A decade or so back, when I read The Children Of Men (P D James’ dystopian novel about a future where humanity has lost the ability to reproduce) a decade or so back, two things stuck with me. The first was the image of childless women wheeling dolls around in baby buggies:

  • At one time it wasn’t possible to walk down the High Street without being encumbered by their prams, by groups of admiring quasi-mothers. He seemed to remember that there had even been pseudo-births and that broken dolls were buried with ceremony in consecrated ground.

The second was the “birthing parties” for newborn kittens:

  • …the opportunity to let your friends witness the miracle of emerging life. A maximum of six people are usually invited to watch, but from a carefully judged distance so as not to fret or disturb the mother. And afterwards, if all goes well, there is a celebratory meal, often with champagne… As the registered part-owner on the fecund-domestic-animal licence I could, of course, have applied to the Animal Custody Court for joint custody…

The dolls showed up a couple of years ago in Japan – toy grandchildren for grandchildless seniors.Today the blogosphere is mulling over the second shoe – “fur children”. Pity Lady James and other dystopian novelists. As Instapundit puts it:

What’s funny is that behavior intended to symbolize an apocalyptic state has now become semi-normal.