MP: Smacking Law Partly To Blame For Riots

It says "working class parents", is the law to be based on class then ?

I think if we smacked a few MP's we'd see some improvement.

I remember when I was a youth if we stepped out of line we would get smacked, and if we seriously seriously stepped out of line....belted. Youths these days have no respect/morals and are out of control. It's true parents these days are scared to even smack the child on the hand of fear the social services will get involved. Schools should be allowed to cane children. Parents should be allowed to smack there children. We need to bring strict discipline!

To allow WORKING CLASS to smack their children?
Does that mean The so called upper class nobs are/were exempt from this?
Maybe If somebody gave Blair and Camoron a good thrashing they may have grown up into decent people?

Do they really think that abolishing smacking is going to work for the small percentage of bad parents who beat their children, I don't think so. A bad parent that loses their temper or just lashes out in a blinded rage for no reason is not going to stop and think 'oh no I can't do this anymore it's against the law' . Thats like asking a drowning person to please be calm and not to panic these people wont stop unless they get help by other sources. The only people that are affected here are the good parents that want to bring their children into this world with respect and care for others and if that sometimes means the odd smack or too, there is no harm in that.

the problem is you dipstick . soft courts, soft judges, soft punishment, soft prisons. soft govenment.

But it was his nanny state Labour party that created the problem.Parents all over the UK are frightened of their kids.

Everything starts at home. Charity, disipline, respect, manners etc.
As a parent it's your responsibility to instill these values in your children.
A good slap on the back of the legs when they first start being naughty, and saying no and meaning it is the best way.

An interesting theory but not really borne out by the facts. When you have high unemployment, particularly amongst the young; when you have standards of morality set by the modern 'role models' seen on TV in the so-called 'reality' based programmes; when you have a greed and compensation culture that started in 1980 and has had little done to change it by successive Governments; when institutions such as the NHS and Education are constantly attacked by the popular press at the behest of politicians seeking personal advantage BUT with no real basis in fact - well smacking is just a very small facet. Let's face it, the riots have more to do with the way our society has been encouraged to go than by one single issue of humanity.

im 6FT 4" and mid 30ish i would not even think of rioting because of the values my father tought me partly by smacking me. i have full respect for my dad and i do believe if it wasnt for his stricktness i would be in prison now and very unhappy. So @ Steven maybe if big mumma put leroy over her knee and gave him a good spanking then big muma would of got some respect from leroy and he would of done as he was told and stayed in when told.

Smacking law. Haven't the MPs got anything better to do. That's why our kids mis-behave because we can't discipline them.

I had the cane at school,the belt off my dad and smack round the ear from the local copper.None of this did me any harm.It taught me respect (especially for my elders) and you made sure you did your best not to get caught doing anything you shouldn't be doing again.I despair of the way this country is heading and I especially despair of useless, dishonest and disinterested MPs whatever party is in power.

Now we are talking about a smack, not a beating Ok! It has worked since time began until the goodies came along and made the mistake of taking the responsibility away from the parent of bringing up a child by demonstration and instruction, both followed by a show of disaproval if ignored (The sharp shock of a smack ! Its called DISCIPLINE! We all have to have it or the world would be in trouble! Possibly thats why we are in the mess we are in now! This Politician has got it dead right.

Really Andy Elle? I come from a white area and the children who are 'feral' are the one's whose parents are too busy getting p*ssed in the pubs at every opportunity

Are the barmy army at last seeing the error of their ways? Better late than never. Next stop; 24hr drinking there are those who cannot pop in for the odd sociable drink and end up costing the NHS
and taxpayers a fortune.

Get real you political types,i`ve seen seven year old brats kicking the #$%$ out of mum on a railway station because they can`t get their own way.Stop this stupidity and start chastising the little monsters before we end up in anarchy!

And not just workingclass families either. The law is a nonsesne it leaves social workers more power than they should have especially given the very biased views they have about even the mildest of smacks. The so called research is deeply flawed often describing as violence any form of physical correction ranging from a tiny smack on the hand for a 2 yearold to a solid beating with a belt for a teenager. That kind of failure to define what is exactly is being done invalidates everything. An oft cited study is one in the States on Black parents and shows violent crime linked to spanking kids. It makes NO attempt to examine other factors such as poverty, unemployment, lack of education or indeed anything. It could just as easily be argued that without the spanking the Black children would have resorted to more violent crime. I am sick of social workers telling me I can't say "naughty"; I can't smack or spank; I can't use a naughty step....it's my job to raise my kid not some snotty 12 year old from Essex University

My children occasionally got a smack, not too hard, on the behind and they are now well balanced adults who praise us for their bringing up. Could the fact that they were brought up by TWO parents, mum AND dad, married, have any bearing on how they have turned out.??

If my children need a smack that they will get a smack. Full stop and no politically correct #$%$ in the Government or the EU will stop me. I WILL DO TIME. I WILL NOT HAVE MY CHILDREN GROWING UP DISRESPECTFUL. That is the problem with this country today, lack of respect for elders and too many third world ethnic immigrants who don't give a hoot for this country.P.S. Smacking wouldn't have stopped the blacks/asians/black-asian wanabees, going on a rampage across England, they were just looking for an excuse to do what they do best, rob.

It sounds like racial discrimination in that a white person has reddening of the skin, so therefore cannot use reasonable chastisement on their skin compared to other skin types? I agree that a little smack now and then does show a child right from wrong, especially if the child is putting themselves or others at risk. Not repeatedly needing a smack though, if you make yourself clear with a child, a warning should then be enough.