Mon 20 Nov 2006

Who's responsible for parenting?

Clive Anderson stands in for David Starkey tonight. His guests are Henry Porter, London editor of 'Vanity Fair', Admiral Sir Alan West and Oona King, former politician turned commentator.

The Education Secretary, Alan Johnson, has announced today that the forthcoming Education Act will create the power to impose orders on the parents of school bullies, backed up with £1,000 for failing to keep their children under control. Meanwhile, the Government is due to announce plans tomorrow to introduce mandatory parenting classes for the parents of problem children.

Whos responsible for parenting: the state or the parent, and does state involvement in family life in fact hinder familial cohesion? Should parents ever really be held accountable for the sins of the child? Or is it too late to start offering, or forcing advice about parenting to parents whose children have already gone off the rails?