THE Beckhams are having another baby so that Brooklyn won't be lonely. The Hashmis want another baby so that their three-year-old son won't die. Is that really so much worse?

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has ruled that the Hashmis can use genetic screening and IVF to try and have a baby who could be a perfect match for Zain, who suffers from a fatal blood disorder. It is his only chance. Yet already the pro-lifers are up in arms, talking of "designer babies" and "playing God".

Well, seeing as one life will be created and another life could be saved, you'd have thought the pro-lifers would be chuffed to bits really. But apparently not. Instead of two live boys, they would seem to prefer one dead little boy - which seems a trifle short on logic as well as basic humanity.

Yes of course we have reservations about the procedures - which is why we need the HFEA to rule on it. But this is not, as some would call it, a spare part baby. That implies you're going to take some bits from the new baby and throw the rest away. No, all that will be needed will be stem cells from the umbilical cord. And - with a lot of luck - the result could be two healthy children.

The new baby will not only be loved for him or herself, but hailed as a hero and a life saver. Not bad before you've barely taken your first breath.

OK, knowing he was conceived primarily to help his big brother could be a little concerning. But there are far worse ways to come into the world.

There are many and varied reasons for having babies. Some to do with love. Some to do with stupidity. Others to save a crumbling relationship or to blackmail a partner. Some mothers have never grown out of wanting something to dress up and cuddle. Some births are to do with carelessness or bad luck. And others are to do with too many vodkas.

None of it matters that much. What's really important is the way a child is treated and loved once it arrives in the world. The Hashmis have already had another son in a bid to help Zain. He turned out to be not a match, but is not loved the less for that. Having listened to the Hashmis talking, having seen them with their children, we can guess that any baby they have would be loved and cherished for itself as well as for what it could do.

The odds against them creating the perfect embryo are one in 16. The chances of that embryo then leading to a straightforward pregnancy are less than 30 per cent.

It's a long shot, but their only hope so of course the Hashmis are going to take it. And what they need now are good wishes and good luck - not misguided condemnation from people who will never have to watch their own child die.

A DEPUTY headteacher caught drinking vodka at school has become the first to be struck off by the General Teaching Council.

Gosh, if that had happened in my school days, there would have been precious few teachers left. One of my teachers - a woman - smelt permanently of Woodbines and whisky. Another was known to knock back the sherry at lunchtime and once when faced with a tricky maths problem looked at it, totally baffled. "You do it yourshelves," she hicced then slid, rather elegantly, down the blackboard to the floor.

Meanwhile, at the boys' school next door the fourth years perfected their pick-pocketing skills so they could deprive the physics master of his hip flask.

How very unlike the world of Enid Blyton.

Still, if I had to face some of the horrible classes of horrible children today, I think I might need a snifter or two to get through it.

MY oldish neighbours were off on holiday. "A ski holiday," they said. A bit adventurous, I thought, for the over-70s. But no it wasn't dangerous sports. "Spending the Kids' Inheritance," they explained, as they packed their bags for Egypt.