Lead by example: take paternity leave

Verity

The taxpayer should pay him to stay home and hellp out with his kid when he has a house full of servants?

She doesn't have any female relatives and friends for support, which is whaat women have depended on since the year dot?

Richard of York

Blimey well timed, the organisational skills are impecable.
Mind you when your wife is too posh to push its a bit easier to stage manage the event.

Duncan

If he takes paternity leave, will he be paid the miserly statutory paternity pay of £124.88, or does he get a better deal from his employer?

Fex Urbis

Dave should take paternity leave as fatherhood is quite frankly the best thing that can happen to a chap.

But as for making Britain the most family friendly country in Europe? Dream on! The UK has the highest costs for childcare anywhere in the developed world and quite frankly this acts as a brake on serious, sensible people having children. Not a problem for the feckless who can produce legions of feral children knowing that nanny state will pick up the tab.

General Zod

The point of paterntiy leave is to deal with older children in the early days. When we had our first, I was a spare part.

He should take a week.

Ian Walker

Having a Lib Dem leader go to a UN summit on behalf of Britain might be a gentle reminder to the conference to the upside of coalition, i.e. power.

strapworld

The soldiers in Afghanistan do not get paternity leave. So whilst we have soldiers in a war our politicians should ensure they are standing by their desks working for the country and the soldiers safety.

My son has a friend, they are both in the army, whose wife is due to give birth two weeks before he goes off to Afghanistan for six months. Certainly he will be given leave for those two weeks prior to his leaving but statutory paternity leave. Don't make me laugh!

What is good enough for our armed services should be good enough for the Prime Minister who is keeping them there!

TrevorsDen

Once again whilst I am not as miserable as Verity, I take her point. Its not like Cameron is a welder where paternity leave would cost his company money and ultimately put up prices and/ or cost jobs.

Cameron can in effect carry on with his job, his office is his home anyway, whilst at the same time enjoying the first few days of his new daughters life.

The notion of paternity leave in his case (and people like him) is false.

TrevorsDen

Strapworld - If Churchill could smoke Havana cigars whilst troops were dying on D-Day I think Cameron and the rest of the govt can carry on with their business like the rest of us.

Its a specious argument to bring up 'our troops in Afghanistan' every time something like this turns up. The Army has a job to do; it did similar jobs in Aden in Cyprus in Kenya in Malaya and plenty other places. Its what the Army do.

We can argue about War Aims and numbers and equipment. Thats a different matter; in fact Cameron has clarified the first and is not responsible for the others.

General Zod

He's not actually in the field, strapworld. He is also not responsible for sending the forces there, although he is very much aware of his repsonsibilities towards them now he is in office.

Verityred

Ah little Dickie Dork, your Daily Mirror-esque inverted snobbery goes well with your sub sixth form mind and paper thin skin.

Your fat controller at Labour HQ must be pleased.

yank

Part of any real social welfare reform would include means testing, and Dave's wealth would obviously fail any real form of means testing. Sorry, no, this is an unneeded nudge. We don't welcome our public servant betters setting any examples, particularly not of this kind, which cost us money in the exampling.

And welcome to the young one, you are a precious gift. Pity that in return for your gifts we've burdened you with a $44,000 debt from the instant you were gifted to us. There's an example we need to stop setting.

(your pounds-sterling mileage may vary)

Chris lancashire

This is one employer who certainly won't be nudged on paternity leave. The taxpayer should certainly not be subsidising this and I have no doubt it will be foisted on the employer at some point.
It increases the disruption to businesses, increases the pressure on remaining employees who have to carry the load and I have yet to see exactly what it adds to the family experience. Sorry to be Scrooge on this but it may give you a warm fuzzy feeling to grant paternity leave, to me it's a waste of time and resource.

Come off it

James you normally talk complete sense but you're wrong on this. The PM of a serious country does NOT take paternity leave. He stays and works on the problems facing the country.

TGF UKIP

Margaret Hilda Cameron? Somehow, I sort of doubt it.

Pot Head

If employers can cope with women having paternity/maternity leave, why not men? I can't see the difference!

I hope Dave takes as much time off as he and Sam feel he needs to..

And I'm so pleased for them both, after the tragedy of Ivan.

Greg

2 weeks paternity is a joke. It should be 2 months or better. Any decent employer would be able to cope. Any bloke who thinks he's a 'spare part' is a layabout.

Beer Moth

Should read: 'The birth of the Camerons' baby daughter...'

Buck up.

Norman Dee

Some of you lot are pathetic, get yourselves a life, or at least a decent hobby,(and mindless s**t slinging on this site is NOT a hobby). I very much doubt if a day will go by when he doesn't get several if not more telephone calls about one thing or another, and he will not react as you lot sound like you would and throw a hissy fit

Fergus Pickering

TWO weeks and you lot are in orbit. Harold Macmillan used to take a month of to shoot the bums off birds. I can't remember the country lurching into chaos. I'm sure Nick is up to the job, and I'm sure he will much enjoy another fortnight as numero uno. Every father ought to have a fortnight off (if he wants). Of course he should. Standing by his deak indeed! Jeeze!

Verity

Pothead, you hope Cameron takes as much time off as he likes for paternity leave. Well, I agree with you. I hope he takes the next four years. But without a salary and vacating his free house.

Verity

The headline to this piece: Lead by Example. Take Paternity Leave.

Okaaaay. Lead by example. Take Paternity Leave, but Don't Take Pay or Perks for Time Taken.

Rhoda Klapp

The problem with husbands taking maternity leave is, who would rather be at home with a deranged person and an insatiable egomaniac who cannot do anything for him/herself than be at the office with friends and colleagues?

John David Barnett

Oh dear. Paternity leabe indeed. What utter nonsense.

Fex Urbis

Reading some of these ridiculous posts it strikes me that these would be captains of industry who bemoan a new father a couple of weeks off can't be that busy if they can spend a weekday afternoon posting mean spirited claptrap here.

David Ossitt

In my humble opinion, fathers must be there for the conception but are definitely not needed at the birth (they are in the way).

Paternity leave is just one of those many, nasty, modern silliness’s that have crept into being in order to emasculate men.

Mothers and their offspring are better off if the father is out at work earning a crust.

David Ossitt

Richard of York

"Mind you when your wife is too posh to push its a bit easier to stage manage the event."

You realy are a nasty piece of work Richard.

John David Barnett

I see no reason at all for paternity leave. Load of stuff and nonsense.

He's living over the shop after all said and done.

Robert Eve

Paternity leave is a nonsense - if you want to take time off take annual leave - you know well in advance after all!

Richard of York

Mr Ossitt

should be really not as you wrote realy now a spelling lesson from me is a real insult...oh dear!

Verityred

Poor old little Dickie, nasty little creature.

Robert Taggart

Cameo... 'lead by example'... no more than TWO kiddies per family !
We live in an overcrowded country in an overcrowded world. Time to take stock... plan to cut down.

Richard of York

coming from the priestess of bile ...haha very funny.

Baron

both parents, if working, should be entitled to maternity and paternity leaves for as long as they feel they need to, and it should be at full pay, too, perhaps abit on top wouldn’t come amiss either. It amazes that Harriet or better still someone of the gender leveller sort hasn’t thought about it yet. It would fit so charmingly into the galore of the other entitlements, it would also feel noble, compassionate, and warm.

David Bouvier

Richard of York - stop changing the subject and explain why you think your comment about "too posh to push" is an appropriate response to what could well have been an emergency operation and certainly seems not to have been a planned one.

What other than tabloids do you have for even believing that concept of "too posh to push" describes anything real about the world?

Richard of York

@David Bouvier
Quite simply I work in the NHS and know personally many Midwives and clinical staff.
The numbers of "too posh to push" mothers is a real issue.
The numbers of surgical procedures in child birth are sky high compared to 20 years ago. Lots of women are actually demanding them...especially models and celebrities.
Some mothers who go into labour also elect surgery when the pain starts to kick in....many just loose it and become hysterical.
In the "Old Days" the midwife called them "the screamers".
Seen nowadays as more convienient and almost totally painfree its becoming the birthing method of choice in the upper social circles. Some women even combine it with a tummy tuck. Next they will getting their hair done at the same time for the photo shoot of new baby and mum for the press release.
Go talk to some maternity units and see what the staff really think about some of the mums.

Noa Zrk

Lead by example in recession hit Britain.

Get off benefits and back to work!

Fergus Pickering

Ah Richard, these bloody women who don't like pain, eh? Sixteen hours for my wife first time round. But it's natural, innit? Don't females reaqlise that's what they were born for? And I have enough acquaintance with the NHS to know that, along with the ones who work hard and cheerfully (say my daughter for example) there are plenty of people just like you taking their shilling. Are you a doctor? No, I don't think so. A porter? A penpusher? Certainly a stirrer. I hope to God you're nowhere near any hospital I have to attend. What is your position on grumbling old people who will not realise that death comes to all?

I think you man one of those telephone lines - NHS Direct. That seems about your number.

Chris lancashire

I see RoY now regards giving birth as a class issue.

Richard of York

@Chris
I see you think the recovery is down to other people while you hunker down and hide your cash from the taxman.

Chris lancashire

RoY - It's the duty of every rightminded citizen to minimise the amount of tax they pay. The political class only wastes it.

Richard of York

@Chris
Sorry my friend but the law is the law...cough up