There are times when I find myself sounding like some pre-Spock opinionator about parenting. Usually this happens at about 9.00pm at school, where I work, after a day of teaching and a round of withered sandwiches for the troops before they conduct four hours of parent-student-teacher interviews. The instant coffee and UHT milk might have something to do with it also. But I think the main cause is well-heeled sociopaths who are old enough to know better and yet too young to be held accountable as you would any adult in the street. Think Law & Order scene in the interview room with some recalcitrant and their passive or litigious parent (take your pick), backed by the knowledge that not too long from now the little lovely will be behind a wheel on a road near you and on management track at multinational graduate recruitment whatever. Now where is my sense of closure that L & O deliver so well?