Go Go Hutton...

John Hutton has apparently won a ‘Whitehall battle to require the law to be changed to require both parents to be named on a child's birth certificate.’ This means women will be required to name their baby’s father with exemptions for only the most exceptional of circumstances.

I think our leaders have come up with another simply marvelous idea here. May I humbly offer some further suggestions?

• Unmarried, pregnant women could be encouraged to give birth in special mother and baby homes – I’m sure many religious groups would be willing to run them – and the babies could be handed over to nice, middle-class, childless couples after birth. This would reduce the burden on the state.
  

• We could actively discourage unmarried women from getting pregnant by ensuring that it is a shaming and humiliating experience resulting in social isolation, abandonment by one’s family and a lifetime of poverty.
  

• We could invent a time machine which would spirit us all back to 1953.
  

Any other suggestions warmly welcomed. Please send to John Hutton c/o ‘Regressive Social Policy ‘r’ Us’.