I am amused by the news reports that "children's rights campaigners" are trying to prevent Madonna taking a child out of Malawi.
Inter-country adoptions raise all sorts of issues, but it is a strange view of a child's rights that see them as being best secured by living in an institution. I am reminded of the Secretary-Superintendent of the Southern Railway Servants' Orphanage who, in 1944 wrote that large orphanages were just like public schools and asked why the orphan should be treated differently from the child of the rich man.
Lord Bonkers writes: I hope we are not going to see orphans treated as fashion accessories, but if by any chance you do want to treat an orphan as a fashion accessory, please ring the Bonkers; Home for Well-Behaved Orphans and ask for the Sales Department.
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MADONNA'S FAIR TRADE ORPHAN
Personally I would like to see a Private Finance Initiative to bring enterprise capital into the ophanage business. We could then have faith based orphanages for the pious but trendy, designer orphanages for the rich and famous (Wow, your adopted baby has three heads and seven limbs." - "Absolutelah, he's from the latest Vivienne Westwood collection."
Other possibilities are budget priced flat pack orphans for low paid key workers, hand crafted orphans for ageing hippies and recuycled orphans for the environmentally aware.
And of course we could bring back the workhouse for ugly kids from sink estates.
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