On re-reading the "Last State" and my notes of Macau, I still recoil with horror at the indignities there heaped upon the children. I am in no doubt whatever that whilst the doctrine of sparing the rod and spoiling the child is one for which The Family would claim biblical authority and one for which many ordinary members in society express concurrence, nevertheless Berg's enthusiastic endorsement of it has, as in so many things, been carried to excess by those who follow him. The Victor Programme is an example of that excess. In this country and in recent years, children in the absence of their parents have been harshly beaten and at times left bleeding and bruised by indiscriminate, over-zealous applications of Family discipline. It is no excuse that it was done after seeking consent (which, of course, is no true consent at all) or that it was administered "in love" with a heavy but loving heart or that it was completed with a compulsory hug and the assurance, "I love you, honey." That this was abusive has been recognised but the new discipline guidelines, well-intentioned though they are, still harp back to old Letters and are still not tight enough in their control to protect children who remain at the mercy of those in charge of them.
