As the likelihood that child-smacking will be outlawed in the Principality grows, property prices along the Wales/England border are set to show a healthy rise. Theoretically, say estate agents and parents’ groups, mums and dads will want the benefits of living in Wales, like cheaper tuition fees free prescriptions and compulsory welsh lessons. But they’ll also value the convenience of proximity to the English border, so they can continue to hit their children with the minimum inconvenience. “A house, say, in the Welsh part of Knighton, in Powys, would suit a young family,” said Michael Griffiths of the Border Estate Agent Federation. “For most in the village, the border is in walking distance, so it’d be easy to take a child into England, hit it legally and come back again in time for tea.” But elsewhere in Wales, child-beating parents are complaining that a journey to chastise a child within the law would be unfairly time consuming and expensive. One coach operator in Aberystwyth is considering low cost “slap junkets”, so that West wales families can travel together, hit their children in England and maybe do a bit of shopping or see a show in one day. Asda, which has already established smack-friendly areas in its bigger outlets is planning more of the same in English stores along the welsh border.
Back in Knighton, which straddles the Welsh English border, one child is planning a very different way to exploit any change in the law. Karl Smethurst, 13, lives in a house on the English side of the town. But the bottom of the Smethurst family garden is in Wales. “I’m going to steal a bottle of my dad’s beer, have a big swig of it in front of him, say “bollocks” then run down the garden with my mobile phone and dial 999 if he starts hitting me. I can’t wait!”
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Parents “to take children to England to hit them” if Welsh smacking ban succeeds
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nickb
offlineMemberPosted 1 year ago # -
simonjmr
offlineMemberConsider adding in that whilst slaps must be administered in England, it's cheaper to get medical treatment in Wales, because presrciption charges have been scrapped.
Also you could work in an angle that carrier bags are now 5p, so asphixiation is cheaper in England.
Posted 1 year ago #
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