When I saw bewildered little Alfie Patten holding his baby I wanted to weep. Though, the 15 –going on- 35 year old mother was winding her daughter with all the casual expertise of a girl in the driving seat of the entire situation.
You wonder who to blame first. Not the two kids involved. Sex is in their faces all day –cheap magazines, tabloids, television, the internet – oh, and compulsory sex education from Year 1. They can hardly avoid knowing exactly how to do it -and why in God’s name does a 12 year old boy who looks 8 know where to get, let alone how to use, a condom ?
The State will pick up the tab, of course, and social services will descend in such numbers we need not worry about the baby being safe.
But if the sight of little Alfie made me cry, his father who made me incandescent, demanding a shed-load of money for the story.
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