Covered with fine powder (5)

Just a Thought...

Inclusion Revolution

I was required to fill in a hospital consent form recently for my daughter. The form asked for the following pieces of information ‘Mother’s Name and Occupation’ and ‘Father’s Name and Occupation.’ I was astounded. In the year 2022 we are still assuming that a family is made up of two opposite sex parents.

I asked myself what the same sex parents should do here. Should they misgender themselves to fit the box? Or what about solo parent families who may be so due to a variety of painful reasons including death or abuse? I suppose they should just live with the painful reminder of a blank space staring back at them.

How about families where another family member has parental responsibility, like a grandfather or an aunt for example – are they less of a parent because they are not a mother or a father? This is a blatantly archaic statement of exclusion. It says loud and clear that if your family does not have one mother and one father then you are abnormal, unusual, difficult to process.

Inclusion is the mark of any society of note or worth and we are failing on multiple levels – this is just a small example with an enormous impact. So I have rallied for change because creating real change needs all of us to stand up and have our thoughts heard. For all our families, our friends, our fellow humans it is time to act. It may not be easy but it is possible, and it needs all of us – including you, dear reader.

By Fliss Goldsmith of Belper

Petition available to sign via my Instagram @flissgoldsmithinclusion Linktr.ee in bio or https://chng.it/j6GtGg9RrR

Life List

A Certain Chemistry

Science was never my strong point. I couldn’t understand how uranium ‘decays’ into lead over nearly 4.5 billion years – it sounds like the world’s longest magic trick...ta da! Even the names of the elements made little sense. Unless of course, those scientists were secretly trying to tell us something…

CARBON – May produce weight gain if you have a sedentary lifestyle. BORON – Induces tiredness in social situations. Also known as YAWNIUM. MANGANESE – Gives you leg joints like a Japanese cartoon character. HAFNIUM – Somehow there’s never as much of it as you thought. NOBELIUM – It is sometimes used in the manufacture of the world’s quietest bicycles. ANTIMONY – Is there a risk it might bring down the capitalist system? IRIDIUM – Good for removing things, unlike its polar opposite, IKEEPIUM. CHLORINE – Potentially found in cats? ARGON – Very hard to store because stocks never last long. CERIUM – Lacking in frivolity and may cause burns. KRYPTON – The unfathomable element. TANTALUM – It’s tempting to have it around. SILICON – The confidence trickster’s favourite. PALLADIUM – Was it discovered in London on a Sunday night? TUNGSTEN – This one is a bit of a mouthful. SCANDIUM – As seen in several thriller series on BBC4. COBALT – Often favoured by eloping couples. ZINC – Frequently used in the manufacture of German bathrooms. HELIUM and BROMINE – Maybe these elements are just for men? CALIFORNIUM – Suitable for dreamers.

Did you know?

The first documented discovery of an element was in Hamburg, in 1669, by Henning Brand. He isolated phosphorus by heating concentrated urine. Maybe that’s why it’s spelt with a ‘p’?