One mother, the tears catching in her voice, told us how her daughter, aged 14, had been so drunk she had suffered a seizure and had to go to hospital. On another occasion, she drunkenly tried to set fire to her mother's bed.
'I had told her she was grounded because of her cheek and her drinking. She ran away and was gone all day. The police had to look for her before she eventually turned up at home.'
It may be that parents in the UK have drawn the wrong conclusions from France - long held up to us as a country where teenagers are less likely to be heavy drinkers. It seems that it's the habit of regular family meals there which has the beneficial effect, rather than allowing children to sip wine.
I have been batting the idea around of a story in which it is revealed that a wicked enchanter has cast an evil spell on England that causes everyone there to begin forgetting who they are and how they are supposed to live, how they are supposed to raise children and what, generally, life is for.
It's the "wicked enchanter" part that is the story; the rest is just what we now call "the news".
1 comment:
Who was the Enchanter, and/or when did s/he enchant? Could it have been Shirley Williams taking over the schools? Was it Kinnochio? Or did it happen in 1997?
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