A Bloody Good Thrashing

That David Cameron is utterly shameless in his pursuit of votes, isn't he? Even an old cynic like me was shocked at the way he was so quick to try and exploit that business up Doncaster-way where those two boys beat and tortured two other young lads. There he was, the verdict in the court case barely cold, using Prime Minister's Question Time to claim that this case was yet another symptom of 'broken Britain', and that such violence was far more widespread than the government wants to admit. Well, perhaps it is widespread in the kind of places Dave and his pals frequent - those private schools and gentleman's clubs are pretty big on administering beatings, I'm led to believe. The main difference between them and the Doncaster case is that people actually pay for the privilege of being abused in these institutions. Actually, that's something that has always perplexed me - people who decry bullying and violence against children are frequently prepared to send them to private schools which, traditionally, believe in the application of corporal punishment and encourage the exploitation and abuse of younger pupils by older children through the use of systems such as 'fagging'.

Indeed, it is one of the great paradoxes of our age that the very people who are apparently most outraged by such incidents involving child-on-child violence as the Doncaster business and the Jamie Bulger case, are often the very same people who advocate the re-introduction of the birch for young offenders. They also seem to be very keen on the idea of subjecting the young to brutal prison and military regimes as punishment. Above all, they denounce the rise of the 'nanny state' and 'political correctness' and nostalgically invoke the 'good old days' when policemen were allowed to give kids a 'clip round the ear' and parents could administer a 'bloody good hiding'. But Cameron shouldn't despair at what he claims is 'broken Britain'. Surely there's a great future for violent, sadistic children? I mean, if he gets into power and throws the Human Rights Act out of the window, then there is bound to be a demand for brutal policemen to beat confessions out of suspects, and torturers to get the truth out of those alleged terrorists. Happy days!