The question the minister must now ask himself is whether the abolition of corporal punishment in schools which he bravely and urgently lead was worth pissing off the unions, damaging his personal reputation and dissipating his government’s rapidly depleting store of good will. For what, a delay of six months?

Avert your gaze from the cursed pool of Narcissus glittering with the reflection of your own righteousness and superiority; it is transfixing but insubstantial.