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Is Scotland right to ban spanking? Is spanking actually what was previously deemed "justifiable assault" in Scotland, or was that just an excuse for brutality against children?—•—Yes, it’s assault, not “justifiable”, just assault.The only real purpose of spanking is to allow an incompetent carer to relieve the stress of their incompetence.Children should be protected from the physical violence of others to at least the same degree as we protect adults¹.Children are not property and the duty of care adults owe to children, should not and must not allow a privileged position with regard to inflicting physical punishment.As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child the UK are aware of it’s provisions.Having ratified it, the UK should be keen to apply all of it’s provisions in all of it’s member countries².—•—¹ United Nations Convention on the Rights of the ChildArticle 191. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.From — Convention on the Rights of the Child—² What legal force does the UNCRC have?—In Scotland there is the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland who works with his team to protect children's human rights.—

Actually most cats who are “house cats” do so of their own accord; the do not want to go at all; even if tempted.The last cat I adopted was called Spider who had been confiscated from the previous “owner” (more like abuser! ) by the Animal Protection operation/charity in the UK the Royal Society for Protection of Animals (RSPCA).I had lost my last cat James, and have no idea where he disappeared to, just went out one night and never came home. I think he was run over by a car or some similar fate as he had no fear of anything ! Even if I came home from home and he was waiting to come in, he would hear the engine of my car and would suddenly pop up form nowhere. The problem was that he assumed that if he had seen me, then I would have seen him, braked so he could cross the road in front of me. I suspect that he tried this with another car and he lost ! (-) .I adopted Spider (big black and hairy and hid in corners) just like a garden or house spider in you living room or garage.-:) . Indeed when I decided that I wanted her, (more to the point chose me), I was asked by the RSPCA where she was going to stay and did I live on my own and/or had a family, particularly with small children?They told me that she had been a rescue animal confiscated from the person who had “looked after her- (like hell) “ and thought it was safer that she lived in a quiet protected home. I told them I lived in a first floor flat (one storey above ground level in English law), but there could be issue with her access to the flat as although I have a front door to the street level, she never ventured out of it in the time that she stayed with me (about 7 years). I did the usual trick of leaving the front door open, and letting her have a sniff, but even by that time she had decided it was “too scary out there”. So whoever had beaten her up or teased her the damage was irreversible.To give people who have not been to the UK we are probably more affectionate and take care of our pets, (sadly) more than our children, it should be noted that that the main pet and animal welfare operation (RSCPA) has a Royal Warrant; whereas our main Child Protection and welfare charities only have National Status ! The only exception being where there is serious Domestic Violence or Neglect in which case the child/young person is taken by the Police (under a disguise) and made Wards of Court and placed in to emergency Foster Care.These are approved an high level [criminal] security cleared adults who take care of the child, as carers, and the child has their own bedroom and there are checked by our Social Security Operations, before even allowed to be deemed as “immediate place of safety carers/Guardians. These are not homes in the strict sense part families prepared to accept children (and those with severe learning difficulties) and keep the child fed, clean and for school as Fostered Children. It was not until I discovered 15 years ago that there is a huge difference between fostering and adopting a child ! Not to mention the paper work -:)Ironically in the UK the process of a cat, dog horse, indeed any animal being adopted for care having been confiscated from their previous “owners” for ill- treatment and the person “adopting them” is almost as strict, perhaps more so than adopting a small child ! (Seriously).Both the first cat I adopted (through my sister) and has been with an elderly person who had had to give her up as the warden controlled accommodation she was being transferred to did not allow pets. In my view and certainly the way Bubble behaved was a hell of a tearaway, and doubtless distressing to both. That in itself was hear breaking. However the documents were signed and I took her home that day.Now, this is an indication of the amount of care that the animal charities take and precautions in place.At the time of Bubbles adoption, I was living with my parents, so although I was out of the house, my mother in particular made sure of Bubbles’ well being; but she left the “evening care” to me. Now, this is the interesting twist and something we didn’t know was going to happen, that was a few months later, totally unannounced, and RSPCA Officer called at my parents house unannounced with a copy of the “adoption certificate” and aske to see Bubbles so they could be assured she was OK, but more to the point what provisions we had taken. Again like a child, had she got secure sleeping areas and how was /when she fed, and as it happened Bubbles was in the house. They were more than happy she was looked after. Indeed a further three months down the line they did another surprise visit.Now I already had had plans for Bubbles’ welfare and particularly as an older cat the costs of vets fees, feeding etc. The net result was that I thought it would be a good idea to set some sort of insurance. I didn’t lime the pet insurances that are available at the time, even now as they are not sincere, and cost a lot of money for the (little) protection they provide.So I decided to set up a deposit account on Trusteeship for her, with me as Trustee. The account was drawn down as “Christopher (middle name) Richards Re: Bubbles. The same way you set up an account for a child between the ages of 0 and 7 years old. However due to legal reasons relating to accountancy and tax, given that Bubbles was about to turn 8 years old the bank and I decided it was best that we made it a Trusteeship. Hence the account changed from an account on referral to a Trusteeship, so actually Bubbles now has a legal identity albeit under my trusteeship. More to the point the Inland Revenue accepted it ! -:)The advantage was that the cat no only had her “own money” but also from my point of view the interest that was created within the account, actually was in the cat’s name. Since she was under 16 years old, the interest could not be taxed. Nor could I be taxed as I was holding the money in Trusteeship. Both me and moggy very happy.My next cat (after Bubbles past to the great cat basket in the sky) was called James, again an adopted cat from the RSPCA. He was the opposite end of the scale of Bubbles and was very much the “Tom Cat” you see in cartoons. However although he was much younger, I still thought it was a good idea to keep the savings account open. So I went to the bank to tell them that Bubbles was no longer with me, but I had adopted a new cat called James. Of course this had slightly different legal connotations, since I needed James’ name substituted for Bubbles as if he had inherited it.That meant the confirmation of Bubbles being confirmed dead by the vet, but also that James needed to be applied to the account. By this time of course the legal rules had changed. So again his adoption certificate from the RSPCA had to be show to the bank so they could suspend the account in the name of Bubbles, and transfer it in legal, accounting procedure for James to be applied. Indeed that account when suspended was “ C - - Richards re Bubbles (Deceased). That was because in Law due to the way I had set the account up she was a legal “person”.However after all the internal clearances had gone through ( almost waived by the Government Authorities as they had seen the joke and OK it was tax evasion of a sort £14 per year is hardly going to send the UK in to economic “melt down” -:) ), the new account was opened, with a new account number.However the account now read as “ (my name) as Trustee of James. This of course had other legal implications since I could put money in to James Account and if anything happened to my affairs, then James held his money in his own right albeit in Trusteeship. So even if I went bankrupt, the cat couldn’t. -:)Of course another score against the “system” in my favour. Free interest on in effect a deposit account although the money allocated to the cat as a “legal person”, as they are under 18 your are their Guardian and Trustee at First Instance (English Legal Term). However in law still the cat’s money.Like all these things, whilst “bending the law” slightly, the amount of real interest being avoided for taxation purposes not worth even the smile it raised with both the bank and the UK Inland Revenue.So a standing joke may be, particularly the branch which held the account for both Bubbles, James (in particular) and Spider a long standing joke, when I came to withdraw money. Ironically and equally a safety catch too.In all seriousness who would expect an account drafted in the name of C -` Richards, Re: James would realise that it as a cat not a child -:). So if they stole the pass book and not knowing the floor limit (where a third party bank is asked to pay money out of an account not in their branch ledgers is required to make enquiries with the holding branch to verify that all is in order. And a good thing to.Of course in my case I had the extra security in not just the name “James” being a human, but equally that likely to be that of a small child. Children over the age of 10 can hold their own savings accounts in their own name and be able to deposit and withdraw money up to £20 over the counter (they cannot hold the account remotely, although that is due to change) and of course the account can’t go overdrawn nor does it have a debit card, it is an electronic savings account. They only thing they can use is an ATM to withdraw money or to the bank it is assigned to and draw the money over the counter. Again there is a ceiling of (I think) £50. Even so a lot for a 10 year old to need to draw !Actually this “Security” fell in to place quite neatly with James the Cat, but not James “My little Boy” -:)This situation arose as a result of my mother being taken ill whilst she was overseas, and I needed to leave the country near immediately. Actually the Company I was on contract to, and not even officially their employee, just a contractor, we beyond any vision of co-operation and support I could have ever existed.On this occasion I will name, names : “Dearson-Winyard” together with their holding company Reuters PLC .As soon as I told them I had the emergency, and needed to leave the contract near immediately it was “All hands on deck” for me, spoke to my Agency, got a replacement for me who I briefed, and they sent me home to pack. They told me to go to “Secure Handling” and present my passport and in they gave me a letter of authority on their letter head and my identity detail. Not only that but they had allowed me to do some foreign exchange in-house and giving me the local currency in exchange for a cheque, there and then,. but when I got to secure handling the clearances had been done, was handed the tickets. I asked who much they needed they just told me “you are working on contract for the Reuters and they are treating you as representative and these are paid for”.“Gulp “(!) on my part as these were stand-by tickets and would not have been cheap had I done the transaction myself, not to mention the hard currency exchange. I later discovered that the cheque I gave them for the foreign currency (in their words) had got lost, and couldn’t recover it as it was an “error” on their part. So in effect got my emergency ticket AND my local currency for free !Given the distressed state I was in ( I was bout 25), you can't ask for better support than that, more to the point when I was not even their employee in contract “!I came home two weeks later and back to James’ arrangementsm to get him out of the cattery. Of course I only had an nominal amount of UK hard currency on me and the cattery would not accept a cheque. That only left me with James’ bank pass book to draw the money with “his” bank, I had gone to the bank to draw the money I had instructed to handle at their branch in London, and told them I needed more money under the terms of the account to deal with the emergency I faced.Again the branch I drew the money from was not at the branch that James’ account was held, so we had to go through a manual payment authorisation. I gave the account withdrawal slip, duly signed together with the passbook to the cashier.She apologised to me and said that it was over the floor limit (which I knew) and told me that it would have to be phoned through for clearance. Again something I acknowledged and provided identity.She had handed this to another member of staff to clear the money with the home branch. In the meantime they had contacted my home branch (with whom my account for James was a standing joke) and told the presentation branch that they needed better information from me as this amount I was drawing was much higher than they would normally expect.Of course, I knew that this was my home branch not so much putting in extra precautions, but for the laugh. They had told the girl that they needed James’ address, his date of birth and his relationship to me.The girl doing the clearance went to the cashier who in turn called me to over to the till. Again, she was quite young and clearly never come across this level of clearance before (even if it was the home branch playing around). She said to me: “ The branch have stated this is a very unusually high amount that you usually draw and then have said the have asked to confirm that it is you with a few questions about the set up of the account:Who is James, and his relationship to you.James date of birth and where he was born (which would have made sense at first instance given that James is a human name so the rest would follow.Of course knowing that this was the home branch playing around straight faced I told the girl thatJames was a domesticated, short haired, black cat and he was my pet.He was born 31st MAY 1987, but I had adopted him from the RSPCA, and as they didn’t know the exact details, I had given him my date and month of birth, but the year was the one I adopted him (1987).The girl serving me was not sure whether to laugh, cry or send for “external, emergency attention”; on the basis I had just “flipped”.Having now been convinced I was of sane mind, she paid the money out, which I signed for. Then of course left the building to return to James and pick him up and take him home from the cattery.A great joke and still standing between the two branches.What is does show is that no matter how “Whacky” it may appear sometimes having odd records on accounts (say no just your mother’s maiden name), some banks ask for you Grandmother’s maiden name; that is how sharp they are on “inconsistent” transactions these days.Chris R- London.PS don't forget. James: The cat with a bank account. -:)

I’m a retire neuropsychologist. Here’s a site with some basic info on executive dysfunction. It can occur for a number of reasons, including birth defect, brain damage from stroke or head injury, and dementia.https://www.headway.org.uk/media/2801/executive-dysfunction-after-brain-injury-factsheet.pdfI’ve pasted some of its contents here. Sorry the formatting didn’t remain. It’s now one long paragraph. Follow the link for a far more readable version.“Executive dysfunction is a term for the range of cognitive, emotional and behavioural difficulties which often occur after injury to the frontal lobes of the brain. Impairment of executive functions is common after brain injury and has a profound effect on many aspects of everyday life. This factsheet explains what executive functions are, why they are so important and which part of the brain is responsible for controlling them. It then provides an overview of the causes, effects, assessment and rehabilitation of executive dysfunction. Some general coping strategies are also suggested to help brain injury survivors to compensate for impairments. Executive functioning is an umbrella term for many abilities including: Most of us take these abilities for granted and we effortlessly perform extremely complex tasks all the time in our everyday lives. Let us consider, for example, the role of some executive functions in a ‘simple’ activity like cooking a meal: Motivation - Wanting to make a nice meal and making the decision to start doing it. Introduction Executive dysfunction after brain injury What are executive functions?  Planning and organisation  Flexible thinking  Monitoring performance  Multi-tasking  Solving unusual problems  Self-awareness  Learning rules  Social behaviour  Making decisions  Motivation  Initiating appropriate behaviour  Inhibiting inappropriate behaviour  Controlling emotions  Concentrating and taking in information Headway’s publications are all available to freely download from the information library on the charity’s website, while individuals and families can request hard copies of the booklets via the helpline. Please help us to continue to provide free information to people affected by brain injury by making a donation at Donate. Thank you. © Headway - the brain injury association, 2011 2 Planning and organisation - Getting all the ingredients and thinking about the right times to start them cooking so they will be ready at the same time. Monitoring performance - Checking the food is cooking properly and the water isn’t boiling over. Flexible thinking - Lowering the heat if the food is cooking too quickly or leaving it longer if it is not cooked. Multi-tasking – Washing the laundry and putting it out to dry, while still remembering to attend to the food at the right times. These complex skills require advanced brain functions. The brain areas involved are described in the next section. Executive functions are controlled by the frontal lobes of the brain. The frontal lobes are connected with many other brain areas and co-ordinate the activities of these other regions. They can be thought of as the conductor of the brain’s orchestra. Injury to the frontal lobes is the most common cause of executive dysfunction. Occasionally, damage to other brain areas which are connected to the frontal lobes can also impair executive functions. The frontal lobes cover a large part of the front of the brain, directly behind the forehead. The diagram below shows their location: Which part of the brain controls executive functions? 3 The frontal lobes can be damaged by any form of acquired brain injury, such as stroke, tumour, encephalitis and meningitis. They are particularly vulnerable to traumatic brain injury, due to their location at the front of the brain and their large size. Even a blow to the back of the head can cause frontal lobe injury because the brain is knocked back and forth in the skull and the frontal lobes bang against bony ridges above the eyes. The importance of executive functions is shown by the difficulties caused when they don’t work properly. Since the executive functions are involved in even the most routine activities, frontal lobe injuries can lead to deficits in cognitive (thinking) skills, personality and social behaviour. The most common effects of executive dysfunction are summarised in the table below: What is executive dysfunction? Difficulties with motivation and organisation  Loss of ‘get up and go’, which can be mistaken for laziness  Problems with thinking ahead and carrying out the sequence of steps needed to complete a task Rigid thinking  Difficulty in evaluating the result of actions and reduced ability to change behaviour or switch between tasks if needed Poor problem solving  Finding it hard to anticipate consequences  Decreased ability to make accurate judgements or find solutions if things are going wrong Impulsivity  Acting too quickly and impulsively without fully thinking through the consequences, for example, spending more money than can be afforded Mood disturbances  Difficulty in controlling emotions which may lead to outbursts of emotion such as anger or crying  Rapid mood changes may occur, for example, switching from happiness to sadness for no apparent reason Difficulties in social situations  Reduced ability to engage in social interactions  Finding it hard to initiate, participate in, or pay attention to conversations  Poor judgement in social situations, which may lead to saying or doing inappropriate things Memory/attention problems  Finding it harder to concentrate  Difficulty with learning new information  Decreased memory for past or current events, which may lead to disorientation 4 You may hear different names for these symptoms. They are commonly referred to as executive dysfunction but many people use the term ‘dysexecutive syndrome’ or simply ‘frontal lobe problems’. They are sometimes referred to as a syndrome because several of the symptoms usually occur together. It is important to remember that not everyone with executive dysfunction experiences all of these problems. The symptoms can range from subtle effects, which only close friends and family members may notice, to extreme and problematic behaviour. It is often hard for people with frontal lobe injuries to explain the difficulties they are experiencing, often because they may be unaware that their behaviour is inappropriate. Their behaviour may appear to be very anti-social and can be misunderstood as depression, lack of motivation, selfishness, or aggression. Relationships with others may be negatively affected as a result. Executive functioning problems may also have a significant emotional impact and can lead to feelings of frustration, exhaustion, embarrassment and isolation. It can also be very difficult to return to work due to problems with multi-tasking, organisation and motivation. An inability to prioritise and complete tasks also makes working life difficult. It is important to be aware of the fact that these behaviours occur as a result of brain injury and are not intentional. Specialised input from rehabilitation specialists, such as neuropsychologists and occupational therapists, can help to compensate for the problems. The following sections of this factsheet provide an overview of assessment and rehabilitation, before providing some practical coping strategies. The initial assessment of executive functioning after brain injury will usually be carried out by a clinical neuropsychologist. The assessment provides detailed information about an individual’s cognitive, emotional and behavioural deficits. The results can then assist in planning rehabilitation strategies to manage the problems. During an assessment, the neuropsychologist will consider the following questions:  What are the main problems for the individual and their family?  How do the problems affect functioning in everyday life?  What are the person’s goals and can they go back to work/college/school? The effects of executive dysfunction on day-to-day life Assessing executive dysfunction 5  To what extent are the executive deficits related to other problems in areas such as language, memory and perception?  How do the person’s abilities compare with others of the same age, background, gender and with injury to a similar area of the brain?  How are the person with brain injury and their family coping?  What kind of rehabilitation should be offered? Neuropsychological assessments involve a range of different standardised tests, which are designed to measure different aspects of cognitive functioning. Some of these tests are in a questionnaire, puzzle or game format, while others take place in a real-world environment. It is very important that the tests are completed without prior knowledge or preparation in order for them to accurately reflect an individual’s abilities. For that reason, no details of specific tests are included here. It is important to remember that there are no passes or failures in the assessments. They simply provide an indication of areas that need help and rehabilitation, so there is no need for people to worry about their performance but simply to complete the tasks as best they can. Rehabilitation of executive dysfunction can be challenging and requires an individualised approach to treatment. The rehabilitation programme for each patient will depend on their goals, the nature of their difficulties, self-awareness, readiness to engage in treatment, level of social support and presence of other issues such as mood disturbances. An important part of the rehabilitation process is educating the person about the effects of their injury. This can help increase the person’s insight and understanding of what has happened. For that reason, reading this factsheet or other Headway information materials (such as Headway’s factsheet Lack of insight after brain injury) may be helpful for both survivors and their family members. If you feel that you or someone you know would benefit from rehabilitation then the first step is to ask a GP if a referral is available, preferably to a neuropsychologist initially. If there are no NHS referrals available then it may be possible to visit someone in private practice. For more information on this subject see the Headway booklet Rehabilitation after brain injury. Also, the Headway helpline can talk you through the referral process and signpost you to organisations that can help. Contact details are at the end of this factsheet. Rehabilitation of executive dysfunction 6 Because executive functions are such a vital part of our everyday lives, it is important to find ‘survival strategies’ when problems arise. Here are a few suggestions of strategies that may help if you have difficulties yourself: Planning  Allow yourself plenty of time to plan activities and record your plans, using as many aids as you find helpful (such as calendars, diaries, electronic timing devices, mobile phones and pagers).  When planning your day, week, or a particular activity use a step-by-step approach, dividing the activity into manageable ‘chunks’.  Use checklists and tick off each part of the activity that you have accomplished. This will help you to stay on track.  Mentally rehearse your plans.  Discuss your plans for the day with others. They can help you to write down a step-bystep checklist of the different actions for that day.  Similar strategies can be used for longer term planning, such as appointments you need to make. Discussing your plans with others will make you more likely to remember and the other person can remind you of things if necessary.  Step-by-step checklists can be placed in key locations in the house in order to remind you of the different sequences to go through to do a task, such as preparing a meal.  Prepare a weekly routine for tasks like shopping, washing and tidying the house. Knowing that, for example, Monday is shopping day, will make you more motivated to get the task done.  Try to develop back up plans in advance, rather than when problems arise. Many strategies for overcoming memory problems can also be helpful for difficulties with planning. See the Headway factsheet Coping with memory problems – practical strategies for more information. Mood  If you feel unable to manage your emotions, it may help to talk to your doctor about this. They may be able to refer you to a form of therapy that will work for you, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).  It may be helpful for others to make allowances for the difficulties you may experience in controlling your mood. When you feel very upset, it may be better for the other person to try to calm the situation in the short term and discuss it with you later. Coping strategies for brain injury survivors 7  Others may need to make allowances for changes in your behaviour and personality. It is important for them to remember that the changes are a result of the injury and not because you are being lazy, self-centred or difficult. Social difficulties  Trusted friends or family members could help you by reminding you of what may be the most appropriate thing to do or say if you are struggling in social situations.  It may help to mentally prepare for social situations and to think about any difficult situations that have occurred before in similar environments. Caring for a person with executive deficits can be a full-time job and living with personality and behaviour changes in a relative or friend can be very distressing. Problems that carers may experience include:  Stress, anxiety or depression  Increased responsibility  Strained relationships  Reduced communication with partner  Restricted leisure/social life  Reduced sexual and emotional intimacy with a partner  Feeling tired and frustrated It is important for family members, carers and friends to access support for their practical and emotional needs. Input from the rehabilitation team can help and some people find peer support groups for carers useful. Headway’s Groups and Branches offer valuable support for both survivors and family members. It is also important to see a GP, who will be able to refer to local counselling and therapy services where they are available. Headway’s relationship factsheets might also be helpful resources to provide information and guidance on managing relationships after brain injury. For further information see the Headway booklet Caring for someone with a brain injury. The helpline can also provide helpful information, support and refer to local Groups and Branches. Executive dysfunction from a carer’s point of view 8 The frontal lobes are commonly affected by acquired brain injury. Damage to the frontal lobes is likely to cause symptoms which are collectively termed executive dysfunction. The diverse ways executive difficulties present themselves mean that assessment and rehabilitation are not straightforward. However, with appropriate rehabilitation and the use of coping strategies, many people can make good recoveries and learn to manage their difficulties. To discuss any issues raised in this factsheet, or to find details of our local groups and branches, please contact the Headway helpline free of charge on 0808 800 2244 (Monday - Friday, 9am-5pm) or by email at [email protected]. You can also find more information and contact details of groups and branches on our website at Supporting you.”