Rachel Johnson

Bum rap pinned on parents

Acts of brutality are carried out in the name of ‘reasonable chastisement’ but, says Rachel Johnson, banning smacking will only encourage children to believe that they have a right to behave as they please

issue 29 May 2004

Acts of brutality are carried out in the name of ‘reasonable chastisement’ but, says Rachel Johnson, banning smacking will only encourage children to believe that they have a right to behave as they please

Well, this promises to be a fair old punch-up. In the anti corner, we have some 350 parenting and counselling organisations, 180 MPs and peers, the Methodist and Catholic Churches, the European Court of Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee, the Lib Dems, 71 per cent of the general public (according to our old friend Mori Z. Poll), Penelope Leach, a roster of the great and the good from David Aaronovitch to Benjamin Zephaniah, and the late Dr Spock.

In the pro corner, we have Evangelical Christians, all those who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, King Solomon, the Labour government, the Scottish Executive, and the late Dr Spock.

So how come Dr Spock appears twice? And what’s Labour doing with that crowd? Well, we’ll come to Labour later, but during the course of Spock’s career as the world’s paediatrician, he changed his mind about smacking, and became an anti.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in