Brian Jeffries advocated "a good slap" for a child having a tantrum yet stated "gone are the days when children were seen and not heard".

This gentleman, and I use the term loosely, needs to be reminded we are in the 21st Century, not the 19th.

What next? Should we be covering piano legs and condoning child labour? Perhaps he would like to see children (obviously not disturbing his auditory senses) sitting on their hands listening to his own peculiar, disturbing and senseless liturgy.

The NSPCC is lobbying Parliament on behalf of children for the same legal protection against assault as adults.

The common-law defence of "reasonable chastisement" should no longer be admissible in either civil or criminal proceedings through repeal or amendment of Section 1, Children and Young Persons Act 1933.

So should Mr Jeffries' "good slap" be around the head, limbs or buttocks?

Should it be of a certain force to stun or disorientate the child?

Is there an age limit for the recipient - say, a child who can walk but not talk, an infant of one day or three years?

How repulsive.

-A Sutton, Portslade