Blair was asked: "Do you smack your kids? Did you?" When he failed to reply immediately, Wark asked him: "Did it cause a problem?"
Blair said: "No, I think actually, funnily enough, I'm probably different with my youngest than I was with my older ones."
Misunderstanding his reply, Wark asked him: "What, you do smack the younger one?" Blair, whose children range in age from five to 22, replied: "No-no, no-no. It was actually the other way round but ... I think, look, this smacking ... I mean, I agree with what you just said, I think everybody actually knows the difference between smacking a kid and abusing a child. "But I, if I can honestly say this to you -- I think the problem is when you get these really, really difficult families, it's moved a bit beyond that." ENDS
The problem is that in this judgement of really really difficuly families (unlike his own) our Prime Minister has undermined the whole of the Government's training of those who work in child protection. Which teaches them that everybody does not know the difference between smacking a kid and abusing a child. There would be little point in our Government employing these people if everybody did know this.
Can I honestly suggest that this statement is dangerous and simply not true? As rather like falling over - the difference in the outcome of exactly the same action, is only pure luck. Which is why the focus is on preventing tripping hazards rather than trying to just patch-up the damage caused by falls. When this is possible and often it is not.