OPINION - I’d rather a mother blow smoke at her child than give them a phone

Picture the scene. A crowded stopping train on the way to Wales, one of the ones with way too few seats for passengers. At one table, there’s a woman with four children, one of them bawling his little lungs out. Finally the mother cracks and hands the little fellow what he was after: her smartphone. Peace descends on the carriage. The other passengers feel a sensation of relief.