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WEBCHAT GUIDELINES: 1. One question per member plus one follow-up. 2. Keep your question brief. 3. Don't moan if your question doesn't get answered. 4. Do be civil/polite. 5. If one topic or question threatens to overwhelm the webchat, MNHQ will usually ask for people to stop repeating the same question or point.

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MNHQ

Live webchat with Fiona Millar, Tuesday 3rd March, 1-2pm

286 replies

RachelMumsnet · 25/02/2009 21:10

Fiona Millar will be visiting us at Mumsnet Towers for a live webchat on Tuesday 3rd March between 1 and 2pm. Her book The Secret World of the Working Mother: Juggling Work, Kids and Sanity will be out on Thursday 5th March. Fiona is a well-known journalist, educational campaigner and mother of three. If you can't join us on Tuesday, post your questions in advance on this thread.

OP posts:
MaryQueenofArkansas · 27/02/2009 11:08

What ABetaDad said! Do tell, Fiona.

TheCrackFox · 27/02/2009 11:14

I'm with Moondog. Couldn't t care less about Fiona Millar.

SuperMario · 27/02/2009 11:15

as someone with a hard to spell surname, tell me about being Millar. does it drive you nuts?

Roastchicken · 27/02/2009 12:58

ABetaDad - what secondary school are you talking about? I thought her sons went to William Ellis. Although her own house may be expensive, most of the catchment is council estates which mere mortals can certainly afford.

Starbear · 27/02/2009 16:46

I don't quite get why you are all repeating the same personal questions. What school her children go to? Is it more important that she has the ear of policy makers and wouldn't you questions be based on what she may or may say to them? OR maybe you do understand it's just light entertainment and she has no influance at all. Don't you think its frighting that someone who played an important part in politics in recent years truely beleives that once he had given the other half the kids she wanted, he should no longer play a part in their care. He is only one step away from those other dads who leave the girlfriend/wives to be a single parents and get on with it. I'm going to stop here as I've more important things to do.

donnie · 27/02/2009 18:30

Fiona - do you still go swimming every single day? if so, I am impressed! how many lengths do you do?

moondog · 27/02/2009 18:34

'if you don't care, why are you on here moondog? by all means ask challenging questions, but just to come on here, swear a bit, and proclaim you don't care- it's just pointless really.'

I'll tell you why I'm on here, Before.
I really really object to the shameless flogging of merchandise that goes on here, under the guise of 'a conversation with'.
Fiona Millar is coming on here to flog her book and make some money.Nothing more nothing less.

Now I can deal with adverts when they are honest about the fact that they are adverts.
However increasingly Mumsnet flags up these events which clog up the Chat froum which is supposed to be just that. Chat. Not shopping.

Alistair Campbell is/was the smae.The door had barely swung shut on him before he was beavering away,the pound signs flashing before his eyes. Words like confidentiality, decorum and dignity mean nothing to him. He and Fiona Millar are on the gravy train and the good people of Mumsnet are colluding with them.

MP, as for your comment that FM has 'done loads to contribute to the debate about state education, in a really positive way'.

My arse.

And Jux,whgat on earth makes you think hat she has anything useful to say about cursive writing and timetables????

I'll stop here, as the brevity of this thread speaks volumes about the depth of interest there is amongst the thousands that use MN in this woman.

BoffinMum · 27/02/2009 18:50

I am with Moondog on this. The woman hasn't trained as a teacher, she hasn't taught, she hasn't done academic research into education, she isn't actually very insightful at all, she is incredibly London-centric in her views, and to me at any rate she often comes across as just another journo with a patronising, ill-informed article or book to flog.

My question to her ... If you are so concerned about the state of education in Britain's schools, why are you not a teacher??

donnie · 27/02/2009 18:52

Boffin - good question.

SuperMario · 27/02/2009 18:53

she is a governor.
but i am still with The Hound.

BoffinMum · 27/02/2009 18:57

It's not the same thing at all. One takes massive daily sustainable commitment and distinctive professional knowledge, the other requires periodical engagement and is largely the preserve of well-intentioned amateurs.

I was a voluntary board member for a very large housing association for some years, but I can't imagine writing a book about housing policy and coming on here like some kind of professed expert.

TheCrackFox · 27/02/2009 19:16

Has she written a book then? Who buys this kind of crap? And why do publishers keep printing it, do they not mind making a profit?

beforesunrise · 27/02/2009 19:21

ok moondog, i get your point, but surely those are questions for MNet, not Fiona Millar? you should pour your venom on them.

I take it you dislike FM too, fair enough, it's your prerogative- but then my earlier comment applies, why are you here at all?

beforesunrise · 27/02/2009 19:21

ok moondog, i get your point, but surely those are questions for MNet, not Fiona Millar? you should pour your venom on them.

I take it you dislike FM too, fair enough, it's your prerogative- but then my earlier comment applies, why are you here at all?

beforesunrise · 27/02/2009 19:29

moreover what's wrong with chatting with FM, even if the reason for it is commercial? for all we know, she's a MNetter and we already do chat with her.

I just hope Xenia shows up, could make for an interesting debate

BoffinMum · 27/02/2009 19:30

I have spotted her on here.

BoffinMum · 27/02/2009 19:30

Bring on Xenia.

Pollyanna · 27/02/2009 19:36

Actually I am very happy to read tips on how to make life easier as a [working] parent, if it was from someone comparable to me. But given that Fiona Millar's coping mechanisms seemed to involve earning hundreds of thousands of pounds, working from home much of the time and quitting (iirc) to spend time with her teens, all of which do not compare with my and dhs much lower paid, inflexible, office bound jobs, this book won't be very much help to me.

It is like reading yet again Rachel Johnson's credit crunch tips on how to afford Eton fees.

morningpaper · 27/02/2009 20:02

God we are lacking table manners today and I am well fucked off with it because I've given up cheese for Lent and I'm HYSTERICAL WITH HUNGER SO

If you think sponsored chats should be in a separate category then maybe suggest that in a new thread?

MP, as for your comment that FM has 'done loads to contribute to the debate about state education, in a really positive way'.

My arse.

Hmm well obviously I am struggling to cope with the level of constructive criticism offered here Moondog, but I will try:

  • Millar is a governor at two state schools
  • she is the vice-chair of Comprehensive Future, the campaign for fair school admission policies in England
  • she is the chair of the Family and Parenting institute which researches into family life
  • she authored a paper for the pressure gruop Compass about how we can improve comprehensive schools
  • she is an education journo for the Guardian
  • she has spent most of her extensive working life (?) with an interest in education

I'm sure that you've done more to campaign for progressive state education Moondog, so perhaps you'd like to elaborate on your argument? (Perhaps 'My tits' could work as a counter-argument???)

She's hardly comparable to RACHAEL JOHNSON and SHERADEZADEADEADE BUNTINGLADY FFSaaaaaaaaaaaake

Pollyanna · 27/02/2009 20:11

but she isn't coming on here to talk about education, she is coming to publicise her book. I have already said that I respect her education views/and her actions in relation to her children (although I don't know what betadad's point is).

morningpaper · 27/02/2009 20:13

no, but I was responding to the allegation that she was just another shitty journo

I'm sure she wouldn't mind discussing education

ABetaDad · 27/02/2009 21:02

Polyanna - the questions I asked are genuine and open. I do not know the answers and I am not making a point. She has well publicised views on education, some of which I agree with and some I dont. I want to know what she thinks about the issue I asked about.

I do not know where she lives or where her kids go to school except that it is somewhere in the Borough of Camden in London. I do not live in London.

beforesunrise · 27/02/2009 21:14

one more question on education. when blair came to power it was on the mantra of "education, education, education". these days, probably unsurprisingly given the financial mayhem, it seems to be bottom of the agenda. how did this happen? do you think New Labour has failed on this front (I do)?

we are likely to have a new government next year- how do you think things will change on the education front?

Starbear · 27/02/2009 21:19

She is just another journo who sits on committees. Why didn't she do some research and write a book about how different working parents cope with different jobs, shifts, ages of children and elderly parents in different parts of the country.
I know because that would have meant she would being doing the laundry at midnight.
Advice to parents of teenagers. What they get up to between 3.30pm- 8pm. How do you cope with childcare when your partner finishes a 6am but you start work at 5am!
Or both of you have been told your working the Bank holiday, childminder is off to Derbyshire and your parents live in Devon and you have no friends in the area!
I think it's in the too hard box.
I think this book is for the Islington set.

BoffinMum · 27/02/2009 21:22

Anyway, I believe we put her on the smug woman bonfire a few weeks ago. Remember that lovely conflagration??