The argument just does not hold. If you can't do anything about kids' behaviour then why do charedim go to such lengths to control it by censoring almost everything else they do, from their access to books and the Internet, contact with the opposite sex and the hechsherim of the products they are allowed to eat?

Can it be right for a kid from a charedi home to be prohibited from eating Beth Din rather than Kedassiah and Badatz products and yet be allowed to name-call Jews with different degrees of religious observance to themselves?

Parents and teachers can certainly impose boundaries when they choose and can also be exceptionally good at turning a blind eye when they so desire.

Unfortunately, it does not surprise me to learn that charedi children name-call other kids different from themselves when they are brought up in such an elitist and exclusivist environment with little or no positive exposure to people different from themselves.

But pupils in a mainstream school like Manchester's KD, which is governed by local authority anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policies and which is exposed to our country's current zero-tolerance of discrimination attitude, should know better.

I read about the allegations of the "frummy germs" tag game as I was re-reading Mila 18 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The Nazis' excuse for herding Jews into ghettoes and "de-lousing" them was that they were dirty and infectious.

Can we really look on with impunity at Jewish kids playing games which target other Jews less religious than themselves?

It's bad enough that Jerusalem's holy Kotel is polluted by internecine warfare between Jews of different persuasions. Do we really have to import such disunity into Manchester?

Because, make no mistake, if childish behaviour is not checked these kids will grow up to be dangerously bigoted adults.

New 'psycho' boom is a real boon

ALTERNATIVE psychological methods are becoming all the rage, particularly among charedi women.

In London, Liverpool-born Rabbi Shaul Rosenblatt has a massive following for his Innate Health sessions which have given a Jewish touch to this new American approach to wellbeing.

And when Brighton-based Emotional Freedom Technique practitioner Dr Shoshana Garfield recently went to Manchester to give a two-day crash course in EFT tapping training, there was an excellent turnout, particularly of sheitel-topped women. What is it which attracts these mainly mothers of large families to these new therapeutic methods?

Dare I suggest that Jews, in general, are more into psychology than other members of these isles because they tend to take their problem seriously, rather than drowning them in drink?

Maybe that's why Americans, who have stricter anti-drinking laws than us, are so much more into going to shrinks.

Charedi women, too, with their education focusing upon perfecting their character traits, take their own attaining of midot (good qualities) and the upbringing of their children seriously and are fascinated by any method which might help them in this goal.

With less trivial distractions of TV and Internet, not to say booze, than the rest of the population, they are thirsting for any tool which will help them in their self-knowledge and ability to help members of their families and communities.

This is all to the good and could be an example to other communities.

Campus threat to separate seating

SEPARATE seating is a must at all charedi events.

This can be a boon for the single woman who is not noticeable for her lack of husband or an annoyance because it's hard to strike up a conversation with your elderly uncle on the other side of the mechitsa or to let your husband know you want to take the kids home.

But Jewish-wise, they are never considered a security threat.

Sad to say, the same is not true on campus where events with separate seating, which breach equality legislation for non-religious public places, are linked with incitement to violence by extremist Muslim speakers at universities who are often protected by the right to freedom of speech.

For those worried about the disturbing trend of growing Muslim extremism on campus it could possibly be easier to clamp down on the sexual segregation issue than the freedom of speech one.

If this really were implemented, then it could perhaps negatively affect charedi events, not on campus because charedim tend to shun universities but in other public places where they might hold meetings or simchot, which would be a shame.

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