All four of my children have been to nursery from being babies and all have turned out to be happy, intelligent and well-balanced (well, considering who their father is) adults, so Lizzie's all-encompassing condemnation of the education system is, as always, blinkered and one-sided.

As for school dinners - they were practically inedible when I was at school in the 60s so I do think there has been a great improvement since.

BTW, do any of the "let's slag off modern mums" brigade actually have children in school at the moment - or have they even been into a school recently? Just interested to know where your well-informed opinions are coming from.