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Yes, parents should be allowed to determine the best way of disciplining their child; every parent, and every child is different. But what we are talking about here is physically hurting a child. "Marking, cutting and bruising" is what the government - and any decent person - is against. It's committing these crimes against children that ought to get people in 'trouble'. Studies have been carried out for years regarding the smacking of children. "Ineffective at best, harmful at worst: the drawbacks of smacking even when performed by loving and supportive parents, hundreds of studies spanning several decades and different countries have found smacking to be associated with an abundance of highly damaging affective, cognitive, and behavioural child outcomes. Some examples are: - Aggression (Stoolmiller, Patterson & Snyder, 1997) - Criminality (Straus, Sugarman & Giles-Sims, 1997) - Alcohol abuse (Straus & Yodanis, 1996) - Child-to-parent violence (Ulman & Straus, 2000) - Decreased academic achievement (Straus, 2003) - Depression (Straus, 2000)" I suggest people read up on exactly what smacking a child results in before adopting it as a method of reinforcement. Yes it may have an immediate effect but look at the long term effects. Step out of the box - look at whats happening in society based on facts - not what you assume to be true. By the way, the quoted article can be found here. It presents the pros and cons of smacking. (I've never typed that word so much in my whole life).

The kids we bring up today are the same kids that will have the responsibility of looking after us in years to come. I'd like to think the way we treat kids today reflects on how they return the favour, although judging by the statistics recently released on the amount of abuse elderly people face everyday in their own home - by members of their family - seem to say otherwise.

Happy Birthday to the both of you!

What is a 'smack'? A tap on the back of the hand? Or a fully blown whack across the back of the head? Anyone who marks, cuts or bruises a child should be utterly ashamed of themselves. Children don't need to be physically hurt to learn from their mistakes. Hitting children is an old fashioned way of dealing with a problem. It takes the least amount of time and effort. And of course, children grow up with the mentality that if someone does something wrong, it can be rightfully punished through physical abuse.

What happened? Hope no one got killed!

It's because I added an answer to it and now everyone who voted has lost their vote! You could always open another one Mongo!

There we are then - did it have to reset the poll? .. urgh!

So does that mean that the police have found enough evidence to arrest him? Maybe he is guilty!

Same. For a comedian / entertainer he's never been very funny... except to look at maybe.

Ok so it happened a couple of days ago - Barrymore got arrested on suspicion of murder. You all probably know the story (if not, google it). Is he innocent or guilty?

Hollymount, its been raining non stop since monday... supposed to be like this until this weekend

Totally cute! You should make your own gallery Station lad, and put all the good pics you've taken in it!

The third kid didn't want to take part in the show because her parents were totally embarrassing... or something.

I know about the deaths, and I know about the bloke having his house raded over a lad found dead from drugs he'd taken what he bought off the bloke who had his house raided Didnt see anything on the news though...

Oh my god! Thats enough to put anyone off! I couldnt do it myself anyway... scared of heights, let alone jumping from one.

I agree that complaints need to be taken seriously - if the subject is serious! But moderating needs to be fair too. Ah well, like you said its over and done with... sometimes I just wonder. Anyway, your doing a nice job mr Darn - your polite and leave reasons for editing! Oh, by the way - the BNP is a political organisation of the extreme right.

I saw a poster today advertising a bungee jump at the bank top on the 14th of July. It seems the same one is heading for Newbiggin around the 24th... Does anyone know what its for? Is it to raise money for charity? Will it be by crane? And also: any of you lot gonna have a go!?

I thought the lick of paint on the street bins and benches was Bedlingtons whack at regeneration.

What the hell? A signature was removed because it said Vote BNP? If anyone is offended by the letters BNP they are pathetic and need to get out of their bedroom more often. Haha, I'm sorry I'm just totally bewildered by it... so can we have an explanation please? Actually don't bother - 'someone complained'. What about the other 99% of us who didn't complain? Get a grip!

Hahahahahahaha, that is excellent Mongo, you've got great talent!

A big drawback is that they can only generate when the tide is flowing in or out - in other words, only for 10 hours per day. Where did you hear these rumors? I've never heard anything about it... apparently theres only a handful of places in the world suitable for sea turbines... I reckon it would be well publicised if one of those places was Blyth.

Somehow, I don't think setting up a poll to eradicate members will work. Besides, how would you do it? You would have to list every member of the forum for it to be fair. Moderators are not a bad thing... I think Cympil was right about moderator rules / guidelines though. Standard member rules can't always apply because moderators have extended rights. Standard members cant edit, delete or even add jokes to peoples posts. Moderators should be asked to read moderator rules or guidelines before applying. About deleting posts... If posts can be edited, then I don't think theres a need to delete them. Generally, if a discussion requires noticeable moderation, then chances are that it's pretty heated. People comment because they want to have their say and if you take that away from them....well....it won't be pleasant! Giving reasons for editing or deleting posts would also be nice... it may make the author annoyed or angry, but it would probably avoid major drama and flames. Every forum needs moderators, but what does everyone else think?

That was a tad harsh.

Didnt the old forum have a live chat area? Or maybe it was something talked about back then too.

Yes. I said the words 'Black bag' and '!*!@# '. Also, I think it's fair enough editing posts where it needs to be done, but I disagree with re-writing them completely. Getting back to food, the takeaway up from Ziggys does a nice Chicken Chow Mein.