[Furface]

Speaking entirely personally, I beg to differ with most of what has gone before. There is nothing in the Child protection policies that is not exactly the sort of common sense we all moan has gone. It has simply been written down - SO WE CAN NO LONGER IGNORE IT. I have seen bullies operating at clubs; I have seen men and women who take too close an interest in children; I have known children "stalked" because of a photo in a paper. And I have also seen others who have seen what goes on and choose to look the other way, saying "Oh, it's only old Ambrose - he's harmless really". It has always been too easy to ignore bad practice - now it is a little bit harder. No, the policy doesn't assume everyone is a pervert, and it doesn't remove any protections from anyone that were there previously. The monster that has been released is the idea that anything can be 100% risk free (hence the ridiculous lengths some schools go to at sports days) or that we protect anyone by stopping them doing anything. No, protection comes from being aware of possibilities and knowing what appropriate steps are needed to counter them. And that is what the policy covers. And that is just common sense.