The British government is going to make the smacking of children by child minders illegal. As to whether or not parents can continue to instil some discipline into their unruly offspring by a swift crack around the back of the legs, the issue is still on Blunkett's cards.
"My parents used to thrash me with a large, thorny bramble when I was young," Blunkett commented when pressed. "It never did me any harm. Except for when they repeatedly belted me in the eyes of course."

But if the pain and suffering of Great British tykes is a bone of contention, Iraqi children barely deserve a mention on the television news. Apparently in one hospital in Basra alone, due to 12 years of UN sanctions and the impact of the recent war, ten children are dying on average a day.
That's in one single hospital, folks.
The same thing is happening across the country on a much greater and more inhumane scale.
It hasn't stopped Dubya, however, from strutting around wearing that idiotic smirk of his and declaring that "The Iraqi people are now liberated!"
From drugs, humanitarian aid and, most importantly, the news headlines it would appear. The bombs aren't falling, the attention-grabbing shots just aren't as exciting these days and so Iraq isn't important enough to receive full coverage any more.
Keep smacking those British kids, folks...and whilst you're there smack their ignorant parents, their ignorant political leaders and the ignorant fuckers who run the news companies. With a bit of luck it might knock a bit of humanity back into them.