From the earliest possible age, millions of children are taught life-long lessons of pain by their parents; namely, how to use violence to ‘correct’ misbehavior. Yes, I am talking about spanking. Despite being described by world leading family violence experts as “the most prevalent cause of intimate partner violence in adult life”, spanking children remains completely legal in England. And I’ve never understood why. Not only does hitting a child fail to improve behaviour in the long term, it also exposes a striking—and heartbreaking—double standard in how society defines acceptable care. Ask yourself: If we decide it is permissible to hit a child to “correct” their behaviour, then how is that different from allowing someone else to hit their partner for the same reason? Spanking a child makes no sense; it doesn’t work, can cause extraordinary harm long term, and has no place in a modern, civilized society. So if Prime Minister Keir Starmer is to keep his promise of “halving violence against women”, how can he ever hope to do that, when he refuses to outlaw its most prevalent cause? What do you think? ~ In discussion with @drkaranrajan

2025-12-02