n response to Alistair Thompson: A slap in the face for common sense, Malcolm Marchesi wrote:

My wife and I raised five sons all born within an eight-year period. They are now all approaching middle age with families of their own. None of them can remember either my wife or myself smacking them. I on the other hand remember very well the rare occasions when I felt it necessary to give them a quick ‘clip’. Violence it was not and describing it as such does a disservice to those poor innocents who do suffer from violence.