I have lost count of the number of times I have heard parents say that they are not sending their offspring to such and such place/school/club/whatever because of the bad influence of peers.

Parents are totally aware of peer pressure and that the environment a child finds itself in will hold more sway than the rules/culture imposed at home.

Middle class parents love to cluster together and colonise schools in the UK. Keeping out the ‘trouble’ as much as possible – they hope.

The Labour Government, meanwhile, enjoys social engineering and thwarting parents who are religious/conservative/not liberal at every turn when it comes to their choosing of schools and school types.

Friends remain the single most important carriers of the cock-up gene as far as many parents are concerned.

The battle rages on…