My eldest son is nearly 30.

When we were expecting him, his mother was suddenly `managed out` of her job in IT working on GCOS7 systems; no problems whatsoever until she was pregnant.

When I told my boss (again in IT) I needed to plan in a weeks annual leave, he was clear that he was pissed off and fed up about it, because we were busy doing some technology transition.

Three decades later; I cheerfully cover for colleagues taking a couple of weeks of extra paid paternity leave.

My own archaic view about paternity leave is that it is designed for female equality; which I believe is a good thing.

Imagine if you will, a society that didn't want to go extinct. A society that had discovered that birth rates were falling and that paternity leave was just one of many straightforward government sanctioned initiatives that could tip the balance.

Now imagine an individual or group that thought 5 days was enough. Yeah. About that.