England should have made this man Prime Minister years ago.

You failed to mention the parents of Madeline McCann, who are simply the worst example of typical parents in the U.K.: educated, middle-class, professionals (doctors no less!), and they still express shock and do not understand why people are appalled that they would leave their three babies unsupervised in a hotel room for not one, but five nights. And they continue to feel that they are entitled to the world's help and sympathy - truly tragic.

How very sad.

In the mid-1990s, then-President Clinton signed welfare reform into law. As I recall, a woman can be on the welfare rolls for only five years, though she may choose which years she is on the rolls. Predictably, the number of illegitimate births dropped immediately, and they continue to drop. It makes perfect sense not to pay young women to have illegitimate children. It also makes perfect sense to encourage young women to stay in school instead.

Here in the U.S., there is no longer an economic incentive to have many children out of wedlock. Also predictably, our own intelligentsia were astounded by the results.

Signs of the times. When bedrock first principles like parental supervision, inculcation of personal responsibility, and respect for others, all are thrown overboard in favor of "being non-judgmental" (the mantra of the Left), the conclusion that our "Western" society is finished becomes necessary and inescapable. We did this to ourselves. We shall now witness what the new Hegelian synthesis has in store for us, and I fear it won't be pretty.

Incredible article. Though it's a depressing reality many wish not to face, I hope you've opened up some eyes. Kids need boundaries just as much as they need love.

The U.S. isn't much better on this issue, and if anything, many of our elite wish to be more like England. Society can only take so much of this.

The breakdown of values is so broad that Dalyrimple doesn't see his own part in it. To undermine collective responsibility in favor of Friedman's moneterism and selfishness led us to an obsession with money and "freedom."

I'm sorry - this article is just silly. It's sometimes salient points are crushed beneath the axe-grinding frustrations of its reactionary, sanctimonious writer. Who is this Theodore Dalrymple (uh-oh, could it be a spoof?) - other than an old-school bore with fascistic fixations on liberalism and discipline? Good grief. How can an American journalistic source such as yours make such remarks about British society after the horrors of Virginia Tech and 'Gossip Girls'?

Dr. Dalrymple, I read your article and wanted to weep. Having been an Anglophile all my life (though I've never visited England), I am truly saddened that British parents have lost their way. As an involved, veteran homeschooling mother of 21 years, I can't understand the attitude of the moms and dads over there. My heart aches for all of them. Thank you for your eye-opening look at modern-day England. It's a stern warning to me not to get lazy now that I'm down to just one child still at home.

Neglect and indulgence is indeed a lethal combination that ruins children and is subsidized by big government. The U.S. is in the same position; I'm a social worker with 24 years' experience who sees this first-hand. Kids don't need more programs and experts - they need adults with moral compasses. This sentiment doesn't go over well in state meetings, but I am too old to care and there is too much indisputable ruin to point out. Great article, as usual.

This same thought occured to me when the press was expressing astonishment at the large family of 12 or 13 children that was on the news, even though they were all born to the same set of parents. When I brought up the fact that celebrities like Willie Nelson and Eddie Murphy had at least 8 children each, maybe more, from several different partners, I was surprised that no one seemed to feel the same kind of disgust or outrage. Some people claimed that the large one-couple family was a burden on state services, while saying nothing about the singers and actors who have as many children by different partners. The large family had their own huge garden, and the children who had grown up enjoyed their own businesses, with no burden on anyone. You are right: it does smell of a double standard.