I WAS watching the documentary on Mary Whitehouse the other evening and I thought how right she was.

I know I didn’t think so at the time, when she was protesting about lowering standards on the TV, but I can see now how she was endeavouring to stop the floodgates from opening.

I think it’s too late now. The violence, obscene language and the sexploitation have set in motion a downward trend in public manners that we will find unstoppable.

Children are being fed a diet of bad behaviour and most of them are watching television alone, in bedrooms behind closed doors.

Young girls are brainwashed into thinking it’s smart to look and act like an easy target.

And in a way, it is often connected with the problem of child poverty.

Now, that’s something no one wants to think about.

We’d dearly like to think that here, in England, it doesn’t exist, but sad to say we are almost at the bottom of the list of countries when it comes to that particular problem.

I think one of the main reasons for that is because it’s been looked at, and tackled, in the wrong way.

The last government’s solution was to throw loads of money at it, believing that if everybody had what amounted to the equal of a living wage, whether working or not, all would be well.

But poverty, including child poverty, is not necessarily just a shortage of money, but is often a culmination of many things.

Let’s face it, there are some families who would not change from their impoverished way of life, no matter how much money they were given. So, what is to be done?

I’m afraid it’s back to education. Not necessarily the scholastic type, but that of instilling responsibility.

What are we doing at the moment? We are busy teaching very young people about sex, even in junior school, but are we making them understand the result of casual uncommitted sex could affect them for the rest of their lives?

So, by adopting this rather cavalier attitude, we are often condemning young girls to a life of deprivation, even maybe a series of unwanted, underage pregnancies, which is not only a burden on the state, but, for the girls, a life-long struggle.

So, to the answer. It’s not an easy one, but one that must be met head on.

We must get back to a belief in morality, pride, strong family support – and try to teach the young girls that it’s really OK to say no and it could even be ultra-cool.