Proposed letter to MP pointing out his complete pig headed ignorance abuot bf-ing...

[DoesntChristmasDragOn]

Folloning on from that thread about emailling your MP regarding legislation abuot breastfeeding in public, I am planning to send a follow up to my MP's reply. Something along these lines... Any more suggestions?

Dear Mr Ottaway.

Thank you for your replay (dated 16th December) to an email I sent you regarding breastfeeding in public places.

Quite frankly, I am astounded by your ignorance. "In my opinion, private businesses should be free to choose whether breastfeeding should be allowed. Even if mothers wanted to breastfeed their baby in a restaurant, for example, I doubt they would want the restaurant owner to face a huge fine simply because somebody complained." So, what you are in effect saying is that, whilst you wholley agree that breastfeeding is the best way to feed a baby, you believe that private businesses should be allowed to discriminate against breastfeeding mothers by prohibiting them from feeding their baby in what is the most natural and beneficial manner. The restaurant owner you mention above would not face a huge fine because someone complained, they would face a huge fine for asking the breastfeeding mother to move or stop. Yes, I believe that any breastfeeding mother would be delighted for such a restaurant owner to be fined for such blatant discrimination. To avoid the fine, the restaurant owner would simply have to tell the complaining customer that they should simply look or move somewhere else. I can only assume that you think that the ignorant person who finds the breastfeeding mother offensive has more rights than the mother nourishing her child.

You claim that it is a lack of adequate breastfeeding facilities in public places that is the root of the problem. I can only assume that you are not familiar with breastfeeding since special facilities are not, in fact, required at all. All you require is a seat and, of course, a pair of breasts.

tee hee
you might want to spell reply and wholly right..

do you want to change Mr Idiot Ottaway's mind or make a point? (it does the latter very well, but probably not former)

just looked him up - BLIMEY, you've got your work cut out there...

CV:
Member of the Intelligence and Security Committee
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment
Member of Foreign Affairs Committee
Member of Standards and Privileges Committee
Shadow Paymaster General
Defence Spokesman
Shadow Minister for London
Government Whip
All Party Parliamentary Group on Malaysia
Vice Chairman of the both the All Party Parliamentary Olympic Group
All Party Parliamentary Group for Population, Development and Reproductive Health.

Only the last one looks vaguely useful. But, the stats for healthiness in your area plus the environmental benefits might be the places to get him.

Married no kids. I mean - Malaysia!

isn't it amazing what the internet can tell you?

his constituancy has:

• particularly high proportion of lone parents with young kids (who need society's support for breastfeeding because of no partner support?)
• female life expectancy is lower than average and lower than london as a whole (not getting the breast cancer benefits of breast feeding, perhaps?)

can I have a prize for the most spectacular thread killing? OK, OK, i get the hint, I'll go make the family some dinner....

I was going to run it through the spell checker before sending My keyboard is temperamental and my typing is appalling!! oh, and I can't spell.

It's just to make a point really. The man is a twat. And a tory twat at that There's no point in trying to persuade him. The letter opened with a rote paragraph of how wonderful breastfeeding is but clearly he thinks it shouldn't be done where aynone can see it

Hmmm "particularly high proportion of lone parents with young kids " It also contains large pockets of pure wealthy middle class suburbia!

I was making the family some dinner, oddly enough

I'd be inclined not to even bother replying to this unimaginative chap. Instead, why not contact your local newspaper to see if you can get them to run a story on your local MP's lack of support for bfing - have a look through the last edition to find a female journalist who usually writes on women's/children's issues as you're likely to get the best response if you contact her directly. You may find that a stinging article read by a wider audience in the area sparks his imagination a bit more than a reply from you. Also, what consituency does the delightful Mr Otaway represent so that other mners in his area can also contact him?

I doubt he wrote it himself. I have seen the same response (word for word!) from at least half a dozen tory MPs.

If I hadn't alienated the local NCT branch, I'd send them a copy of his letter.

To be honest, I'm replying and doing it in such a bolshy manner because I think they have to respond to any correspondence from a member of their constituency. And, quite frankly, because Im annoyed with his response and writing the reply makes me snigger

The lovely Mr O is Croydon, South. I think that's the right name.

"A breastfeeding mother is not doing something anti-social that requires her to be shut away from public eyes, she is simply feeding her baby as she sees fit."

Amazed to find that my constituency has "high proportion of lone parents with young kids" and "female life expectancy is lower than average". This is Purley, home of Terry and June (for those of you old enough to remember!).

Soupy, love the ending of your response!

TBH, although this is appearance-ist, you only have to look a a phot of him to know he's going to be an ignorant tw*t about breastfeeding. Bet he went to public school to

I can only assume that Croydon South takes in some of the less affluent areas of the borough with high density populations. Although I'm damned if I can think of any.

Oh, this is just superb! At the foot of his posh headed notepaper is his website address "www.richardottawaymp.com" Except it isn't. It's actually www.richardottaway.com Gotta love him

Phew! At least he thinks overcrowding on trains is a huge issue worth fighting about "People are quite entitled to go to work in civilized way." But they're not, it would seem, allowed to feed their babies in a civilized way... He "feels strongly about animal suffering" too, bless him.

22th in the country proportionally for lone parents with dependents according to the 2001 census (it was my translation of the stats, not his, no idea if he is even aware , probably more interested in his sailing...). The life expectancy bit was very minor, only a couple of months less than average, but still a good arguing point...

what an utter bloody knob he is
who hasn't read the bloody bill
and is a knob
(have I said that?)
it's not tory policy to oppose it tho
my scrummy local mp (Ed Vaizey, one of the new leader's acolytes) signed it

the votes on which he rebelled or was teller are very telling - you have hunts in South Croydon?

shockingly he went to state school... Backwell in Somerset (appears to be a rather exceptional state school). Give me long enough, I'll get his inside leg measurement...

hc, do you think it's time you sought professional help for your tim-nice-but-dim-mp obsession?

phillipat
am blaming it on the post natal hormones

Backwell is a good school, but not 'exceptional' actually - a friend of mine used to teach there - think is very good example of how a decent comprehensive ought to work - good mixed intake of kids, not confined to one sector of society.

Ottaway sounds a total idiot though. Really like your response!

How did you become alienated from the local NCT?

And what did you send originally? am thinking that i should start hounding my local mp too.

I love "I can only assume that you are not familiar with breastfeeding since special facilities are not, in fact, required at all. All you require is a seat and, of course, a pair of breasts."

I almost hope my MP is unsympathetic now so that I can steal that line...

Message deleted

He sent me exactly the same letter. This time - and the previous time I wrote to him regarding this. He really is a twatmonkey Tory arse and I applaud you, Soupy

He's fantastic isn't he?

Oddly enough, I've never seen a hunt galloping through the suburban streets of Croydon, South.

As for the NCT, it's a long and boring story