WHAT a ridiculous notion it is - yet one seriously put forward by an advisory group set up with the government's blessing - that fathers as well as mothers are given three months' paid leave from work when they have a baby or adopt a child.

The cost to industry has been estimated at £2.5 billion, making it either less competitive and/or wary of recruiting younger people likely to want children

But what concern is it of firms to be subsidising the perpetuation of their workers' genes?

None at all, I'd say.

If people want kids, fine. But as they are already passing on their family responsibilities to the taxpayer by drawing millions of pounds' worth of child benefit, much of which is spent on luxuries, it is ludicrous to suggest that paid holidays for dads should be an extra burden for firms.

Surely, the consequences of their romantic nights between the sheets ought to be paid for by themselves, not their employers or neighbours.

It's time the state encouraged people to stand on their own two feet rather than providing a begging bowl with every pram.

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