Jan Leeming, the 80s newsreader, has found herself unexpectedly back in the limelight without even having to do Strictly. Instead, she seems to have unwittingly starred in a non-televised episode of Supernanny, dishing out advice to parents about how to raise their children. Or how not to, to be more precise.

Last week, Leeming complained on social media that a friend’s birthday lunch at The Pig at Bridge Place, near Canterbury, was “slightly spoiled by a screaming child”. She explained: “One tot was a real menace, allowed to walk around and often screaming … parents oblivious to other clients.”

She doubled down on Times Radio on Saturday, saying too many mums and dads treat their children “like little princes and princesses: many of them are just allowed to run riot”. She added that kids should be trained like dogs, to behave when out in public. “I’m afraid that if you have children, it’s your responsibility to teach them to be socially acceptable.”

This opinion has unsurprisingly proved largely unpopular, probably not helped by the canine comparison and the image it conjures up of youngsters being tapped on the........

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