Somebody emailed in with this story from the US, about the segregation of a local library: ‘I went down to our new voting place, a freshly built school on Munjoy Hill in Portland. The school also houses the local branch of the Portland Public Library, and indeed the school’s library and the branch library are intermixed. Well THAT lasted a few weeks! Now the branch library is closed to adults during the day so that patrons and school children can’t come into contact. How sad.’ This is a small case, perhaps, but it is a symbol of the growing encroachment on spaces…

There was an excellent article by Douglas Fraser in the Glasgow Herald about the new Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill, which will mean obligatory vetting for up to one million more Scots who work or volunteer with kids. Fraser notes that the ‘grannies army’ of the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service will have to march down to the police station to be checked – at a cost of £250,000 to the organisation. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations estimates that these new measures will cost its members a staggering £20million. The Herald article concludes: ‘Adding layer upon layer to the protection of young and…

A couple of people have emailed me to say that it’s now Rotary Club policy for Rotarians to always go out in twos – when they are driving an old woman to the shops, say, or leading children on a walk. Not for mutual support, but for each to ensure that the other isn’t abusing the young or old person in their care. Child protection guidelines for sports training also insist that adults work in pairs. Oxford University, for example, advises that student coaches and volunteers must work in twos when they are supervising children in the changing rooms. Other guidelines suggest…

In an interview for the Daily Mail, Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson reflected on how times have changed for youth football coaching: “’Today is very different from when I started as a coach,’ he says, pointing out that in 1974, when he became manager of East Stirlingshire, the drive came from people like himself, parents and youth clubs. ‘Now I’ve got 30 staff here. We’ve got welfare officers who deal with parents, we’ve got an education programme, child safety; every coach has to do a programme under the Child Protection Act. I had to do it myself. So we’re dealing with young…