In the news

http://time.com/4862263/security-robot-fountain-knightscope-k5/

Check out the advert for the thing. Ridiculous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtuLB2duq2E

That video was put together by someone who has watched robocop too many times

Leadsom is on manoeuvres

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/07/andrea-leadsom-lets-slip-her-leadership-ambitions/

^^Once?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/acid-attack-fears-after-paramedic-attacked_uk_596ddc1ce4b0e983c058bd77

FFS - lucky in this case it wasn't worse. But whenever I hear of paramedics, doctors, firefighters being targeted, my heart sinks. What the hell motivates these cnuts?

Amazing...

It's really hard to read this stuff especially having kids oneself. I know that if anything like this were to happen to my kids (the bullying) I would beat the living fuck out of whoever was doing the bullying, regardless of their age. Probably not the best option but that's the way my brain works.

And you'd end up in prison, unable to be a father to your kid.

Just use a car as a weapon.

You barely go to prison for anything nowadays. I'd do it in such a way as to avoid it.

Indeed...

As someone who was once a kid who tried to beat the fuck out of the other kids who were making my life a misery, I can say from experience that it only made things worse. They saw it as entertainment, like bear-baiting.

Violence really doesn't help, and it really doesn't help to learn that way of reacting to things when you're a kid, as it takes a lot of time and effort to unlearn a temper when you're older.

Violence as a last resort does work. I was bullied constantly at school by one particular group of idiots because I was the lanky kid who was tall and could run fast. The last time he did it, I flipped, picked up a chair and put him in hospital with it. Yes it caused a load of drama and upset but no one at that school ever touched me again

So when is last resort violence acceptable? When your life is at risk? When you are particularly upset over your treatment? When you decide that you can smooth over your own problems by lashing out at other people too?

I had a similar experience during my time at school and as I have got older I realised that I was wrong to fight back the way I did. I used to tell the story in a similar way to you but there was a certain point in my life that I realised that I was just trying to sound like a tough guy based on a school playground incident and actually it would have been far better for me to solve my problems without smashing somebody's face in.

Ultimately, all it achieved was badly injuring another child who was then too afraid to carry on being a dick. It didn't stop anybody else. That's a lot of fear to impart on somebody because I didn't have the confidence to stand up for myself without using my fists.

Also, I'm fairly sure that sentencing takes into account the comparative vulnerability of the victim compared to the aggressor. I'd think that a grown man who has kicked the fuck out of a child in a preplanned manner, with the aim to receive a reduced sentence would have the book thrown at him.

I'm definitely not a tough guy, you couldn't get further from it tbh. All I know that if I saw my son/daughter coming home from school everyday and their life was clearly being made miserable by a certain group of people and I had exhausted the available avenues, I would have to take matters into my own hands. If that involved intimidating said persons or a more severe physical approach, then so be it.

I know that if anything like this were to happen to my kids (the bullying) I would beat the living fuck out of whoever was doing the bullying, regardless of their age.

Kids are 'orrid, but it's the adults that let them get away with it.

Very true

Violence as a last resort does work. I was bullied constantly at
school by one particular group of idiots because I was the lanky kid
who was tall and could run fast. The last time he did it, I flipped,
picked up a chair and put him in hospital with it. Yes it caused a
load of drama and upset but no one at that school ever touched me
again

So, based on one instance where you hospitalised someone, you think violence is a viable ongoing solution?

I'm sure you could make the deeply saddening argument was that my mistake was not putting anyone in hospital, but my experience was that it a) didn't end the bullying, and b) left me with anger issues that it took years for me to unlearn.

And all too often, parents with anger issues end up passing them on to their kids. I learnt it from my mum, who was a fiery character. I don't want to teach it to any kids I end up having.

there's some top-tier armchair psychology-ing going on up in here. go slower - i'm trying to write these nuggets down.

Protecting the public from crime, so long as it's not committed anywhere upstairs

there's some top-tier armchair psychology-ing going on up in here. go slower - i'm trying to write these nuggets down.

How is talking about one's childhood armchair psychology, exactly?

@mikec 's imagined reaction to his children being bullied is very understandable. Your love for your kids and the almost unbearable feeling when you see them suffer leads to very powerful emotions. But, as the father of three teenage kids at a couple of South London's finest state secondary schools, I know the last thing they want when they experience problems is their dad steaming in and laying down the law, and drawing more attention to them.

One time, when my daughter had just started in year 7, we were on a bus travelling back from school and some older girls from a rival school started teasing her on the bus. I spotted it too late but it was apparently vicious and, it was only when they got of the bus that the penny dropped as my girl was reduced to tears by the humiliation. I could have jumped off the bus and sorted the girls out, which might have made me feel better, but what my daughter needed was a hug and a kiss and reassurance - not her dad acting like an arsehole.

my parents had no idea that i was being bullied at school, i think at the time they put my lack of openness down to typical teenage behaviour. if they had noticed / realised what was going on and took it upon themselves to 'sort out' those involved, the embarrassment would have been unbearable. I expect such actions and the drama/excitement entailed would also have opened up the bullying to a wider pool of individuals.

when I was in high school another boy in my class was bullied for a short while by another kid. the bullied kid's older brother came in one day and had a very polite and stern word with the bully - problem solved! ... or so you would assume. the bullied boy suffered no further but he was to become one of the kids subjecting me to all sorts of violence and abuse little over a year later. /CSB

your three can't be far off kicking your ass for embarrassing them, anyway