[Gobsmacked]

When Mr. Bumble (in Charles Dickens' ''Oliver Twist'') stated "If the law supposes that sir, the law is a ass" the law was nowhere near as much of "a ass" as it is today.

Alas we now have a situation designed allegedly to protect children from abuse, but which I fear will in fact do no such thing. Children are being given "protection" from and recourse to legal action against their own parents should those parents have cause to administer the mildest smack. The parents who thus lovingly admonish their children, and I do emphasise the lovingly, will now be criminalised.

I venture to suggest that this will not deter situations of actual abuse where a child is too terrified of the adult concerned to even consider reporting such abuse for fear of further "punishment". It will however affect the normal loving household where a child in a bit of a strop, having been chastised by a parent, will decide to "tell the police over you" and the situation will snowball far beyond what the child ever intended in the heat of the moment, or in fact ever contemplated. (How many children fully understand the consequences of their actions?) The parents could end up facing a prison sentence, thus depriving the child of the loving home environment whilst those whom this idiotic move claims to be protecting will continue to be abused and live in fear.

I quote this mornings "Comment" in the Daily Mail
"This has nothing to do with the genuine issues of child cruelty and abuse, which are shamefully prevalent in our society. The loathsome adults who mistreat children deserve every penalty of the law. But there is a huge difference between such savagery and the responsible discipline born of affection and concern"

Amen to that. I couldn't have put it better myself.