UK Politics

3143 readers

154 users here now

General Discussion for politics in the UK.
Please don't post to both [email protected] and [email protected] .
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric politics, and should be either a link to a reputable news source for news, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread. (These things should be publicly discussed)

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

[email protected] appears to have vanished! We can still see cached content from this link, but goodbye I guess! :'(

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

149

Parental leave isn't a holiday or a 'year off' – so don't pit parents against workers | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 3 months ago by FelixCress to c/[email protected]

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] FelixCress -1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

you couldn’t just hall off to the Bahamas or whatever

You absolutely can, with a child.

It may not be a ‘job’, but it is still work

Nope. Of course you can define "work" as anything you do, including brushing your teeth and watching telly if you want - but looking after the baby is not something I would ever describe as "work".

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

You get maternity pay to feed/wash/whatever another human being.

Carers have been doing this for years. It’s work. It’s even a career for some people.

[–] Seleni 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

American Heritage Dictionary; Work, definition:

Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something. ”Cleaning the basement was a lot of work."

Such effort or activity by which one makes a living; employment. ”looking for work."

Again, kids are work. And since, as another lemming pointed out, some people do it as an actual job, it counts under both definitions.

And if you do hie off to the Bahamas, you still have to bring that work along. You can’t just leave it behind and just have a relaxing vacation with nothing to do. (Unless you find a babysitter, but then you’re not doing the work of childcare anymore; now you’re using maternal leave for something that isn’t work).

[–] FelixCress -2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Again, kids are work

Again, you are wrong.

And if you do hie off to the Bahamas, you still have to bring that work along

What work sweetheart, since you just took a year off work?

[–] Seleni 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

All right, honey. What would you call the constant care an infant needs, if it isn’t work?

[–] FelixCress -1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Infant care, silly.

[–] Seleni 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

And it is work, by, again, both definitions.

[–] FelixCress 0 points 3 months ago

No, silly. It is an infant care.