LICENSED TO HUG
By Frank Furedi and Jennie Bristow
Civitas. 64 pages. £5.00
ISBN 978-1-903386-70-5
I was driving down a road in Oxfordshire recently when I noticed a pretty little girl, not more than five or six years old, skipping along a pavement by herself. I thought it strange that she should be out alone and near a busy road. Idea number one: I should stop and check that she is all right and knows her way home. Idea number two, close on the heels of idea number one: if I do, will I be accused of some sinister motive? Fortunately for all concerned, before I had time to change gear, I noticed a mother (presumably) running towards the child with outstretched arms. All was well. My moral dilemma was postponed.
There was no such happy ending when in March 2006 a bricklayer drove by an unaccompanied toddler. That toddler who had ‘escaped’ from nursery was later found drowned in a pond. At the inquest the bricklayer voiced his regret at his decision not to turn back and help the child. He said, ‘One reason I did not go back is because I thought someone would see me and think I was trying to abduct her’.
