In defence of smacking children

Scotland is fast becoming the most strident, unforgiving nanny state in the West. A world leader in the policing of people’s beliefs and lifestyles. It has in recent years passed laws telling football fans what they’re allowed to sing and chant. It has banned smoking in cars and parks and said it wants to make Scotland ‘smokefree’ by 2034. It has introduced the Named Person scheme whereby every bairn will have a state official keeping an eye on them from birth to the age of 18. (George Orwell called — he wants his storyline back.) And now this little republic of rulemaking plans to ban parents from smacking their kids.

Yes, parental slapping, the thing that so horrifies middle-class tofu mums, which brings tears to the eyes of New Dad newspaper columnists who are so scared of screwing up their kids that they think even the naughty step is a little too Hitler, is going to be outlawed north of the border.