DO you wish your daughter had been a son? Would you have preferred your little boy to have been a little girl? Probably not. Most of us haven't a clue which sex our child is until it's born. Often those who have the chance of knowing don't want to know. And whatever preference we might have had beforehand, most of us immediately fall in love with whatever we happened to have.

Not any more.

Parents having fertility treatment might soon be able to choose the sex of their child - a parliamentary science and technology committee is considering the matter and will announce its decision this week.

And once one lot of parents have that choice, you can be sure that more will want it too.

At the moment Nature makes a pretty decent fist of it. Despite all the old wives' tales, douches, different foods, drinks, positions and potions would-be mothers try, the balance of the sexes still inexplicably stays pretty much the same.

But if we have the choice, then what?

A member of the committee said that there is very little evidence that allowing parents to choose would make much difference. Are they sure about that?

This country is nothing like China, where unwanted baby girls are left to die. Or even Japan, where the daughter-in-law of the emperor has apparently been driven to near breakdown by her inability to produce a son. Ironically, her mother-in-law went through the same pressure from her mother-in-law.

But think of all those British families who have football teams of boys until they finally produce a daughter. Those poor titled ladies who almost sink under the pressure to produce an heir and a spare.

Constitutions might be changed to cope with it all. Ultimately, that seems much more sensible to modern egalitarian minds.

But in the short term...

Of course there are some cases involving inherited diseases where - if you have the choice - it would be good to choose not to have a child that has it. And if that means choosing the sex, then so be it.

Actually the thought of being able to choose the sex of your child is deeply unsettling. After my first son was born, I had a preference, second time, for a girl.

But then my second son was born and was, of course, exactly what I wanted. The thought that I might have chosen a girl instead sends me into a chill.

Choice is wonderful, but for most of us, choosing the sex of our child might be a choice too far.

YOU could wonder, sometimes, what planet Government ministers live on. The latest idea big idea from Home Secretary Charles Clarke is to reverse the policy on cannabis. It was a Class B drug (bad) and was then downgraded to a Class C drug (not so bad) - but now might be upgraded again.

This is because they have new scientific evidence which shows that (a) excessive cannabis use can lead to mental illness and (b) cannabis is stronger than it used to be in those summers of love when the current Government was tuning in, turning on and inhaling.

This evidence is new?

Since the ' 60s we've all known a handful of people whose brains have been gradually reduced to jelly by excessive cannabis use. And, much more frightening, occasional cases where it has triggered schizophrenia.

And for years, our teenagers have been telling us that today's skunk is much, much stronger than cannabis used to be.

The next time ministers are planning a major policy change, maybe they should talk it over with their children first - they might learn something useful before it's too late.