I know this is a delicate subject, and one which nobody dare say anything about in case of reprisals from the Government's Department of Lunacy, but the latest proposals from Nanny should be enough to strike fear into the hearts of every parent. Not fear of perverts doing nasty things with our children, but fear of the fear of it, which is now setting us one against another, and making us not only suspicious of each other, but suspicious of ourselves. The vast majority of fathers (and mothers, for we should never forget Myra Hindley), whether of boy children or of girl children, are as protective of the children of other mothers and fathers as they are or were of their own, and the networks of parental friendships and trusts are something which binds us together as friends and even co-parents (in the sense that when you entrust your child to us we behave as we think you would, so that they are comfortable and trusting wth us.)
None of the protective measures which have been set up at enormous cost has made, is making, or will make, a ha'porth of difference. The sort of people who want to prey upon children don't behave in ways that governnments can legislate against. They will control their urges until they've got clearance, and then they will have a field day, with an entree into any youth group that takes their fancy. They are, as our bumbling Minister for Children admits, very clever at getting what they want.
They can spin their words as much as they like, these nannies of our alarmist State, but the fact remains that for possibly the first time in this country a lot of us adults - 11,000,000 or so - are presumed guilty until the electronic apparatus of the State says we're innocent.
It is an awful fact that about one in ten children will have been abused in one way or another by the time they reach puberty. But it is also a very relevant fact that the majority of such abuses are committed by family members or other children, and they are not covered by this massively expensive grabnet. So this draconian measure isn't going to do much for them.
What I fear is that it will be a golden opportunity for nasty neighbours to make malicious complaints about people, and have those complaints recorded and used to blacken someone's record. This isn't hypothetical, for last year someone falsely accused me and my wife (and two other families) of persecuting him because he is gay, and we were all hauled up before the local 'Safety Partnership' to explain ourselves. And there will be no redress for victims of false accusations under the ISA scheme, for the information about you will be kept secret and the basis of a bureaucrat's - not a court's - decision not to allow you anywhere near a child will also be kept a secret.
Sensible adults, even those who have been CRB checked, make sure that they are never alone with a child, and not only for the child's protection but their own, for far too many people's lives have been damaged by false accusations.
The ISA was set up in the wake of the Soham murders. Matthew Parris, writing in The Times, had this to say:
Those murders would almost certainly never have happened were it not for the incompetence of the police, social services and education authorities. The result is that in consequence of the failure of three state authorities, a fourth state authority has been set up.
And today Libby Purves picks up the baton:
What can we do? Well, we can stop electing halfwits, for a start, especially when they might be daft enough to become government ministers.
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