Webchat with Daisy Goodwin, lunchtime, Tues 23 June

[GeraldineMumsnet]

As requested and promised, Daisy has accepted our invite and is coming on next Tuesday (exact time to be confirmed, but probably around 1pm). Get there early to bag your place.

"more coverage of feamle issues"

Well, I'm not sure I'd agree with you. It certainly covers more issues which reinforce a certain way of thinking about what women should be. Usually by blaming them in one way or another. Or salutary tales.

Yes, the DM certainly specializes in salutary tales which warn of the bad things that will happen to you if you work/have babies/don't work/don't have babies.

When a baby of twelve weeks has a night milk feed replaced with baby rice, that is certainly child abuse, as the baby is being denied real food for no other reason than to force it to sleep 12 hours. Why did the programme not make clear the guidelines as recommended by the WhO ?

In reply to the people who are using the term 'child abuse' in relation to BUB. I think you should consider the way you use that term.

The term was used by Gina Ford in her letter to the NSPCC about BUB www.contentedbaby.com/LetterToNSPCC.htm. Ford, who you claim is illustrative of the end of the spectrum that Verity was hired to represent...?

"I think there are as many concerns about co sleeping as there are about leaving a baby unattended in a cot, but this has not been a subject for debate"

you're kidding, right? you are saying that co-sleeping is not a subject for debate in Western society???

It is certainly not a subject for debate in Japan, where I live, because everyone does it...

letter

c'mon Diasy, fight your corner

In reply to TS73

All the mothers in the show did continue with their chosen methods after we stopped filming. They all thought the experience was positive.

Daisy, I am really pleased to hear you say you regret using the mother's death as a peg. Without outing myself, I have been close to this issue in my own circle (young woman's suicide) and it pressed buttons with me that real family's tragedy was used in this way. I repeat, no one disagrees about the breastfeeding thing, and I am glad you now realise this was a horrible way to make a point. Thanks again for acknowledging this.

or just answer a few questions.........

Hello Daisy,

In the days before you were the Head Girl of your own company- who was the best boss you worked for and why?

What kind of manager to you try to be and what's your stance on part time/flexible working in your company?

Daisy - why do you seem to dislike Mumsnet so much? I gave up breastfeeding after one day, but I have never been made to feel inferior on Mumsnet, and I have been here for three years now. I just choose not to participate in the breast/formula feeding sections of the forum. Surely the extreme views of some do not typify an entire community of people who support each other in both happy and horrendous times? Just because someone doesn't agree with my choices, it doesn't mean that all women hate each other! I am have the presence of mind to stand up for myself, as are the majority of the people who use this site.

can you please answer Tiktok's question below ?

"To be fair to Daisy, I think it's likely Silver River did ask other 'routine fans' to be involved."

[faints at discovering the same as rhubarb]

Thanks Daisy. Good answer, and honest. Yes, I agree but not sure it's quite as grim out there in the ff world as you suggested. But I have both bf and ff, so perhaps have spread the risk!

Why are you surprised the DM published the 'why are women so horrible to each other' article?

Men really dig chicks fighting, didn't ya know?

Oh, and about that. In real life, women aren't actually that 'horrible' to each other. For the most part they are very supportive. But citing an internet forum (where anyone can vent under assurance of anonymity) as evidence of women being horrible to each other is a bit weak methinks.

(Hey, I could be a man for all you know.)

I cannot guarantee that I can construct a sentence, however.

Okay, can I ask a question.

My own experience of being in TV is that, despite the fact that the number of women in positions of power is relatively high, it is very difficult for women on the creative side to continue working with babies/children because the culture is one of long and unpredictable hours and you stay in the editsuite till it's done.
What do you think? Is it somehting you're addressing at SRiver?

ok so we've established that both the programme and the article were, hmm, not entirely fair or even ethical?

what else you working on? any chance of learning the lessons of the dangers inherent in sensationalist extrapolation?

I hate to nag, but can I ask my question again (sorry if I seem really rude):

"In the series you seem to have employed Claire Verity, a woman who stated: "I can't understand why anybody wants to cuddle a baby or pick a baby up: a baby doesn't want to be touched all the time. All they want is to be left alone to grow" and: "Once he's got eye contact, he knows he's in charge."

You stuck by the series when the NSPCC and the National Childbirth Trust asked for the series not to be commissioned; when FSID declared her methods to risk infants' lives; when she was banned from the baby show at Earl's Court; when the NSPCC said that these methods were 'outdated and potentially harmful'; when her methods were condemned by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health; when the Nursing and Midwifery Council claimed Verity was 'deceptive'; when the show was only broadcast in Australia after a health warning of risk to babies preceded it; when Ofcom received nearly 1,000 complaints. When you allowed mothers of newborns to be filmed weeping with the pain of it all while they carried out Verity's instructions.

You did all of this without verifying her qualifications, which unfortunately only run to part-owning a nightclub and running a chocolate shop.

In the light of all this, how do you wish you had done things differently?"

can you please answer Tiktok's question below ?

"To be fair to Daisy, I think it's likely Silver River did ask other 'routine fans' to be involved."

Gosh its a very slow connection isn't it? Shall we play i-Spy ?