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Cherie Blair

84 replies

emsiewill · 06/08/2002 20:50

I heard the news about her miscarriage, and of course my first thought was how sad it is for them, but I have to admit I also wonder what contraceptive they are using; I thought Leo was a "surprise", and I find it hard to believe they were planning another one - she's 47, after all. Maybe it's just because I can't imagine having more than 2, and find it hard to imagine voluntarily having 5!

OP posts:
angharad · 07/08/2002 10:38

As they refused an amnio when she was expecting Leo as they wouldn't consider termination I doubt that they've gone for one this time. Prob just a miscarriage which is very sad but given age etc not surprising.

Also I know a lot of people think Cherie is more political than Tony but to have a child for another 5ys in office? Reality check?

janh · 07/08/2002 10:45

Oh, did they? I didn't know that. This would be way too soon for that anyway, wouldn't it? I just wondered if there was an earlier test.

sis · 07/08/2002 11:03

Agree that it must be really awful to have the fact of a miscarriage spread across the front page to the papers... I know that newsstories are a bit rare in August but it is so insensitive.

Marina · 07/08/2002 11:04

I just assumed that they made the brave and rather hazardous decision to try for a fifth child so that Leo would have a sibling near his own age. As intelligent, loving parents they would have known the risks involved in TTC as older parents, and I am devastated for them all. It's rotten luck and I wish her all the best.
I think it's rather nice to have a PM who is still clearly very much in love with his wife. Makes a most refreshing change from many other European heads of state.
I cannot possibly imagine that Cherie Blair would have put her own and her family's well-being at risk in this way as a political tactic. And with about 15 years between Kathryn and Leo, I think they probably know how and when to use contraception.
I feel very sad when I think of all the pictures of her sitting/walking in the pouring rain over the past week or so in Cumbria and Manchester - not for her taking the quiet option of spending as much time on the sofa as possible.

bundle · 07/08/2002 11:10

my dh's grandmother (99 years old) had her last child (5 altogether) well into her 40's and research has shown that many people who get to 100 had kids late...ie their bits are all working for longer than you'd expect. Having come to motherhood relatively late (dd born when I was 35)I've found it pretty addictive and Cherie may have found her pregnancy with Leo/having a new baby around a pleasant reminder about life-work balance. and let's face it, with her salary/status she's not going to have to worry about the cost of childcare and the glass ceiling, which I'm sure makes many women think twice.

chinchilla · 07/08/2002 11:31

I am not a big fan of Tony and Cherie, but of course feel sorry for them having to endure a miscarriage in the public eye. It must be a sad enough occasion without the world knowing about it and having their twopennorth to put in.

BTW I think that you were all a bit mean to Tillysmummy - she was just expressing an opinion, which we are all entitled to do on this forum. You don't have to agree with her. Don't all launch on me now

Gracie · 07/08/2002 11:38

And we are all just expressing our opinions!

PamT · 07/08/2002 12:07

My opinion was only based on personal experience. I know that we all have no certainty about our life span, future health etc. but being older parents does shorten the odds a bit. I also appreciate that older parents often have better financial and emotional security to offer their children but that won't help the child if the parents are in need of personal care themselves before the child leaves home. It is all down to personal choice and circumstances but I do think that some people should really consider what will happen in 15-20 years time.

aloha · 07/08/2002 12:27

I'm pretty sure nobody has ever honestly wished they hadn't been born because their parents were older. And there isn't a choice. You can't be born earlier or later - each of us is the unique result of one egg, one sperm meeting at one particular moment. Therefore, Pam T, your dh was only born because his parents had him later in life. Frankly, I think it's a bit ungrateful to carp because your parents bore you and loved you but weren't quite sprightly enough for you. That seems pretty 'unfair' if you ask me. I'm pretty sensitive on this point, why is it fair game to accuse 'older' parents of being selfish/unfair? Also, I have also seen the evidence about people whose fertility lasts longer tend also to have the genes for long life - they are, quite literally, younger for longer. But disease and accident can come to us all. Several of my friends in their late thirties are losing parents right now.

SueDonim · 07/08/2002 12:32

The first thing (cynical) DH said when we heard the news was that it was disgraceful the way they're spinning the story for sympathy. Not that the actual m/c is a tactic but announcing it publicly is. We, the public, were told we didn't need to know about Leo's MMR so why do we need to know about this? Medical confidentially would preclude the press from printing any facts, although they can always speculate, of course. And a termination also passed through my mind, too.

BTW, is TB actually Catholic? I know he attends a Catholic church but I didn't think he had converted.

Bozza · 07/08/2002 12:37

TBH I think announcing it was probably the right thing. Suedonim I too thought that TB was CofE but that the children were brought up Catholic like Cherie. I also think Cherie is unfairly villified by the press.

aloha · 07/08/2002 12:45

SueDonim, as I understand it, the reason they announced Cherie's miscarriage, is that they were due to arrive in France for their holiday, the reporters were at the airport, the kids and Cherie's mum got off the plane but no TB & Cherie. The papers thought it might indicate an attack on Iraq was imminent so Downing Street decided to tell the real reason with a brief factual statement to calm the speculation . I think it was the right decision. The Blairs don't choose the amount of coverage of this story so I hardly think they can be accused of spinning this one. And if I'd had a miscarriage - as she was extremely likely to have at her age - I would be so upset if people said I'd had an abortion. And more to the point, of course she hasn't had an abortion! It was the first day of her much publicised holiday and all the press have noticed her absence and her kids are now left on their own with their gran - hardly the time an intelligent woman would choose for a termination, eh?

aloha · 07/08/2002 12:47

SueDonim, as I understand it, the reason they announced Cherie's miscarriage, is that they were due to arrive in France for their holiday, the reporters were at the airport, the kids and Cherie's mum got off the plane but no TB & Cherie. The papers thought it might indicate an attack on Iraq was imminent so Downing Street decided to tell the real reason with a brief factual statement to calm the speculation . I think it was the right decision. The Blairs don't choose the amount of coverage of this story so I hardly think they can be accused of spinning this one. And if I'd had a miscarriage - as she was extremely likely to have at her age - I would be so upset if people said I'd had an abortion. And more to the point, of course she hasn't had an abortion! It was the first day of her much publicised holiday and all the press have noticed her absence and her kids are now left on their own with their gran - hardly the time an intelligent woman would choose for a termination, eh?

mears · 07/08/2002 12:48

They seemingly were forced to announce it because other countries were wondering whether Blair was plotting was tactics against Iraq because he had not gone on holiday. Better to tell the world the news than inadvertantly start WW3!

angharad · 07/08/2002 13:15

No TB's not RC but Ian Duncan Smith is!

aloha · 07/08/2002 13:41

I still worry about Gordon and Sarah Brown. I hope they can have another baby soon (if that's what they want). That was so incredibly sad.

jodee · 07/08/2002 13:46

It's very sad, and so personal, the last thing they must have wanted was for it to be headline news. I do hope she isn't blaming herself for perhaps taking too much on in the last week or so, and it was such a miserable, wet night at the closing of the Commonwealth Games. DH commented at the time that she looked very detached from everything that was going on.

jodee · 07/08/2002 13:46

It's very sad, and so personal, the last thing they must have wanted was for it to be headline news. I do hope she isn't blaming herself for perhaps taking too much on in the last week or so, and it was such a miserable, wet night at the closing of the Commonwealth Games. DH commented at the time that she looked very detached from everything that was going on.

jodee · 07/08/2002 13:46

It's very sad, and so personal, the last thing they must have wanted was for it to be headline news. I do hope she isn't blaming herself for perhaps taking too much on in the last week or so, and it was such a miserable, wet night at the closing of the Commonwealth Games. DH commented at the time that she looked very detached from everything that was going on.

jodee · 07/08/2002 13:46

It's very sad, and so personal, the last thing they must have wanted was for it to be headline news. I do hope she isn't blaming herself for perhaps taking too much on in the last week or so, and it was such a miserable, wet night at the closing of the Commonwealth Games. DH commented at the time that she looked very detached from everything that was going on.

jodee · 07/08/2002 13:46

It's very sad, and so personal, the last thing they must have wanted was for it to be headline news. I do hope she isn't blaming herself for perhaps taking too much on in the last week or so, and it was such a miserable, wet night at the closing of the Commonwealth Games. DH commented at the time that she looked very detached from everything that was going on.

jodee · 07/08/2002 13:46

It's very sad, and so personal, the last thing they must have wanted was for it to be headline news. I do hope she isn't blaming herself for perhaps taking too much on in the last week or so, and it was such a miserable, wet night at the closing of the Commonwealth Games. DH commented at the time that she looked very detached from everything that was going on.

jodee · 07/08/2002 13:46

It's very sad, and so personal, the last thing they must have wanted was for it to be headline news. I do hope she isn't blaming herself for perhaps taking too much on in the last week or so, and it was such a miserable, wet night at the closing of the Commonwealth Games. DH commented at the time that she looked very detached from everything that was going on.

jodee · 07/08/2002 13:46

It's very sad, and so personal, the last thing they must have wanted was for it to be headline news. I do hope she isn't blaming herself for perhaps taking too much on in the last week or so, and it was such a miserable, wet night at the closing of the Commonwealth Games. DH commented at the time that she looked very detached from everything that was going on.

jodee · 07/08/2002 13:46

It's very sad, and so personal, the last thing they must have wanted was for it to be headline news. I do hope she isn't blaming herself for perhaps taking too much on in the last week or so, and it was such a miserable, wet night at the closing of the Commonwealth Games. DH commented at the time that she looked very detached from everything that was going on.