Email
The Chinese used to call them “little emperors”, so sternly did babies rule in the era when Beijing restricted most couples to a single child. The phrase underlines the fact that all babies are royal to their parents. In Paris toy shops sell signs saying: “Do Not disturb – the princess is sleeping.” Birth is an everyday thing, but at the same time it is absolutely unique, and always a drama, as One Born Every Minute, the popular Channel 4 reality series, demonstrated very well. Male royal births used to be particularly celebrated because the succession issue was so important when monarchs had real power. These days we are more relaxed about that sort of stuff, so we can welcome the news that Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their second child without going off into intense political calculations about whether John of Gaunt will be pleased or enraged. Babies! Where would we be without them?
;
Comment from the paper
Steve Bell on RBS – cartoon
John Harris: It’s not just Scotland where politics as usual is finished
Gaby Hinsliff: Fat-shaming: how the slim and sanctimonious help to cause our obesity crisis