"SPARE the rod and spoil the child" -- an old saying that has probably more relevance today than it ever had.

Politicians, in their wisdom, have caused the use of the cane and the birch to be abolished.

The result is that we now have a generation of children who have no respect for authority. The teachers can't touch them, nor the police, and the young ones know it only too well.

The Government has even been toying with the idea of banning parents from smacking their own children. No one condones child abuse, but interfering with parent rights is another matter.

It is said that the majority of crime in Bolton is committed by juveniles. They are protected even when the police catch them. How often do we see that their names cannot be published for "legal reasons"? In my opinion, if they are old enough to break into and vandalise property and to terrorise old people, they are old enough to have their names and addresses published.

Is it not therefore high time that these "legal reasons" were abolished? Maybe the shame of it might just galvanise the parents concerned to take an interest in how their children spend their time!

(Name and address supplied)