After a period there is often little mucus; it then becomes white and cloudy and, as ovulation approaches, transparent and stretchy After ovulation, the mucus becomes white and cloudy again. If you ask your doctor about it, you are likely to be told, 'You don't want to use that - you'll get pregnant'. Yet that attitude is based on out-of-date information."Dr Ryder, who has worked in this field since the mid-Seventies, has collected data on all NFP studies so far reported in the Nineties. Seventeen per cent use condoms, 5 per cent IUDs, 3 per cent withdrawal and 25 per cent take the Pill. Studies show, however, that NFP works as well as other contraceptive methods, provided women are well motivated and well taught.Even so, as Bob Ryder, consultant physician and endocrinologist of the City Hospital Trust, Birmingham, says: "NFP has an image problem in the medical and lay world.
Women no longer merely mark off safe and unsafe days on a calendar, based on a guess as to when they will ovulate. Instead, they learn how to become tuned into their bodies, using a range of physical symptoms, including temperature changes and observation of cervical mucus, to pinpoint ovulation and the fertile and infertile phases in their cycle.Only 1 per cent of women use this method - comparable to the numbers using caps, diaphragms or injectable contraceptives, says the FPA. Calls to the Family Planning Association's Helpline have quadrupled since the Government issued a health warning on seven brands of the contraceptive pill last month. The initial confusion is dying down, but in its wake many women may be thinking of switching to other forms of contraception. Yet how many will seriously consider natural family planning, and how many will be offered it as an alternative by their GPs or family planning clinics? Natural family planning (NFP) has come a long way since the days when doctors dismissed it as "Vatican roulette". In this latest attack a neighbour's car was bounced into the road to prevent fire engines reaching his burning garage.
It was the second arson attack within a fortnight.Mr Fawcett, meanwhile, says hunting needs a robust, but legal, defence: "We used to have this wonderful system where we deported these types of people or put them in the Army Hunting is a nice clean healthy sport Country people have got to stand up and be counted.". The Justice Department's targets are starting to fight back.Hunters have played the heavy, sometimes beating up hunt saboteurs since the 1970s. Meanwhile the Chiddingfold, where Mr Fawcett rides, has even resorted to hiring security guards But this year violence against hunt saboteurs increased. In March, two pickaxe-wielding followers of the Cheshire Foxhounds, Anthony Kirkham and Geoffrey Park, were found guilty of assaulting a group of anti-bloodsports campaigners. The Body Shop has been a fabulous investment for those who bought at the time of the float 11 years ago, but of late both the company and its share price have lost their lustre. For a company that prides itself on such a neat, freshly scrubbed image, it is looking a bit of a mess. Pre-tax profits rose by 10 per cent to pounds 165m in the six months to 30 September and earnings per share grew by 7 per cent to 39.3p.Thames shares rose 6p to 427p while those in London Electricity fell by 18p to 902p.Ofwat said it was "very disappointed" at Thames's attitude.
