A culture of bullying.

Byline: By Denise Robertson

The man charged with the welfare of Britain's children says almost all of them are suffering bullying and it has to stop.

But we seem to be encouraging a culture in which bullying is not only OK but almost compulsory. Every second television programme, unless it's a soap, is aimed at mocking or belittling people. What else is Anne Robinson but a bully, and yet we all turn on to watch her tongue-lash a teacher or ease her own fear of ageing by mocking anyone over 60. Jeremy Paxman is lauded as the number one interviewer, but isn't he simply a curly-haired Flashman, no longer there to elicit information but merely to browbeat?

We'll all be glued to TV this week as a bunch of suckers are dragooned into eating grubs or swimming with alligators. What is that but the Roman arena recreated?

What else is Simon Cowell but a bully with pizazz? And which quiz show would get a second series if there wasn't a built-in element of humiliation?

While we pay inflated salaries to anyone with a talent for torture how can we expect bullying to vanish from our schools?