READING Stephen Dixon’s letter on parenting skills (HAS, May 15) I thought he was going to make some valid points.

After a reasonable attempt he reverted to type and began his usual diatribe of attacking the Conservative-led Government.

While this type of viewpoint exists the real point of the problems will be missed. Mr Dixon’s penultimate paragraph referring to “hypocritical ministers” shows he fails to look at the problem holistically.

There is an underlying failure at all levels to bring up children in accordance with society’s moral code.

Whether it be the feral scum who rioted last year for personal greed or the upper-class twerp of a millionaire rock star swinging from the flags of the Cenotaph, it matters not.

They all depict the failure of parents and illustrate a lack of respect for people across the board.

The celebrity culture embraced by the media sets the worst example to those most vulnerable.

Look at Russell Brand and his appearance before MPs the other day. He attended dressed as if he had been in the eye of a storm, not attending parliament.

Footballers (for some strange reason adulated by most of society) carry out acts of sexual and physical abuse, flaunt the law and behave in the most unsportsmanlike fashion on a daily basis – and get well paid for their antics.

It is time for the individual to make a stand, not be led by the Government, on how children should be reared.

The wooly-backed liberals of the 1960s and 1970s must look at the cesspool of human indignity they have created with pride – it is they not the Government who are responsible Colin Mortimer, Pity Me.