Mrs Bird would much prefer to stay a housekeeper

The media tends to be run by liberals who are appalled by the idea that people should employ cleaners

It was the weekend and I, as usual, was on my hands and knees picking up bits of Lego, tidying away trains and marbles and discovering bits of an adult jigsaw puzzle pilfered from another room (our three-year-old’s idea of amusing) while the two children watched a bit of telly.

An animation of Paddington was on, the bear voiced by the brilliant Ben Whishaw. But it wasn’t then that I pricked my ears, it was the mention of how Mrs Bird was introduced to Paddington by Mr Brown – as a “relative”. I had long thought that she was the housekeeper at 32 Windsor Gardens – a member of staff; a live-in employee; a no-nonsense, reliable retainer. There, regardless as to her familial relationships with the various family members, to do work in exchange for money.

But now, I discover, it’s more complicated. Mrs Bird, the updated on-screen Paddington stories tell us, is a relative. She’s not just a housekeeper. She’s at the Browns because she’s family. Doubtless the makers of the animated version, some 60 years after the original books were first published, decided that a character for a mainstream international audience ought not to live in a house where there are staff.

After all, the media tends to be run by Left-leaning liberals who are appalled by the idea that people should employ cleaners or cooks. So let me put my cards on the table and outrage the Lefties. We have a housekeeper. We love her, and not just because she cleans and tidies and helps make our house ordered and enjoyable to live in. She takes great pride in her work, and also multi-tasks, looking after the children now and then. She finds it rewarding and varied work and, she says: “Housekeeping is perfect for mums who can drop kids at school at 9am and clean houses until 3pm.”

If you were to ask Mrs Bird, the proud, demonstrative, well-organised and rather fierce Scotswoman she seems to be, I reckon she’d much prefer the tag of housekeeper than relative.