FOUL-MOUTHED, undisciplined and badly behaved. Too loud, too aggressive, too much. We're constantly being told children today are worse behaved than previous generations.

And most of us have days when we're tempted to agree. But the chilling Government prediction that, by 2007, one in seven British children will be taking prescribed drugs to control their behaviour can be of little comfort to anyone.

It certainly doesn't say much for we grown-ups.

Last year in the UK, 157,900 Ritalin prescriptions were written for youngsters diagnosed with the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD. This week, Government medical advisors say 48,000 more children need the controversial class B drug.

I won't argue with the statistics. And I know that, for all the criticisms of Ritalin, many parents of ADHD sufferers consider it a wonder drug, which has calmed their children, enabling them to lead a normal life for the first time.

But what I would question is why no one appears to be addressing the real problem - why so many children now appear to be suffering from ADHD in the first place.

Some experts think the condition, which has been linked to a chemical brain imbalance, may be caused by poor diet. Others say it is exacerbated by a lack of one-to-one attention from parents. But we don't really know, because there hasn't been enough thorough research.

If it is true that aspects of our modern lifestyle are damaging children in this way, don't we owe it to them to investigate and attempt to reverse the disturbing trend?

Don't these children deserve more than a quick fix?

SUNDAY league footballers in Stanley, County Durham, complained an air ambulance flew off without their team-mate, who had suffered a suspected broken ankle, leaving him to wait for a road ambulance, although it later winched a footballer with a broken leg to hospital from Bishop Auckland. They were right to be furious, but for all the wrong reasons. Air ambulances are an expensive and precious resource. Most of us assume they are only called out in remote, isolated areas, or for criticial, life-or-death situations. Let's hope no one needs the air ambulance next time a County Durham footballer trips up and hurts his ankle.

WAS the appointment of a foreigner as England's new football coach really such a "sad day for English football", as some critics proclaimed? I certainly didn't shed any tears. But I was surprised to read that North-Easterner Jack Charlton was among those complaining. Perhaps he has forgotten he was manager of Ireland for eight years.

THE National Farmers' Union in the region has been warning of dire consequences for its industry should a total ban on the sale of British lamb be introduced if BSE is found in sheep. "It would be the end of hill farming in the North,'' said a spokesman. Most people sympathise with the farmers, but if the BSE beef crisis has taught us anything, it should be that we have to put the health and safety of consumers first, then worry about the farming industry. Last time, unfortunately, we got it the wrong way round.

TONY Blair was unwise to be photographed on the front page of a national newspaper, laughing, in his office with a singing fish ornament which croons: "Don't worry, be happy'', as half of the nation was wading through several feet of dirty water. He should know that, even if it isn't his fault, when the country is in trouble, we always blame the Government. He may as well have been pictured holidaying on a desert island asking: "Crisis? What crisis?''

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