The Old Hack

The news homepage of Orange, here in France, runs a daily survey about a topical subject.  Today’s is “should France introduce a law to ban smacking children”.

 The subject is topical because Paris representative to parliament, Edwige Antier, wants to introduce a bill which would ban all forms of corporal punishment, including smacking children.  Madame Antier cannot be called a liberal by any stretch of the imagination.  She campaigned actively in 2005 against a children’s book “Jean a deux mamans” (John has two mummies) which depicted a male child being brought up in a lesbian relationship, which she considered “marginal” and undesirable.

 She is, however, a practising paediatrician who has written many books and articles over a number of years and who believes unswervingly that children who are disciplined with violence will themselves be likely to turn into violent adults.

 As an expatriate Brit, admittedly living in the countryside and well outside the boundaries of any huge city like Paris, I am bound to say that my personal experience of the behaviour of French children as compared to British children is incredulity about how polite, respectful and community spirited they are.  Of course this is a subjective generalisation and of course there is naughtiness, petty crime – even occasionally violence – but the incidence of violent crime among teenagers has not reached the frightening proportions it has in many British towns and cities.  Maybe there are just too many criminal teenagers allowed to roam free in the UK?  Well actually, no.  In England and Wales there are currently over 3,000 young people in jail.  In France, with a not dissimilar population, there are 530 (Source:  The Open University)

 John Muncie, professor of criminology at the Open University, claims that: “There is no correlation between crime rates and the numbers in custody” adding that although crime rates have actually fallen, the number incarcerated has risen and continues to do so, with a very high rate of re-offending.  Says Prof Muncie: “Whatever the system is trying to do, it is clearly failing.”

 In Great Britain, smacking children per se is not unlawful, but if the child is smacked hard enough to leave a mark, then the parent or guardian administering the smacking is liable to a maximum five years’ jail.  There is much pressure for a law to totally outlaw the practice.

 So what is the greater deterrent to children and young people where violence is concerned?  The threat of being smacked by a parent or guardian - or the threat of being locked up in prison?  Are incarcerated British youngsters more likely to re-offend than smacked French youngsters?

 The question is a rhetorical one.  The results (so far) of the Orange poll are factual.  They are as follows:

To the question: “should France introduce a law to ban smacking children?”

“YES, IT’S TIME”: 3.7% “ DON’T CARE”: 1.65% “HOW RIDICULOUS": 95.28%

 I leave you to draw your own conclusions – debate very welcome.

What wouldn’t you do to get your hands on some free cash?  A new web payment solutions company from Belgium, known as rentabiliweb, advertising in English, French and (oddly) Romanian decided to set up a stunt in Paris at the weekend.  They would present themselves at the Eiffel Tower, where they would distribute around 40,000 Euros in small purses, each containing an advertising leaflet about the company and a banknote of a value between 5 and 500 Euros (about £4.50 to £450)

According to police sources, about seven thousand mainly young people turned up from 7am in the cold and rain in the hope of receiving a free handout. One young man, unemployed for the past year said: “I may not still believe in Father Christmas, but a hundred euros wouldn’t do me any harm.” By eleven o’clock, the area around the landmark tower was awash with hopeful recipients, causing disruption to traffic and policed by only a handful of security guards.

 The Paris Préfecture had previously warned the organisers that the public distribution of cash for publicity was illegal, but they did not have the power to ban the event, merely to prosecute if and when the law was broken.  Now the Préfecture complained to the organisers about the civic disruption and requested they cancel the event. 

 The organisers complied.  The crowd got wind of the fact that their long, cold, wet wait had been in vain and things turned ugly.  A section of the gathered crowd turned on the police, throwing missiles and vandalising a police car.  A press photographer was beaten.

 Police say a dozen arrests were made with nine people being held in custody following the disturbance.  The Paris Préfecture has announced its intention to take formal action against the organisers, while the mayor of Paris’s VIIth arondissement, Rachida Dati has condemned the event as “an irresponsible and unacceptable provocation (to violence)”

Source: Associated Press France   Photo by the author - feel free to steal this one if you want!

AFP Ottawa reported last night on the death of Thatcher and the resulting panic in certain quarters of the Canadian capital.  Yes, you heard me right – and no – nobody else seems to be running with the story.  Let me explain….

 A group of the good and worthy parliamentarians of Canada were gathered Tuesday evening for an official gala dinner to pay homage to Canadian servicemen and women and their families.

 During dinner, one of the Canadian ministers (not named to protect his or her blushes) received a text from the absent Transport Minister, John Baird, saying simply “Thatcher died”.  The hapless recipient immediately forwarded the text to his colleagues.

 The ensuing panic among the band of admirers of the Iron Lady grew stronger until the Prime Minister ordered his office to put calls through to Buckingham Palace and Downing Street who were not unnaturally surprised and were able to confirm that to the best of their knowledge, she of the handbag and grating voice was alive and kicking.

 A deeper investigation revealed that the Transport Minister had been referring to the death of his 16 year old cat, Thatcher, named after his British heroine.  Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, was not available for comment.

Today's image - "cat on a hot stone ledge" - available for purchase copyright the author

The Old Hack has received a request for help from a young lady whose baby has recently been diagnosed with Leigh’s Disease. She has been told her baby is unlikely to live beyond the age of seven years.

 The young lady in question has limited literacy skills, and is quite desperate to understand more about the disease and, above all, to be able to have some support from others who have been through what she is presently enduring.

 Leigh’s Disease, otherwise known as Leigh’s Syndrome, is an incurable disease affecting the central nervous system and causing progressive degeneration of motor function, leading to certain death. Fortunately, Leigh’s Disease is rare, affecting just a very small section of the population.

 The saddest thing about Leigh’s Disease, is that its victims are nearly always infants aged between three months and two years. Once a child is diagnosed, life expectancy can vary between about two and seven years, with a very few infants surviving until their mid-teenage years. Although special diet can prolong life expectancy, there is to date no cure.

 The disease is genetic in nature and can be passed by both male and female parents, who may carry the rogue DNA without any prior knowledge or incidence of the disease within their immediate families. Should both parents be carriers of the disease, there is a 25 percent chance of offspring being affected by the disease.

 If you or anyone you know is affected by Leigh’s Syndrome, or can assist in identifying a support network or information source, please contact me and I will pass the relevant information to the baby’s mother. If you are well-connected, please take just a few minutes to relay this request to anyone you know who may be able to help.

 To endure the pain of having a child diagnosed with such a disease is dreadful in itself. To be in the dual position of being unable to communicate easily with others is unimaginable.

 Please help in any way you can. Thank You.

I was struck today by an item in the news concerning the proposed introduction of careers advisers to schoolchildren as young as seven years of age.  I’m all for career-based learning and certainly as far as the Old Hack is concerned, a little career advice of any sort would have been welcomed in my early teens, before I discovered rock music, sex and alcohol.  I may have made more of my life – who knows – though I have few regrets about the varied path my working life has taken over the years.

 Seven, however, seems a little early.  It got me thinking about what career advice and work-based training may lead to in our schools of the future.  Come with me, if you will, on a little journey to a school (Let’s call it Paddington Road Junior).  The year is 2019 and the head is entertaining the new Education/Business Secretary and his entourage on a tour of various classes…..

 “Yes, Lord Milliband.  This is our biggest class, though we do try hard to keep the numbers of pupils down to double figures as best we can.”    

 “What class is it?  This is train driving stage one.”

 “Mind your footing here in the dark sir.”

  “Why is it dark?  Today’s lesson is about driving underground trains – we find that very popular at present.”

 “Yes it’s partly the excitement of the unknown, but possibly more to do with the RMT now that Bob Crow has been made life president – two extra weeks’ holiday each year is a big incentive.”

 “Yes sir, I do understand that industrial action is not part of the curriculum, but your department’s guidelines insist that we expose the children to all aspects of media coverage of their chosen careers..”

 “Next door.  Yes of course Minister….”

 “The poor child who has just vomited was unable to cope with the gravity force of the rotation unit.  We find this happens rather a lot I’m afraid, but if they will insist on enrolling for astronaut training…well we just have to respect their wishes – Your Equality of Opportunity and Human Rights legislation has ensured that, sir.”

 “No sir, it’s true we don’t have too many girls in either the engine drivers or astronaut’s classes.  It’s not that they are not given every opportunity and encouragement…”

 “At this age, sir, we find our girls are often more interested in the pop idol or fashion model career courses, and I have to say we have the same difficulty in reverse.  We recruit very few of the boys to these classes.”

 “Yes, your lordship.  These girls are on the course.  They are taking their lunch break.”

 “You’re absolutely right, sir, they aren’t eating.  We do of course encourage good nutrition, but these girls have their hearts set on their career path and we have to put the children’s wishes first.  We do insist they drink plenty of water, though.

 “The itinerary for this-afternoon is to visit the Formula One racing driver’s track, weather permitting and then a quick tour round the flight simulator followed by a visit to the TV Studio, where Carol Vorderman is giving a talk about how to make money out of just about everything you do.”

 “Maths and English departments?  Why no, sir.  We simply can’t provide the funding any more.”