Former government advisor on children's play (I've heard everything now!) Tim Gill has really put the cat among the pigeons with his new book.

Rarely can a volume glorying under a title as un-snappy as No Fear: Growing up in a Risk-averse Society have received quite so much attention from the massed ranks of the popular press.

Not that the Queen's Own Hacks are very interested in the book in general.

It's the bit in which he claims that the level of playground bullying in Britain today is being exaggerated that is grabbing the headlines.

Personally I think tough-talking Tim has a point.

Children aren't always nice to each other, any more than adults are.

Much as we'd love our little darlings to exist in a state of perpetual harmony with their fellow mini human beings, an occasional altercation in the playground is inevitable, just as in later life there will be disagreements and confrontations in the workplace.

I'm not talking physical violence here, just the everyday spats and minor contretemps that blow up when you get lots of different individuals together.

It's natural and it's healthy.

Of course real bullying is very unhealthy, completely unacceptable and needs to be dealt with without hesitation.

But as Tim boy points out, categorising unpleasant behaviour as bullying does no one any favours.

"I have spoken to teachers and educational psychologists who say that parents and children are labelling as bullying what are actually minor fallings-out," he says.

Quite rightly he argues that learning to cope with a little bit of name-calling and teasing helps develop resilience.

Hang on a minute though.

He used to be a government consultant and he currently advises the Conservative Party.

This means that his daily work provides him with a ringside seat at the biggest playground of them all.

Between them Gordon Brown and David Cameron could give a masterclass in name-calling.

They must make 24 carat gold study material for anyone interested in the behavioural pattern of the children's playground.

Interestingly - despite their love of slogging it out in public shows of power and aggression - these are the people who are responsible for the crazy Nanny State we live in.

Tim Gill says we "bubble-wrap" our children and over-react to the risks they face.

He cites a case in which three 12-year-olds were arrested and DNA-tested for climbing a tree.

Actually the weirdest thing about this is that though such an action is clearly stark staring bonkers, no one would doubt for a moment that it happened.

  • Japanese fashion designer Aya Tsukioka has unveiled her latest line in anti-mugging clothing - a skirt that can disguise its wearer as a drinks vending machine.

I kid you not.

At the first sign of trouble a woman can tug open a flap on the garment and it unravels into a sheet-sized piece of fabric printed like a Coca Cola machine.

She can then, theoretically, blend into the urban environment as her would-be attackers pass by, none the wiser.

Ms Tsukioka, 29, says she based the idea on the ancient Ninja warriors' habit of cloaking themselves in black blankets at night.

What would you need to survive on the mean streets of Bournemouth?

Imagine you're walking down Old Christchurch Road at two in the morning and spy a gang of ne'er do wells. I know!

A cape designed to look like a big puddle of vomit surrounded by old cigarette ends, perhaps with a half-eaten kebab sticking out of it.

You could just lie underneath it on the pavement and no one would know you were there.