This week 60 young residents of Brighton and their mothers took a stand in Brighton and due to the wonder of twitter and facebook, the nations media paid attention. The Breast Feeding flash mob was not the most important event in the UK or probably even Sussex on Thursday but its value should not be underestimated. It came in the same week as a conference in London attended by Theresa May which also focused on families and how important it is for mothers (and fathers) to know where their progeny are (it was related to the summer disturbances) and the same week that Messrs Cameron and Pickles lectured us on how certain they are that if £1Bn of our taxes are spent in a particular way that all problem families will no longer present society with such large bills. World Peace is no doubt just around the next corner.

Breast Feeding Flashmob

The reason why the #brightonBFflashmob is the most important of these three events in my view is that it was an action by ordinary people who were simply not willing to accept that they should have to retreat into dark corners or go home in order to be fed. The flashmob had as its catalyst some rather ill-mannered people who had challenged one of the mothers who had the temerity to feed her baby in a so-called public place. In fact a Restaurant is a private place and whatever our views of the behaviour of other people we are no more entitled to take issue with other diners than if we were guests in their home. I took an hour out of my day and timidly went along to show some solidarity, feeling a little concerned that I would be seen as voyeuristic. Thankfully a couple of dads were also present and so I was able to make common cause with them, and the babies were very cute so a good result.

Breastfeeding Flashmob

The flashmob has apparently irritated some readers of the Daily Mail (I refuse to buy a copy just to check on the nature of the letters), anything that irritates such people is probably a bonus for all rationale people. What is fantastic is that their campaign didn’t cost the taxpayer a penny (unlike the attempts by the politicians to get ‘family values’ into the news papers) and they laid down a challenge to the sort of stuffed shirts who get hot under the collar when a baby is being fed. They didn’t even stop the traffic. Feeding babies is pretty important for those involved, but it should also matter to all of us. We live in a society which is far safer than most of us actually realise. The fear of Crime is much higher than the actual rate of criminal activity. We all need to lay claim to the security and safety that is actually ours by virtue of living in a civilised society. I hope that all 60 or so mums and babies are proud of what they did. Next week we need to find new challenges to reclaim our community from the pedlars in lies and deceit (by which I mean the authors of the stories in some of our newspapers) as well as showing people who are a little unused to good etiquette that they shouldn’t mess with a 1 year old.