Theodore Dalrymple, the Author of Spoilt Rushan, the Toxic Cult of Sentimentality

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Theodore dalrymple is the pseudonym of antony daniels. For 15 years he wrote witty, savage and often deeply depressing accounts of his unde privileged patients in the pages of the spectator. He first realized that there was something wrong when a friend of mine who was working in pediatric told me that a mother had come to him asking for his help. She said, 'Can't you do something about johnny? He's terrible'

Why are there so many Chinese maths and music prodigies? Because Chinese mothers believe schoolwork and music practice come first, that an A-minus is a bad grade, that sleepovers, TV and computer games should never be allowed and that the only activity their children should be permitted to do are ones in which they can eventually win a medal - and that medal must be gold. These methods certainly seem to get results but do they make for the rounded individuals Western parents are striving to bring up? Isn't it better that our children should be happy rather than burnt-out brain boxes? Who's right and who's wrong? In this debate from June 2011, Amy Chua, author of the best-selling Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and Theodore Dalrymple, the writer and psychologist, speak for the motion. Justine Roberts, co-founder of Mumsnet, and Frank Furedi, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent and parenting expert, speak against the motion. The debate was chaired by columnist and broadcaster Jenni Russell

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