Whether judge erred in dismissing allegations of sexual abuse
Re F (a child) (care proceedings) [2007] EWCA Civ 810, [2007] All ER (D) 503 (Jul)
BFLS 3A[3063.1]; CHM 1[917]; Rayden 1(2) 40.1
The mother and father had a daughter, F, aged five. The father was a Schedule 1 offender, and in 1998, he pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault on a nine-year-old girl, for which he received a sentence of 18 months' imprisonment. The policy of the local authority had been to maintain F's placement with her parents, whilst offering them a package of support. An assessment of the father was carried out by M, a risk assessment and treatment specialist, which put the father in the medium risk bracket in relation to F. M's recommendation was that it would only be safe for the father to remain in the family unit if the parents were given ongoing support. The local authority proceeded on that basis although, at times, F's name was on the child protection register under the category of likely sexual abuse and neglect. During a meeting with a student care proceedings seeking an interim care order.
A conference was held where it emerged that the father had not been abiding by an agreement to leave the personal care of F solely to the mother. The mother and father asked for F to be accommodated whilst they made changes to ensure her safety. Directions were given, namely that the parties were to agree to F's continued accommodation under the Children Act 1989, s 20, and that contact for each of the parents would be supervised. A split hearing was ordered and a fact-finding hearing went ahead. The judge referred to a threshold criteria document and made reference to M's report although he decided not to hear evidence from him. In the event, the judge dismissed the allegations of sexual abuse as not reaching the requisite standard of proof, and stated that the parents had no case to answer.
The local authority appealed against that decision. It submitted, inter alia, that the judge had plainly been wrong to conclude that the parents did not have to give evidence in response to its threshold criteria under s 31 of the 1989 Act; that the judge had been wrong to conclude that the alleged failure to protect by the parents and the degree of risk presented by the father had been insufficient to justify the making of an order under the 1989 Act; and that the judge had been wrong to exclude in evidence the risk assessments undertaken in respect of the father.
The local authority's appeal was allowed. The Court of Appeal held that in the instant case, although the judge's decision to reject the allegations of sexual abuse by the father had been open to him, the outcome achieved by him had been wrong. There was force in the local authority's submission that the concentration on the allegations of sexual abuse had led the judge into an inappropriate dismissal of the real anxiety in the instant case, namely the risk which the father posed to F as a Schedule 1 offender.
Comment: The Court of Appeal took the view that the judge's concentration on the s 31 threshold criteria had closed his mind to the real risks posed to F; and his focus on the fact of sexual abuse had led him inappropriately to discount the expert evidence of M whose opinions on the risk posed by the father could not be sidelined. Moreover, it was unfortunate that the judge had introduced the concept of no case to answer as it had little or no place in care proceedings under the 1989 Act. The judge's order was plainly wrong and had to be set aside, and the proceedings re-instated.
In Re K (care: threshold criteria) [2005] EWCA Civ 1226 at [40]-[41] the point was made that the 'court needs to consider the whole family dynamic' and avoid the dangers of compartmentalisation.
Showing posts with label family courts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family courts. Show all posts
Monday, 19 February 2018
Sunday, 11 October 2009
LONDON LEGAL - Law keeps CPS in the dark on at-risk youths - Chicago Sun-Times
Law keeps CPS in the dark on at-risk youths - Chicago Sun-Times
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Argentine Senate overwhelmingly approves media law - The Associated Press
Source: news.google.com
Law Helps College Students Maintain Health Care - RedOrbit
Source: news.google.com
Daley backs buffer for abortion clinic protesters Daley backs abortion law - Chicago Sun-Times
Source: news.google.com
'Law & Order' rips family reality shows (Think TLC) - Baltimore Sun
Source: news.google.com
Law keeps CPS in the dark on at-risk youths Chicago Sun-Times The school has no knowledge and federal law says law enforcement can't share that." The whole idea behind the laws in question, the "Family Education Rights ... |
Source: news.google.com
Argentine Senate overwhelmingly approves media law - The Associated Press
 AFP | Argentine Senate overwhelmingly approves media law The Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina's Senate overwhelmingly approved a law that will transform the nation's media landscape on Saturday, and President ... Argentine lawmakers pass contentious media law Argentine Senate Approves Fernandez's Media Bill Senate passes Media Bill, opposition voices concerns over censorship |
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Law Helps College Students Maintain Health Care - RedOrbit
 MiamiHerald.com | Law Helps College Students Maintain Health Care RedOrbit A federal law, motivated by the story of a New Hampshire woman's bravery and pushed through by her mother, was launched Friday, helping gravely sick or ... Law inspired by NH woman fight takes effect New Law Helps College Students Retain Health Coverage Health Highlights: Oct. 9, 2009 |
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Daley backs buffer for abortion clinic protesters Daley backs abortion law - Chicago Sun-Times
 Duluth News Tribune (registration) | Daley backs buffer for abortion clinic protesters Daley backs abortion law Chicago Sun-Times Daley said he anticipates a court challenge, but he's confident the ordinance drafted by his Law Department will stand up to legal scrutiny. ... Daley backs 'bubble zone' law for abortion clinic patients Deluge of Pro-Life Protest after Chicago Bubble Zone Law Passes Chicago Mayor Daley to Sign Bubble Zone Law Limiting Pro-Life Abortion Actions |
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'Law & Order' rips family reality shows (Think TLC) - Baltimore Sun
 Entertainment Tonight News | 'Law & Order' rips family reality shows (Think TLC) Baltimore Sun I just finished screening Friday's episode of "Law & Oder" titled "Reality Bites." It is the one many of the folks who follow the exploits of "Jon & Kate" ... Law & Order Executive Producer Spills on Jon & Kate-Inspired Episode 'Jon & Kate' & 'Law & Order' Jon and Kate Gosselin will finally get justice on 'Law & Order' |
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Saturday, 10 October 2009
Law keeps CPS in the dark on at-risk youths - Chicago (LEGAL NEWS) Sun-Times
Law keeps CPS in the dark on at-risk youths - Chicago Sun-Times
Source: news.google.com
'Law & Order' rips family reality shows (Think TLC) - Baltimore Sun
Source: news.google.com
Argentine Senate overwhelmingly approves media law - The Associated Press
Source: news.google.com
Law Helps College Students Maintain Health Care - RedOrbit
Source: news.google.com
Daley backs buffer for abortion clinic protesters Daley backs abortion law - Chicago Sun-Times
Source: news.google.com
Law keeps CPS in the dark on at-risk youths Chicago Sun-Times The school has no knowledge and federal law says law enforcement can't share that." The whole idea behind the laws in question, the "Family Education Rights ... |
Source: news.google.com
'Law & Order' rips family reality shows (Think TLC) - Baltimore Sun
 New York Daily News | 'Law & Order' rips family reality shows (Think TLC) Baltimore Sun I just finished screening Friday's episode of "Law & Oder" titled "Reality Bites." It is the one many of the folks who follow the exploits of "Jon & Kate" ... Law & Order Executive Producer Spills on Jon & Kate-Inspired Episode 'Jon & Kate' & 'Law & Order' Jon and Kate Gosselin will finally get justice on 'Law & Order' |
Source: news.google.com
Argentine Senate overwhelmingly approves media law - The Associated Press
AFP | Argentine Senate overwhelmingly approves media law The Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina's Senate overwhelmingly approved a law that will transform the nation's media landscape on Saturday, and President ... Argentine lawmakers pass contentious media law Argentine Congress Passes Media Bill Argentine Senate Approves Fernandez's Media Bill |
Source: news.google.com
Law Helps College Students Maintain Health Care - RedOrbit
MiamiHerald.com | Law Helps College Students Maintain Health Care RedOrbit A federal law, motivated by the story of a New Hampshire woman's bravery and pushed through by her mother, was launched Friday, helping gravely sick or ... Law inspired by NH woman fight takes effect New Law Helps College Students Retain Health Coverage Health Highlights: Oct. 9, 2009 |
Source: news.google.com
Daley backs buffer for abortion clinic protesters Daley backs abortion law - Chicago Sun-Times
Grand Forks Herald | Daley backs buffer for abortion clinic protesters Daley backs abortion law Chicago Sun-Times Daley said he anticipates a court challenge, but he's confident the ordinance drafted by his Law Department will stand up to legal scrutiny. ... Daley backs 'bubble zone' law for abortion clinic patients Deluge of Pro-Life Protest after Chicago Bubble Zone Law Passes Chicago Mayor Daley to Sign Bubble Zone Law Limiting Pro-Life Abortion Actions |
Source: news.google.com
Friday, 9 October 2009
NH's Michelle's Law Takes National Effect - WCAX (LONDON LEGAL)
NH's Michelle's Law Takes National Effect - WCAX
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Don't amend shield law - Deseret News
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Berlusconi feels the heat, slams unfavorable law - PRESS TV
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 Kenosha News.com | NH's Michelle's Law Takes National Effect WCAX A law inspired by a New Hampshire woman's courage takes effect across the nation today. It's called Michelle's Law. It's named for Michelle Morse, ... Law inspired by NH woman's fight takes effect Family sees victory in new law |
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Don't amend shield law - Deseret News
Don't amend shield law Deseret News While he was a senator — and a presidential candidate — Barack Obama said he favored a federal shield law. In April 2008, Obama was even a co-sponsor of the ... Editorial: Obama bends promise on 'shield law' Shield law must move forward Real shield law or tin shield law? |
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Berlusconi feels the heat, slams unfavorable law - PRESS TV
 guardian.co.uk | Berlusconi feels the heat, slams unfavorable law PRESS TV Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has condemned Italy's 'democratic' law as 'farce' after the country voted to strip the premier of his political ... The Law and Silvio Berlusconi Berlusconi says he is 'most persecuted man in history' Silvio Berlusconi defiant as court throws out immunity law |
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Saturday, 3 October 2009
Couples celebrate Nevada's new domestic partnership law at ... - Reno Gazette Journal (LONDON LEGAL)
Couples celebrate Nevada's new domestic partnership law at ... - Reno Gazette Journal
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Journalists target Obama over 'shield law' - CNN Political Ticker
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Iraq Delays Hydrocarbons Law Until After Election -MP - Wall Street Journal
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Law student named Jesse James to seek House seat - Chicago Tribune
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Major Supreme Court cases for the new term - The Associated Press
Source: news.google.com
 San Luis Obispo Tribune | Couples celebrate Nevada's new domestic partnership law at ... Reno Gazette Journal That day came Thursday and it's why Minarik and Jacob and other newly registered couples celebrated the recently passed domestic partnership law at a dinner ... Gay Partner Law Opens In Nevada Couples celebrate new law Domestic partnership certificates issued in Nevada |
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Journalists target Obama over 'shield law' - CNN Political Ticker
 CBS News | Journalists target Obama over 'shield law' CNN Political Ticker Thirty-six states (including Washington, DC) have enacted some form of shield law, but there is no Federal law protecting a reporter's privilege, ... Journalists criticize Obama for new shield law stance Obama Administration: Shield Law Should Only Protect Journalists ... Why Did Sen. Schumer Attempt To Limit The Press Shield Law? |
Source: news.google.com
Iraq Delays Hydrocarbons Law Until After Election -MP - Wall Street Journal
Iraq Delays Hydrocarbons Law Until After Election -MP Wall Street Journal BAGHDAD (AFP) -- Iraq has delayed the discussion of a stalled hydrocarbons law, seen as key to the country ramping up its oil production, ... Iraq oil legislation likely delayed |
Source: news.google.com
Law student named Jesse James to seek House seat - Chicago Tribune
Law student named Jesse James to seek House seat Chicago Tribune AP SULLIVAN, Ind. - An Indiana House race next year could pit a law school student named Jesse James against Republican incumbent Bruce Borders, ... |
Source: news.google.com
Major Supreme Court cases for the new term - The Associated Press
 Family Security Matters | Major Supreme Court cases for the new term The Associated Press If the court sides with gun rights supporters, lawsuits to overturn all manner of gun control laws are likely. _Animal cruelty videos: A 1999 federal law ... Chicago law in court sights |
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Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Finance And Accounts For Managers Revised Edition
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Making Divorce Work: In 9 Easy Steps. Keith Barret
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Thursday, 5 March 2009
Broadford SOLICITORS - England Law Reports 1963 - 1966 [Legal Hard Back]
England Law Reports 1963 - 1966 [Legal Hard Back]
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Sunday, 3 February 2008
Women & Money: Keeping clear-eyed about divorce's financial side
Once you've made the difficult decision to end your marriage, the next step is to work out a financial agreement. Ultimately, you may need a good lawyer to ensure an equitable settlement, but here are some things to think about:
Many states determine the value of the retirement assets to be split based on the official date of separation, not divorce. If you separate in February 2008 but don't divorce until sometime in 2009, the courts may direct you to divide the assets (the specifics will be determined by your settlement) as of February 2008. With this in mind, if your husband is about to get a bonus or retirement payout in April, you will benefit from separating after that date, and if you're expecting a big bonus a few months down the line, the same is also true for him.
If you intend to leave the house to your husband, insist that he refinance immediately and take your name off the mortgage. If your name is on it and your husband defaults or gets behind in the payments, it will affect your credit score and you'll be responsible for those payments, too. Don't let that happen.
Make copies of all your most recent financial statements, so there's an accurate record of all the money to be split. Long after the divorce is final, you can still be held liable for debt your ex-husband accumulated while you were married, even if it was in his name only.
Make sure you know about all credit cards that were taken out during your marriage. If you have cards with balances on them, pay them off now, then close those accounts. If you're not able to do that, the settlement should address a repayment schedule.
Social Security is also a big consideration. If you've been married for at least 10 years, you qualify to receive half the amount of your husband's benefits when you reach full retirement age. If half of his benefits are more than all of your benefits, you could choose to receive his instead. Even after the divorce, if your ex-husband dies, you'll be entitled to survivor's benefits starting at age 60. If you remarry before turning 60, you won't be eligible to receive payments from your ex-husband, unless that second marriage ends.
For more information on divorce and Social Security benefits, call the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213 or go to www.ssa.gov.
Remember, settle for nothing less than what you deserve. And here's to a new happily ever after.
Many states determine the value of the retirement assets to be split based on the official date of separation, not divorce. If you separate in February 2008 but don't divorce until sometime in 2009, the courts may direct you to divide the assets (the specifics will be determined by your settlement) as of February 2008. With this in mind, if your husband is about to get a bonus or retirement payout in April, you will benefit from separating after that date, and if you're expecting a big bonus a few months down the line, the same is also true for him.
If you intend to leave the house to your husband, insist that he refinance immediately and take your name off the mortgage. If your name is on it and your husband defaults or gets behind in the payments, it will affect your credit score and you'll be responsible for those payments, too. Don't let that happen.
Make copies of all your most recent financial statements, so there's an accurate record of all the money to be split. Long after the divorce is final, you can still be held liable for debt your ex-husband accumulated while you were married, even if it was in his name only.
Make sure you know about all credit cards that were taken out during your marriage. If you have cards with balances on them, pay them off now, then close those accounts. If you're not able to do that, the settlement should address a repayment schedule.
Social Security is also a big consideration. If you've been married for at least 10 years, you qualify to receive half the amount of your husband's benefits when you reach full retirement age. If half of his benefits are more than all of your benefits, you could choose to receive his instead. Even after the divorce, if your ex-husband dies, you'll be entitled to survivor's benefits starting at age 60. If you remarry before turning 60, you won't be eligible to receive payments from your ex-husband, unless that second marriage ends.
For more information on divorce and Social Security benefits, call the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213 or go to www.ssa.gov.
Remember, settle for nothing less than what you deserve. And here's to a new happily ever after.
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
SIR Paul McCartney has slashed his divorce offer by £43 million following estranged wife Heather Mills' TV outbursts.
The Beatles legend, who is currently embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with Mills, is said to be fuming after she attacked him on several UK and US TV shows and has now offered her just £7 million.
A source said: "The war between them has just gone to a new level. Paul knows she will go all out to damage his reputation."
During her TV outbursts, Mills blamed McCartney for the breakdown of their marriage, claimed she felt suicidal and persecuted since receiving death threats, branded McCartney's daughter Stella "evil" and likened herself to the late Princess Diana.
Mills was dropped by her legal team Mischon de Reya following her rants, and she will now represent herself at the next divorce hearing in February.
McCartney is convinced Mills' TV appearances have weakened her case and he is confident he can thrash out a £7 million settlement.
However, Mills is planning to hit back by selling 10 explosive secret tapes she made during their marriage.
The 39-year-old vegan - who lost her left leg below the knee following a motorbike accident in 1993 - reportedly has recordings that prove McCartney accepted blame for the breakdown of their marriage, took Viagra pills to spice up their sex life and mocked her disability.
Meanwhile, McCartney is planning to confirm he is dating Nancy Shevell when they attend Harvey Weinstein's wedding together next month.
Movie mogul Weinstein will marry British fashion designer Georgina Chapman in Connecticut on December 15.
McCartney was first linked to the married millionairess after they were photographed kissing in the Hamptons last month.
The pair spent the weekend in the exclusive New York resort, having dinner, enjoying cocktails and visiting each other's mansions.
A source said: "The war between them has just gone to a new level. Paul knows she will go all out to damage his reputation."
During her TV outbursts, Mills blamed McCartney for the breakdown of their marriage, claimed she felt suicidal and persecuted since receiving death threats, branded McCartney's daughter Stella "evil" and likened herself to the late Princess Diana.
Mills was dropped by her legal team Mischon de Reya following her rants, and she will now represent herself at the next divorce hearing in February.
McCartney is convinced Mills' TV appearances have weakened her case and he is confident he can thrash out a £7 million settlement.
However, Mills is planning to hit back by selling 10 explosive secret tapes she made during their marriage.
The 39-year-old vegan - who lost her left leg below the knee following a motorbike accident in 1993 - reportedly has recordings that prove McCartney accepted blame for the breakdown of their marriage, took Viagra pills to spice up their sex life and mocked her disability.
Meanwhile, McCartney is planning to confirm he is dating Nancy Shevell when they attend Harvey Weinstein's wedding together next month.
Movie mogul Weinstein will marry British fashion designer Georgina Chapman in Connecticut on December 15.
McCartney was first linked to the married millionairess after they were photographed kissing in the Hamptons last month.
The pair spent the weekend in the exclusive New York resort, having dinner, enjoying cocktails and visiting each other's mansions.
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Divorce dunks Michael Jordan for £80m
As A basketball superstar, Michael Jordan was always in a league of his own. Now he is setting a record with his divorce as he prepares to pay his former wife an unprecedented settlement of more than $168m (£80m).
Last December, when Jordan, 44, and his wife Juanita, 48, split up, the athlete balked at signing the settlement. Insiders claim that negotiations have added £20m to the final deal.
The final severance package for Juanita Jordan, which includes the couple’s seven-acre estate in Chicago and custody of their three children, is expected to be agreed before the first anniversary of their last row – which was said to be about money.
The settlement eclipses the most expensive celebrity divorce on public record, in which Neil Diamond paid his ex-wife Marcia Murphey £75m. After licking his wounds, the singer, who had married the television production assistant before he became famous, won plaudits for his chivalrous verdict. “She’s worth every penny,” he said.
It makes other high-profile divorces, such as Steven Spielberg’s £50m separation from his first wife, the actress Amy Irving, and Sir Mick Jagger’s £12m farewell to Jerry Hall, seem like bargains. Sir Paul McCartney’s pending settlement with Heather Mills has been mooted at £50m.
Legal sources close to the 6ft 5in Jordan said that after 17 years of marriage he wants to get on with his life and is willing to pay a premium for an early end to his matrimonial woes. He was already a wealthy basketball star with the Chicago Bulls when the couple met on a blind date in 1984.
He proposed a few months later but Juanita initially turned him down. A year after their marriage in Las Vegas, he signed a prenuptial agreement that entitled her to half his fortune, but she has claimed only a third.
During the marriage Jordan’s warm personality and dazzling basketball skills lifted the game to new heights of popularity. He also pioneered lucrative sponsorships deals with McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Nike, which created the bestselling range of Air Jordan shoes.
The sports icon has recently been photographed with a series of young women while Juanita is involved with a banker 20 years younger than herself.
Last December, when Jordan, 44, and his wife Juanita, 48, split up, the athlete balked at signing the settlement. Insiders claim that negotiations have added £20m to the final deal.
The final severance package for Juanita Jordan, which includes the couple’s seven-acre estate in Chicago and custody of their three children, is expected to be agreed before the first anniversary of their last row – which was said to be about money.
The settlement eclipses the most expensive celebrity divorce on public record, in which Neil Diamond paid his ex-wife Marcia Murphey £75m. After licking his wounds, the singer, who had married the television production assistant before he became famous, won plaudits for his chivalrous verdict. “She’s worth every penny,” he said.
It makes other high-profile divorces, such as Steven Spielberg’s £50m separation from his first wife, the actress Amy Irving, and Sir Mick Jagger’s £12m farewell to Jerry Hall, seem like bargains. Sir Paul McCartney’s pending settlement with Heather Mills has been mooted at £50m.
Legal sources close to the 6ft 5in Jordan said that after 17 years of marriage he wants to get on with his life and is willing to pay a premium for an early end to his matrimonial woes. He was already a wealthy basketball star with the Chicago Bulls when the couple met on a blind date in 1984.
He proposed a few months later but Juanita initially turned him down. A year after their marriage in Las Vegas, he signed a prenuptial agreement that entitled her to half his fortune, but she has claimed only a third.
During the marriage Jordan’s warm personality and dazzling basketball skills lifted the game to new heights of popularity. He also pioneered lucrative sponsorships deals with McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Nike, which created the bestselling range of Air Jordan shoes.
The sports icon has recently been photographed with a series of young women while Juanita is involved with a banker 20 years younger than herself.
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Divorce is like Hell: Macca
"Going through a divorce is a very painful thing. As Winston Churchill once said, ‘If you're going through Hell, keep going,’" the Daily Mail quoted him, as saying.
Sir Paul McCartney has broken his silence about his divorce from estranged wife Heather Mills and admits that it’s like going through Hell.
The former Beatle, when by Radio Times asked if he had any regrets about bitterness that had overtaken the divorce, said that the experience was ‘very painful’.
"Going through a divorce is a very painful thing. As Winston Churchill once said, ‘If you're going through Hell, keep going,’" the Daily Mail quoted him, as saying.
He added that the only solution to the problem was remaining dignified, and the only way he could do that was by remaining silent.
“The only solution is to remain dignified. If I don't keep a silence about it, I lose this idea of being dignified,” he said.
One good thing however, is the couple’s daughter Beatrice.
“But I've a wonderful baby. 'She's a great joy to me, as are my elder children, so I'm a lucky man.”
Sir Paul McCartney has broken his silence about his divorce from estranged wife Heather Mills and admits that it’s like going through Hell.
The former Beatle, when by Radio Times asked if he had any regrets about bitterness that had overtaken the divorce, said that the experience was ‘very painful’.
"Going through a divorce is a very painful thing. As Winston Churchill once said, ‘If you're going through Hell, keep going,’" the Daily Mail quoted him, as saying.
He added that the only solution to the problem was remaining dignified, and the only way he could do that was by remaining silent.
“The only solution is to remain dignified. If I don't keep a silence about it, I lose this idea of being dignified,” he said.
One good thing however, is the couple’s daughter Beatrice.
“But I've a wonderful baby. 'She's a great joy to me, as are my elder children, so I'm a lucky man.”
Monday, 17 September 2007
Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War
The slaughter of a generation of young men in the first world war left a generation of young women without their normal chance of marriage and motherhood. Their fate was already apparent before the war ended. In 1917, the senior mistress of Bournemouth High School for Girls stood up before the assembled sixth form and broke the news: “I have come to tell you a terrible fact. Only one out of 10 of you girls can ever hope to marry.” Her estimate, a former pupil later recorded, proved exactly right. What this generation of women made of their diminished lives, and how the rest of the population regarded them, are the questions that Virginia Nicholson’s pioneering book confronts.
The answer to the second question is – with astonishing spite, resentment and lack of sympathy. When the 1921 census revealed that women outnumbered men by almost 2m, it unleashed a frenzy of vituperation. “The superfluous women,” proclaimed the Daily Mail, “are a disaster to the human race.” They were labelled “limpets” and “bread-snatchers” for taking jobs from demobbed soldiers. They were reviled for forming “unwholesome female friendships” and mocked for lavishing their stifled affection on cats and lapdogs. Sexual psychologists pronounced them unnatural, and Oswald Mosley found them “distressing”. A popular solution was that they should be exported to the colonies. Canada, it was pointed out, had an excess of male trappers and lumberjacks, and even Australia offered many “simple pleasures”.
When, desperate to fill the gap in their lives, they wrote for advice to women’s magazines, they met with heartless optimism (“Cheer up, dears”) or insulting tips on man-catching (“If you use a henna shampoo, don’t overdo it”). Self-help books, with titles such as Sex Philosophy for the Bachelor Girl and Live Alone and Like It, prattled on about taking up folk dancing, astrology or amateur dramatics. But for women whose men had died, the need was to find some way of appeasing their desire for love and their guilt at surviving. An advertisement in the Matrimonial Times read “Lady, fiancé killed, will gladly marry officer totally blinded or otherwise incapacitated by the war.”
Nicholson’s book centres, however, on women who refused to be overwhelmed by grief and struck out in new directions. One of her heroines is Gertrude Caton-Thompson, the distinguished archeologist. The love of her life, a hussar officer, had been killed, and, like many of the bereaved, she felt at first that it was a treachery to him even to breathe and eat. But after the war she enrolled for classes at University College London, learnt Arabic and studied African prehistory. She braved leopards, fleas, fevers, swamps and crocodiles to excavate Neolithic sites in Malta, South Africa, Arabia and Egypt – where she camped out in a tomb with a family of cobras. Other “superfluous women” whose stories Nicholson tells achieved eminence as explorers, entomologists, marine engineers, doctors, mountaineers and fashion models. Some devoted themselves to slum improvement or famine relief, or broke into what had been male preserves – as the first woman solicitor, the first woman director of a firm of stockbrokers, the first woman privy councillor and cabinet member, the first women vets, civil servants and architects. Meanwhile, women novelists shattered the old spinster stereotypes. Muriel Spark’s Miss Jean Brodie transformed the schoolmarm into a sexy elitist; Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes blossomed into a happy practising witch.
Most of these enterprising single women, Nicholson acknowledges, were from affluent middle-class families. But there were exceptions. Florence White, a Bradford mill-hand, became a leading political activist and the founder of the National Spinsters Pension Association. Gladys Aylward, a London parlour maid, saved up her wages and travelled on the Trans-Siberian railway to China, where, for 20 years, she worked as a missionary, tending lepers and caring for sick children. Less outstanding, but as heroic in their way, were the women who remained satisfied with little. By 1921, there were half a million female clerks (typists, lowly civil servants, secretaries) who lived in bedsits and spent their days clattering away at Remingtons. They earned 30 shillings a week, and lunched off a penny bun or a Marmite sandwich. Social historians have tended to pity them, but Nicholson, interviewing survivors, found them upbeat. They were all girls together and stayed friends for life. They enjoyed dancing at the Locarno or the Palais, walking in Kensington Gardens, and consuming wonderful bacon-and-eggs teas at Lyons Corner House. It was a brave new world – much better than slaving for a husband.
Other single women, with no particular talents beyond the ability to make children happy, found fulfilment as nannies, wheeling perambulators in London’s parks.
Often the bonds they formed were closer than those the children formed with their parents, and lasted a lifetime. In 1921, a maiden aunt called Gertie Maclean, much in demand for taking nephews and nieces back and forth to school, decided to make aunthood professional and set up Universal Aunts in the back room of a bootmaker’s in Sloane Street. Soon her “Ladies of Irreproachable Background” were escorting children around London, organising trips abroad and doing other people’s shopping for everything “from a hairpin to a Moth aeroplane”.
Gertie, like the trailblazers in male professions, freed single women from dependence and contempt. Another liberator was Radclyffe Hall, the author of the lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness. Many single women had found happiness with members of their own sex, but the subject was deemed unmentionable until Hall came along.
Even Marie Stopes, renowned as a birth-control campaigner, proved hostile. The letters of women who wrote to her about their sexual feelings provide an extraordinary archive of ignorance, fear and unhappiness. Asked about lesbianism, Stopes replied firmly that it was a “disease”. Hall, by contrast, made it fashionable. When The Well was prosecuted as an obscene libel she appeared in court in a Spanish riding hat and long leather coat, and though her novel was condemned to be burnt, it became a clandestine bestseller. The centre of a galaxy of artistic and theatrical types, including Tallulah Bank-head and the cellist Gwen Farrar, Hall made it her mission that lesbians should never again be “driven back to their holes and corners”.
The women Nicholson celebrates changed our culture. They turned the Victorian spinster into the modern career woman. But, she believes, they were also different from modern women. Like anyone who has lived through a war, they had lower expectations of happiness and a stoicism and dignity that were all their own. Her book applauds the celebrities but does not forget the obscure. Beside Caton-Thompson she sets May Jones, who wrote her autobiography, in Biro, on scraps of coloured paper, when she was 85. She was a Welsh carpenter’s daughter and fell in love with Philip, a young Quaker intellectual, who went to France with an ambulance unit and was killed. “I knew then,” May wrote, “that I should die an old maid.” Then she added, in pencil, “I was only 20 years old.” The rest of the page is blank. It is moments such as this that make Singled Out so powerful and so inspiring.
The answer to the second question is – with astonishing spite, resentment and lack of sympathy. When the 1921 census revealed that women outnumbered men by almost 2m, it unleashed a frenzy of vituperation. “The superfluous women,” proclaimed the Daily Mail, “are a disaster to the human race.” They were labelled “limpets” and “bread-snatchers” for taking jobs from demobbed soldiers. They were reviled for forming “unwholesome female friendships” and mocked for lavishing their stifled affection on cats and lapdogs. Sexual psychologists pronounced them unnatural, and Oswald Mosley found them “distressing”. A popular solution was that they should be exported to the colonies. Canada, it was pointed out, had an excess of male trappers and lumberjacks, and even Australia offered many “simple pleasures”.
When, desperate to fill the gap in their lives, they wrote for advice to women’s magazines, they met with heartless optimism (“Cheer up, dears”) or insulting tips on man-catching (“If you use a henna shampoo, don’t overdo it”). Self-help books, with titles such as Sex Philosophy for the Bachelor Girl and Live Alone and Like It, prattled on about taking up folk dancing, astrology or amateur dramatics. But for women whose men had died, the need was to find some way of appeasing their desire for love and their guilt at surviving. An advertisement in the Matrimonial Times read “Lady, fiancé killed, will gladly marry officer totally blinded or otherwise incapacitated by the war.”
Nicholson’s book centres, however, on women who refused to be overwhelmed by grief and struck out in new directions. One of her heroines is Gertrude Caton-Thompson, the distinguished archeologist. The love of her life, a hussar officer, had been killed, and, like many of the bereaved, she felt at first that it was a treachery to him even to breathe and eat. But after the war she enrolled for classes at University College London, learnt Arabic and studied African prehistory. She braved leopards, fleas, fevers, swamps and crocodiles to excavate Neolithic sites in Malta, South Africa, Arabia and Egypt – where she camped out in a tomb with a family of cobras. Other “superfluous women” whose stories Nicholson tells achieved eminence as explorers, entomologists, marine engineers, doctors, mountaineers and fashion models. Some devoted themselves to slum improvement or famine relief, or broke into what had been male preserves – as the first woman solicitor, the first woman director of a firm of stockbrokers, the first woman privy councillor and cabinet member, the first women vets, civil servants and architects. Meanwhile, women novelists shattered the old spinster stereotypes. Muriel Spark’s Miss Jean Brodie transformed the schoolmarm into a sexy elitist; Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes blossomed into a happy practising witch.
Most of these enterprising single women, Nicholson acknowledges, were from affluent middle-class families. But there were exceptions. Florence White, a Bradford mill-hand, became a leading political activist and the founder of the National Spinsters Pension Association. Gladys Aylward, a London parlour maid, saved up her wages and travelled on the Trans-Siberian railway to China, where, for 20 years, she worked as a missionary, tending lepers and caring for sick children. Less outstanding, but as heroic in their way, were the women who remained satisfied with little. By 1921, there were half a million female clerks (typists, lowly civil servants, secretaries) who lived in bedsits and spent their days clattering away at Remingtons. They earned 30 shillings a week, and lunched off a penny bun or a Marmite sandwich. Social historians have tended to pity them, but Nicholson, interviewing survivors, found them upbeat. They were all girls together and stayed friends for life. They enjoyed dancing at the Locarno or the Palais, walking in Kensington Gardens, and consuming wonderful bacon-and-eggs teas at Lyons Corner House. It was a brave new world – much better than slaving for a husband.
Other single women, with no particular talents beyond the ability to make children happy, found fulfilment as nannies, wheeling perambulators in London’s parks.
Often the bonds they formed were closer than those the children formed with their parents, and lasted a lifetime. In 1921, a maiden aunt called Gertie Maclean, much in demand for taking nephews and nieces back and forth to school, decided to make aunthood professional and set up Universal Aunts in the back room of a bootmaker’s in Sloane Street. Soon her “Ladies of Irreproachable Background” were escorting children around London, organising trips abroad and doing other people’s shopping for everything “from a hairpin to a Moth aeroplane”.
Gertie, like the trailblazers in male professions, freed single women from dependence and contempt. Another liberator was Radclyffe Hall, the author of the lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness. Many single women had found happiness with members of their own sex, but the subject was deemed unmentionable until Hall came along.
Even Marie Stopes, renowned as a birth-control campaigner, proved hostile. The letters of women who wrote to her about their sexual feelings provide an extraordinary archive of ignorance, fear and unhappiness. Asked about lesbianism, Stopes replied firmly that it was a “disease”. Hall, by contrast, made it fashionable. When The Well was prosecuted as an obscene libel she appeared in court in a Spanish riding hat and long leather coat, and though her novel was condemned to be burnt, it became a clandestine bestseller. The centre of a galaxy of artistic and theatrical types, including Tallulah Bank-head and the cellist Gwen Farrar, Hall made it her mission that lesbians should never again be “driven back to their holes and corners”.
The women Nicholson celebrates changed our culture. They turned the Victorian spinster into the modern career woman. But, she believes, they were also different from modern women. Like anyone who has lived through a war, they had lower expectations of happiness and a stoicism and dignity that were all their own. Her book applauds the celebrities but does not forget the obscure. Beside Caton-Thompson she sets May Jones, who wrote her autobiography, in Biro, on scraps of coloured paper, when she was 85. She was a Welsh carpenter’s daughter and fell in love with Philip, a young Quaker intellectual, who went to France with an ambulance unit and was killed. “I knew then,” May wrote, “that I should die an old maid.” Then she added, in pencil, “I was only 20 years old.” The rest of the page is blank. It is moments such as this that make Singled Out so powerful and so inspiring.
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