexual exploitation and trafficking”; NOT consensual sex work. The UN report is confirming slut panic, whore of babylon and 765795679's position. Sex work is not the same as trafficking and exploitation. In NZ, for example, we have many more cases of trafficking and exploitation in the restaurant…

I am industry adjacent (and currently work for NZ’s regulator for work health and safety). I would say more, but NZ is a VERY small country.

Exploitation of workers is much more common in hospitality and agriculture than in sex work (based on NZ data). Sometimes people take a shitty job knowing it’s shitty, but they want to start a life in a new country. When sex work is legal, anyone getting exploited can call it out and they are protected by the same…

Hi curious squid, we both used the same analogy *blows a kiss*

How do I differentiate consensual sex work from nonconsensual sex work? Well actually asking the sex worker concerned might be a good place to start!

Because workers and clients still need to contact each other. If, say, hairdressing was legal but purchasing a haircut was suddenly criminalised, what would you do when you wanted to get your hair cut? You’d have to go through various sorts of subterfuge to disguise your newly criminal intention. The subterfuge means…

Thank you! Yes! Also, when she’s recovering after the birth and he says to her in a normal voice “It’s ok, it worked, they can’t hear us” because he pulled a mattress (!) over the basement entry... no-one had tried that before?? And how does he *know* their conversation can’t be heard? I was waiting for “Oops, my bad,…

Sorry my post was a bit vague; thanks for clarifying your local laws. I was being a bit disingenuous, the law in NZ says you have to be 16 to work in a sandwich shop but 18 to work in a brothel. Which is to say that it’s not *exactly* the same laws for sex work as for other industries. But for health and safety…

Does your city have regulations about where on the street you can sell hot dogs, how old you have to be to be eligible for paid employment, and health and safety guidelines for massage therapists and hairdressers? If so, you don’t need any extra regulations for sex work.

Fieldguide, I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that you are not a sex worker. I have been, and now I’m in a government job, and in both roles I have traded my time for money. I’ve still got the same amount of body I started with (in fact more - damn you middle age spread!) so I don’t think I’ve traded away…