SUPER-NANNIES TO THE RESCUE

The British Government is to invest £4M ($7.6M) in a scheme to provide "super-nannies" to teach parents how to control unruly brats. 77 regions of Britain with big problems of ant-social behaviour will be targeted.

PM Tony Blair says that poor parenting is causing "incalculable" harm to children and is bad for society.

The "super-nannies" are actually child psychologists who will be concentrating on deprived areas of the country. Their job will be to advise parents how to, well........ parent. parents will also be encouraged to read a book which gives tips on how to control children.

Denying accusations that the government is interfering with families, Prime Minister Blair said, "No-one's talking about interfering with normal family life. But life isn't normal when you've got 12-year-olds out every night, drinking and creating a nuisance on the street, with their parents not knowing or even caring. In these circumstances, a bit of nannying, with sticks and carrots, is what the local community needs, let alone the child."

Earlier this month, a survey for the Institute for Public Policy Research revealed that Britain's yobs.... err, youths were the worst behaved in Europe. In all areas such as drugs, drink, violence and promiscuity, our little darlings came top of the hit parade.