A GROUP of mothers staged a “nurse-in” outside Claridge's, a posh London hotel, today. The demonstrators took to breast-feeding their children outside the establishment in protest against its treatment of a young mother earlier this week. Louise Burns was taking afternoon tea at the hotel and began breast-feeding her hungry baby. A waiter told her—politely, by Ms Burns’s own account—that it was Claridge’s policy to ask mothers to cover up while feeding. He then produced a large napkin to drape over the baby. An embarrassed Ms Burns tweeted the episode (pictured), the Guardianpicked it up, and a debate about the rights and wrongs of Claridge’s actions ensued. Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, a popular right-wing political party, added fuel when he suggested that mothers might prefer to “sit in a corner” when breast-feeding so as not to upset others.
We are all surely now big enough and old enough not to be bothered about women breast-feeding in public. It seems silly that there should still be any stigma attached to it; it is a natural act that harms no one. Those sensitive souls who are offended at the sight should try averting their gazes. (And in any case, on a purely selfish level, surely it is better that mums feel comfortable enough to breast-feed in coffee-shops, or on buses and planes, rather than the rest of us having to put up with a screaming baby.)