Seen and not heard

One reader asked Latta for help on how to handle kids who "keep begging for more and more and wind you down all the time till u say yes and give in." Latta responded: "tell them that you're having a sit down and a wee rest and that the smart thing for them to do would be to go find something quiet to do." If they don't listen then pick them up, put them in their rooms, and close the door ... bolting it with the lock you've just installed." Then go sit down, have a cup of tea, reflect on the general serenity of the moment, soak up the vibe, and then when you're good and ready go let them out. Repeat as many times as needed."

Kids eh? Can't live with them, can't have your way with them:

Several of the former Centrepoint children interviewed revealed their parents had sexually abused children before coming to the commune, which, said the researchers, raised "the possibility that there were some parents who decided to go to Centrepoint because of the opportunities provided for paedophile activity". Potter rejected this, and accusations he had produced drugs at the community in order to help him prey on young girls there."Having my way with them came first. Then if they wanted to, if they were older, you could introduce them to LSD."

It's not just me is it? Nigel Latta does not favour the sexual abuse of children, but it seems to me that - when you regard them as objects to be locked away when they are not wanted - you are putting yourself at one end of a spectrum; Potter, who used children for his pleasure, is at the other end.

But, you might protest, Nigel Latta is a clinical psychologist and that makes all the difference. Well, no, not really. Latta is a showman. He has books to sell and television to make. Having qualifications in clinical psychology gives him authority, but his selling point is being politically incorrect, and thus out of step with all those liberal professionals and those soft parents, all those child-centred fools. The combination of authority, celebrity and notoriety makes him the sort of person our Government loves, so it was he who was appointed to lead the enquiry into the repeal of Section 52 and it was he, according to an adoring Herald, who delivered the final word: also sprach Nigel Latta.

Of course, our playtime Prime Minister just loves hanging out with famous people, and hanging on their every word. Mr Key likes nothing more than the smell of success. He is successful, Mr Latta is successful. And this is a no-nonsense, politically-incorrect world we live in; a man's world where successful men act on their instincts, where ivory-tower academics and liberal do-gooders are ignored and where children will just have to learn to man-up and take their punishment. If hard-working parents are annoyed by their children, then there is always a bolt on the door.

It is not as if they are anything valuable, after all.