IN the past week or so in parliament, we have been debating legislation on banning smacking children. I am not supportive of hitting children, but there is a real difference between hitting a child and a more gentle bump on the bum if they have been seriously naughty or endangered themselves.

For generations the human race has survived on passing down knowledge, but we all know children push the limits and, sometimes, mild discipline is needed. It is the same throughout the animal kingdom where anyone who has watched an Attenborough documentary will have observed wild animals giving their young gentle nudges when they are falling out of line.

As people and parents, we should all recognise the difference between abuse, which is already illegal, and acceptable discipline. Parents should have the ability to raise their children appropriately without fear of prosecution.

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Yes, children need protected from abuse, but perhaps this is one step too far. Are we going to have children as witnesses in court against their parents? How possibly can this be policed and what costs will be implicated? Surely the money and resources could be better spent on families already requiring assistance?

Here we go again. Yes, every party talks about it, because with the SNP in power we simply can’t get away from it – after all, it is all they’re interested in. Every other week there is a different excuse or potential reason to have another Indyref, yet there is no evidence of an increase in support – in fact, there is more evidence to suggest support has dropped.

The EU referendum is not a mandate for another independence referendum – it was the lowest number of votes the SNP have received at a recent election with just over one third of the votes cast. The SNP can’t even manage the devolved powers they currently have, and hand back other ones that they know they can’t manage. If they can’t manage them now, how could they possibly manage in an independent Scotland?

Derek MacKay has admitted Scotland is going to have a budget shortfall of £1billion over the next three years, which he naturally blames on Brexit. Strange, then, that the other three countries in the UK aren’t experiencing the same problem.