The accepted way to teach children to behave sociably now is to appeal to their sense of reason or justice or community pride.But is this gentler approach effective in socialising children who come from homes where self-discipline, care and compassion are not valued? Earlier this week the Government disclosed that more than 3,000 children were permanently expelled from their schools last year, mostly for repeated refusal to obey school rules or abusing teachers, but sometimes for assaulting teachers or bullying other pupils.Vandalism, juvenile car theft and burglary are seen by many as a consequence of moral malaise, as much as the result of economic deprivation.Educationists working with children who have behaviour problems, such as Masud Hoghughi below, report that increasing numbers of young people seem to have virtually no attachment to normal social standards.John Patten, Secretary of State for Education, has no doubt that children are being inadequately prepared for life. We are in Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber, but there's also more than a touch of The Real Inspector Hound, as Dr Penelope Second (Lily), the surgical gynaecologist who has invented a unique form of stitching, is investigated by the lunatic detective Stiltskin for the macabre murder of her former lover, Dr John Lord. And why not? This was not an occasion for English phlegm.Chris Rea sees England beat Wales 24-0 at Twickenham to take their second successive Grand Slam.Twenty-eight was the fateful number. United Nations negotiations concerning this and the Climate Convention resumed in Geneva last December. The constituencies, which traditionally regard Central Office with suspicion, guard their independence jealously.

But having touched shareholders for pounds 154m by way of a rights issue in May of last year few believe that the BICC board would have the gall to cut the final dividend payment for 1993. The prospect of a safe, fat yield has propelled BICC shares steadily skywards since the winter from a beleaguered low of 207p in October to a high of 445p earlier this month.Even after yesterday's 14p fall to 403p, following a sobering assessment of trading prospects from the company, the yield on a maintained 19.25p total is still 6 per cent.NatWest Securities was sufficiently moved by BICC's warnings of difficult trading - hardly surprising since more than 50 per cent of the sales of BICC Cables come from a rapidly deteriorating Continental European marketplace - to knock more than pounds 20m off its profit forecast for 1993 to pounds 110m pre-tax or earnings of 18.5p.This would be more disquieting if BICC were not expecting cash flows to behave themselves in the second half of the year. The account describes how Johnson and Savage walked round the squares of London all one night, being too poor to afford either food or lodging but sustained by the passionate intimacy of their conversation. But their popularity, as well as the Government's rhetoric, obscures flaws in the new qualifications so fundamental that they threaten the very thing they have set out to achieve - the raising of educational attainment through vocational means.The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) highlighted some of these flaws in its critical appraisal of the first year of GNVQs in schools. When the Empty Homes Agency publishes its second report on the subject today, it will be tempting to call for government regulation to make Britain's housing market work better. Well, history has given the answer to that.'(Photograph omitted).