C C Smale Family Lawyer

I think Celia Walden is mistaken in this article in the Telegraph in thinking that Cristiano Ronaldo commissioning a woman to be a surrogate mother for his baby is an act of vanity.

I know nothing about the law in Portugal, nor in America where apparently the surrogate mother lives. Nor do we appear to be told anything about what Cristiano Ronaldo’s girlfriend, Irina Shayk makes of it all. Ronaldo himself has said little about it.

Women have had the controlling hand in reproduction for forty years or so. For financial reasons planned single motherhood is all too common, while fathers in their naivety disappear from their children’s lives.

I am not particularly a fan of football as such and therefore I don’t care too much one way or the other about these football players, however in this I think Ronaldo has shown quite a lot of wisdom. Congratulations to him.

I am only surprised how long it has taken for the Domestic Violence Industry to report its results from England’s World Cup campaign.

This is the first report I have come across. I am sure we will hear much more about this kind of thing for a while.

We are told there was a 127% increase in DV as between the day England played Slovenia (a midweek afternoon) and the day England played Germany (a Sunday). I expect there will be many more dubious headlines to come over the next few weeks.

My main objection to the Domestic Violence Industry is this: It tells women that their partner is responsible for their unhappiness and that they themselves are not are not. In the meantime women keep going back to abusive relationships.

I wrote a few days ago about the campaign being run by Police Forces and the domestic violence industry promoting awareness of “increased domestic abuse” during the World Cup. Now the tournament in South Africa has started the marketing campaing is in full swing and I have come across few who question the motives.

If you promote a thing enough it is inevitable that the numbers of people who take up the services on offer will increase. As family law solicitors we are taught to “screen” new cases that come to us for signs of “abuse”. NHS staff are given similar training as are the Police. The absurdity is that anything as trivial as a raised voice becomes interpreted as “violence” – the definition of violence is ever expanding.

If you make everyone aware of their rights as a victim – and if you sell victimhood as an easy enough and attractive enough proposition for women that is the option more and more women will take up. Prosecution of domestic violence cases by the police and the courts is ruthless, as many woman who have tried to retract  statements will have found out.

We are constantly told a message that two women die from domestic violence a week – (interestingly the number of men who die is rarely revealed to us and I will leave my thoughts on this to another day). There are a number of women who keep returning to seriously violent relationships. Anyone who has been in this industry long knows this but the market for domestic violence services needs to expand to justify the industry.

You can be certain that there is a powerful agenda to help women to leave relationships. There are too few voices suggesting people try to stay together.

Update – I have found a helpful analysis of the dubious figures from 2006 here.