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.

[Bumperlicioso]

Daisy are you any relation to Sir Fred Goodwin, formally of RBS?

[sallyjaygorce]

Policywonk - why are you hopeful she will be eviscerated? I guess this was tongue in cheek but kind of proves the point about knitting round the guillotine mentality.

There is sometimes a self righteous streak on MN. Everything she mentions is in evidence on MN - it's just not the full picture. It's not nonsense. It's her opinion. Also not sure why she should talk about her own bf experiences. I know people who bf for a long and very happy time who have been shocked by some of the attitudes that emerge on here. We have all seen them. It's not the norm but it does happen.

Re the film - no I didn't see it - the TV hasn't worked for weeks and we're beginning to like life without it.

I am not her PA. I am only a PA to my children. And occasionally DH if he's driving and needs me to answer a call.

[morningpaper]

Actually I think they were a trifle cold

Being in the garden "to air" and all that...

[sallyjaygorce]

Sorry to have missed this but what was the prog called?

[morningpaper]

It was called Bringing Up Baby. There isn't much evidence of it left on the interweb because Channel 4 sort of washed their hands of the whole thing once it was discovered that Claire Verity didn't have the qualifcations that she claimed to have. The thread linked to below gives a good summary.

[brendaAndEddie]

no slanging

oi 100 times

Billy joel

[foxytocin]

and claire verity's site proclaiming herself as a baby guru has now disappeared.

but here survives some useful history and commentary on BUB and CV.

[hunkermunker]

I would like to ask MP's question too, please.

And also:

Do you think your pieces paint a fair picture of the bf threads on MN or are you guilty of only seeing the far rarer, shriller stuff (which is quickly squashed flat v firmly by the more sensible among us), because it makes good copy?



I also don't think she should be lambasted - nobody can answer questions if they're on the floor, coughing up blood, spitting teeth and generally going "It's not me you want, it's Danielle Lloyd", can they?

[morningpaper]

sounds like a night of marital passion in this house hunker

[sallyjaygorce]

Didn't get the link. Is she some kind of Truby King type then? Let me guess - like Gina F - no kids of her own, probably a nanny to people who have kids as accessories and needs a 'method' to run her domain with maximum efficiency. Fresh air, exercising lungs and zero comfort at bedtime? Assuming it's that old chestnut. She probably hangs out with the woman who looks in fridges and makes people poo in boxes so she can humiliate them on TV.

So it was basically the other extreme of programmes about women who bf until their kids are 10 or let them run about naked weeing everywhere for years as some kind of natural potty training.

Time to bring my baby in from the balcony.

[morningpaper]

Yes you are pretty much there. Although Gina Ford described Verity's methods as "Child abuse" so you can imagine the end of the spectrum they were on

[sallyjaygorce]

Thanks for link foxytocin - I DID see some of that - ages ago. I thought it was a new one. Yes - was shocked that parents would put themselves forward for that. But am also shocked that people let Gina F tell them what time to eat their toast.

I was left out to air for ages when I was little but I was always tethered near a shady tree for shelter until mum got back from her Protect and Survive meetings. And got a cuddle on Christmas morning and for every other birthday.

[LackaDAISYcal]

100x, I think that when she used babies in a reality TV "experiment" she most definately crossed a line. At least when adults commit to programmes of this nature they are giving their informed consent; who asked those poor twins though whether they wanted to be on the receiving end of it?

My DD was tiny when this was aired and I was absolutley horrified by it.

sallyjay, it was almost two years ago that the programme was broadcast. So vile was it, that two years on it is still entrenched in MN's collective memory.

[ahundredtimes]

But Hoochie yes, I do think that's almost the most interesting question for me. I don't think it's a tad. . . .

If you've covered what to wear, houses to build, how to clean a house etc - then how to bring up a baby is the next one. (and also DG in part is responsible for bringing women's 'interests' 'concerns' into mainstream telly and this falls absolutely into that bracket).

I'm honestly interested as to whether she thinks at that point the format imploded because we can watch wives swopping but not babies being mistreated iyswim.

[ahundredtimes]

Yeah Lack. I'm asking whether she now, with the benefit of hindsight, thinks that too.

[policywonk]

Sally - I thought that BUB programme was really, utterly loathsome, and her defences of it were dishonest and maddening in the extreme.

I do take the point about rudeness though. I usually hate it when people are rude on MN livechats so I think I might have to sit this one out.

[AitchTwoOh]

tbh i think this an important one, shoudl we think about appointing a Chief Inquisitor? i'm quite serious, we trusted the wonk to represent our interests with the politicky thing, should we nom MP, 100x or whoever (not me for christsakes i've just been called juvenile on another thread for loathing margaret thatcher ).

i really would be embarrassed to see this descend into a slanging match but at the same time i do want to see DG pinned against a wall down to answer the very few questions we have and not able to pull the old 'oh goodness i've never used a computer before' avoidance tactic.

[policywonk]

I wonder whether the franster would do it. She'd very good at not being rude without ceding any important ground.

[AitchTwoOh]

i'd be quite happy with that, but i bet she'll come over shy and refuse. what about a 100x/mp tag team?

[sallyjaygorce]

Hello Policywonk - I have now realised I did see some of that prog - I thought you were just referring to her references to MN - duh! But I felt more angry with the parents who allowed it to be made. Who the hell would follow that advice? I guess it 'worked' for people in the 50's so I can see how DG could try to defend it. Evisceration seems a bit harsh. A Chinese burn and shaving off her eyebrows?

Maybe all that coldness and restraint made the poor little babies react by becoming free loving hippies. All that time freezing in the garden led to Flower Power. Peace and love. And good night.

[AitchTwoOh]

apols if this isn't true, frrank, i do think you'd be ace.

[policywonk]

Although MP would also be able to ask questions and maintain good humour at the same time.

100x isn't cross enough IMO and wants to talk about documentaries

Actually, what docs has she made other than that one? Are they all about poetry? It might explain why I had only been vaguely aware of her before. (I hate poetry.)

[ahundredtimes]

I'm not cross it's true. I don't think crossness so very helpful as a rule. I do think it's relevant question though. I also think she'll say it was to spark debate, to demonstrate there is no one way of doing things, no single expert.

Then I'll nod and offer her tea, and tbh I'd rather talk about books anyway. Airy, me.

You don't need one questioner.