Virginia Ironside

Virginia Ironside (born 3 February 1944) is a British journalist, agony aunt and author. Born in London, she is the daughter of Christopher Ironside, painter and coin designer, and Janey Ironside who was the first-ever professor of fashion design at the Royal College of Art. She was the niece of the visionary painter and designer Robin Ironside.^[1]

Ironside writes a column, "Dilemmas", for The Independent, an agony column for the Idler, and a monthly column for The Oldie.^[2] Her first book, Chelsea Bird, was published when she was 19. During the 1960s she wrote a rock music column for the Daily Mail newspaper.^[2] She is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.^[3][4]

Comments about abortion[]

Ironside received attention after her appearance on BBC One's religious discussion programme, Sunday Morning Live, in 2010. She stated "If a baby's going to be born severely disabled or totally unwanted, surely an abortion is the act of a loving mother" and added "If I were the mother of a suffering child – I mean a deeply suffering child – I would be the first to want to put a pillow over its face... If it was a child I really loved, who was in agony, I think any good mother would."^[5] Though some viewers supported Ironside, many complaints were registered on the programme's website message board.

My Death My Decision[]

Virginia Ironside is a Patron of the right to die organisation, My Death My Decision. My Death My Decision is a right to die campaign organisation that wants to see a more compassionate approach to dying in the UK, including giving people the legal right to a medically assisted death if that is their persistent wish.^[6]

Works[]

• Chelsea Bird (1964)
• Distant Sunset (1982)
• Made for Each Other (1985)
• How to Have a Baby and Stay Sane (1989)
• The Subfertility Handbook (Overcoming Common Problems) (1995)
• You’ll Get Over It: The Rage of Bereavement (1997)
• Problems! Problems!: Confessions of an Agony Aunt (1998)
• Goodbye, Dear Friend: Coming to Terms with the Death of a Pet (1998)
• Janey and Me: Growing Up with My Mother (2003)
• The Huge Bag of Worries (2004)
• No! I Don’t Want to Join a Bookclub (2007)
• The Virginia Monologues – 20 Reasons Why Growing Old is Great (2009)

References[]

External links[]

• The Virginia Monologues

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