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Yeah by whom and why wasn't I consulted?
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Corporal punishment in state schools was stopped after an ECHR decision some 25 years ago. Smacking for parents hasn't actually been stopped, merely tightened up rather a lot, which was done by Parliament last year, so technically we did vote for it, though I'm unsure whether it was in the 2001 Labour manifesto.
Restraint/assault. If I grab my son to stop him running out in front of a car (which I've had to do recently) that's not assault at all. If I subsequently thumped him for it it would be (he's a bit younger than the lad in the original story, but I don't think that matters). The case Chris posted was slightly different to what we're discussing in that the charge was about the thumping rather than the restraint. I'd be very surprised if anyone had been prosecuted merely for physically restraining a child (tying up or locking up for a long time would be a different matter, however, and verges on child abuse). If you have a toddler around, you probably restrain them in some way every couple of minutes or so!
I have no problems at all with a child being forcibly restrained by a teacher for their safety, to stop them attacking someone else, to make them stay and listen to a telling off etc., indeed I'd applaud the teacher for so doing, since it's what I'd do myself. However, it clearly crosses a line if the teacher subsequently gives them a right-hander. In loco parentis being what it is, that applies to parents as well.