'So Gerard,' said Vanessa, 'You're a confirmed smacker.'
I replied: 'In the context of a loving relationship and a happy family home, there are times when boundaries are clearly drawn and if a child crosses that boundary, then it knows there will be consequences, one of which may well be a smack.' And so began a discussion on the rightness or otherwise of smacking.
I was a genuine guest. The previous day, an opinion poll had been published which showed that of the parents who responded, 87% had at some time smacked their children. This, the producer informed me, was the issue people were talking about in the pubs. So we talked about it on Vanessa.
