‘Oh you just wait’, various parents of teenagers have said to me, ‘Just you wait’. I’ve pressed them on what exactly is so bad about teenagers, but haven’t heard anything that sounds too awful. Specific examples have included: ’They eat you out of house and home’. Hmmmm, better than two-hour lunch-a-thons where you try in vain [...]

Last night, I watched a TV program that’s become an endangered species. Cutting Edge: Four Sons versus Four Daughters was a reality show, but – hold the front page – it didn’t try to humiliate the people it was filming.  What’s more, the people concerned were two middle class families, leading lives of uncomplicated happiness [...]