Having found myself broadly agreeing with something written by Polly Pot the other day I now find myself faced with a saluatory reminder that as vapid and ill-conceived as many of her columns are there is one thing going her favour as journalist.

She isn’t Melanie Phillips.

There isn’t that much I can add to Melanie’s prescription for tackling the failings of the Child Support Agency other than to point you to article itself – which is here – chuck in a couple of quotes to give an idea what to expect if you follow the link:

If an unmarried woman chooses to give up work when she has a baby, this is presented by feminists as an unarguable case for mandatory payments by the father. But why? There is already a perfectly good social arrangement to give mothers precisely such support. It is called marriage. The problem is that the woman may not want marriage to the man, but she does still want his money. What kind of equality is this?

And.

Yes, some men are grossly irresponsible and are either unfaithful, desert their wives or father many children by different women. But many men feel licensed to behave in such a manner because of those women who declare them redundant.

And.

It is women above all who should be made to take responsibility for their behaviour. If they choose to tear up a marriage contract or to have children without committing themselves to the father, they should bear the financial burden. Instead of being propped up with benefits or money extorted from rejected men, they should be expected to support themselves through work.

And note that about the only things she isn’t complaining about here is the chronic shortage of orphanages to take on children while the unmarried mothers go into service, but give her time – I’m sure it won’t be too long before she’s demanding the return of the workhouse, gruel and stuffing little boys up chimneys as a meaning of supplementing your meagre income.

In the meantime, next week Melanie will be discussing the use of wooden clubs in courtship and why the Prince Regent is not such a bad fellow after all once you get to know him.

As Melanie doesn’t have a comments system, please feel free to use the comments here to vent as much as you like.