Our approach to paedophilia and sexual offences isn´t working- responses

Last week I had an article on paedophilia (or pedophilia, if you are on the other side of the pond) published in Salon, a digital magazine based in the USA. Since then, I have received many emails from readers who felt that the article resonated with them. Some confided heartbreaking stories of abuse and thanked me for my conclusions, while others admitted to feeling attracted to children and were angry that my article did not treat paedophilia as a sexual orientation like any other. With that in mind, I´d like to clarify a few things.

Not all paedophiles are predatory and not all sex offenders are paedophiles. To be attracted to children does not necessarily mean you are a danger to society- but unlike being gay, straight or bisexual, it does mean that you cannot fulfill your sexual urges without breaking the law and damaging a child, whether physically or mentally.

The keyword here is consent. My personal belief is that the age of consent should be lowered: it seems ridiculous that a 17 year-old could end up on the sex offenders´register for a perfectly natural ´roll in the hay´ with his 15 year-old girlfriend, for example. But we cannot apply that argument to a pre-pubescent child, and they must be protected at any cost.

Expat single parenting: If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain

This is an excerpt from a book I’m writing about our life in rural Spain, first published as an article in The Telegraph in 2013. My daughter’s name has been changed. 

I’m wired up to a microphone at the immigration office in Ronda, Spain. A fat orange file marked with my name lies on the desk, its contents unknown, and I’m being interrogated about every aspect of my personal life since my daughter was born by a social worker speaking rapid Andaluz.

Where is her father? When did we separate, and why? What am I doing in Spain? Does he know we are here? I feel like a criminal: anxious and guilty. But I am simply trying- like many other British nationals- to live my Spanish dream. My hands shake as I thumb through my pocket dictionary; it clearly wasn’t designed for this. Homesickness engulfs me and despite being in the country only three weeks, it feels like an eternity since that cold, dark morning we left England.

What’s wrong with British teenagers?

In light of a report earlier this year depicting British youth as a depressive, out-of-control, failing generation, Sophie McAdam spoke to teenagers and professionals to find out where it all went wrong- and what the Government should do about it.

In February, UNICEF published a report of child well-being in the world’s 21 richest countries. The UK’s astonishingly poor performance left us flailing around miserably at the foot of the table on three of the six categories assessed, and in the bottom third for another two. Its official: British children are more likely to be unhappy, failing at school, and have poor relationships with their families and peers. They are at higher risk of experiencing violence and bullying, drug and alcohol misuse, and underage sex than their contemporaries in other rich countries.

Big Brother is watching your child

The government´s latest plans appear to have been inspired by the film Minority Report, where potential criminals are arrested before they commit a crime.

Imagine the scene: a group of three year olds sit cross-legged on the carpet, clapping their hands and singing along merrily to ‘the little red robin’. That morning they have all painted a picture for their parents and played hopscotch in the yard outside.

Suddenly, a government official marches through the door and seizes a handful of these innocent pre-schoolers to take directly to the Youth Justice Board for questioning, before they are put on a ‘monitoring’ programme for the rest of their lives. Their crime? Well, we don’t know yet. But they might have been a little disruptive during assembly, or perhaps they come from a single parent family, or have an uncle who breeds pit bull terriers. Far fetched? I think not.

This week the Government has come up with its most preposterous proposal yet: screening children for pre-crimes.