Hamilton Saint

In this country teachers are legally obliged to report situations where they have a strong suspicion that a student of theirs is being abused or neglected. If they do not report, and it emerges later that a serious case of abuse could have been stopped if they had responded quickly, they are liable to prosecution. It can be a difficult call sometimes. Cuts and bruises would seem straight-forward, right? But what about a child saying that they "get bashed about by their Dad"? That would require reporting. The consequences can be traumatic. Teachers and parents can be dragged through horrible ordeals because of bureaucratic bungling. The system doesn't always process these cases wisely. But, all things considered, there have to be legal safeguards set up to protect vulnerable children.

In your opinion, perhaps, but there are some parents who just don't get it. For them, discipline = abuse. Children need protection occasionally from those who have no idea how to bring up children. Parental rights, therefore, cannot be absolute.

Yes, granted, but the state does have a duty - a legal obligation - to intervene when children are being abused.

"Nothing works better than Advil" - so, use nothing!

The word film pronounced as though it were a two-syllable word - filum. Where did that come from?

Yet another irritating example of using one part of speech as another - using a verb, here, as a noun.

This oft-expressed argument that 'My parents hit me and it never did me any harm is nonsense' - especially when it's followed by the statement 'So now I hit my kids, too.' The harm it did you was to persuade you that it was a legitimate and effective method of discipline. Think about it; the worst experiences you had in childhood with ineffective teaching were the ones where you were physically abused. [some of you may be too young to have had teachers who hit you, pulled your sideburns, threw chalk at you, etc.] The best discipline you received was not based on punishment and hitting at all, it was based on love, respect and knowledge. Good teaching and good parenting is based on respect, not fear and punishment. And, of course, pyschological abuse is even worse than physical abuse.

I suggest you begin and end those two paragraphs with quotation marks; that way, we know immediately that they're a quote from The Telegraph, rather than opinions of your own.

Another complaint about using a noun as a verb. "Hemingway's advice impacted on the writing of Martha Gellhorn." Impact is a noun. Write it this way: "Hemingway's advice had an impact on the writing of Martha Gellhorn."

If I may quote Monty Python: "You're a cruel man - but fair!"

"In the real world". You hear that phrase a lot in educational institutions - schools, colleges and universities. It usually accompanies a criticism or insult!

And, of course, when someone begins a statement with the phrase "to be perfectly honest", you know they're about to lie or disimmulate; and when they start an opinion with "to be perfectly frank", you know they don't actually believe a word they're saying. Honestly.

Let's face it, the rational view, in the long-term, is that dealing with environmental degradation is in humanity's self-interest. But that realisation is then trumped by the short-term self-interest of those pushing the current system - they're driven by greed and the lust for power. And the philosophy or religious view that underlies their attitude is that human-beings have dominion over the planet; they believe that humans have the right, even the duty, to exploit all other animals, and to exploit all the natural resources available - regardless whether they're renewable or not.

The least said about your language, mate, the better!

Absolutely. But at the end of the day, the bottom line is this, peeps will be effected by crappola they hear all the times in the media. Peeps brains have literally begun to rot - as the content of the media has gotten more crass and vulgar. Innit, mush?

That's a Jamaican idiom.

The word medal is a noun not a verb, as I mentioned in a different thread. What you ought to write is: "If Daley doesn't get a medal there ...".

Not relevant? I see Mitt Romney was speaking in Israel a day or two ago. He was essentially encouraging their regime to bomb the nuclear facilities in Iran.

The CND was formed in 1957. The first Aldermaston march was in 1958. So the movement pre-dates the "flower power era" by about a decade.

The CND is a "swipe against the whole armed forces"? How do you reckon that, then?

McDonalds freaks?

He was Canadian - from small-town, rural Ontario. Might be described by some as a "rube", or a "hick". He might have been unsophisticated, but he was well-read and well-travelled.

Within living memory, has to be the Tin Man. How many games did we get out of him? Four? Five?

My father-in-law (R.I.P) used to refer to women as "gals". Guys and gals. What term would you prefer? Blokes? [Which, I just discovered, thanks to the COD, is a Shelta word.]

So, are you planning to be a "nattering nabob of negativity" for the whole f*ckin' Olympics?