I sat at my desk listening to the near riot in the classroom, for years students had been getting more out of control as the laws changed and we were no longer able to discipline them. I was looking forward to the future, UKIP, the United Kingdom Independence Party had won a stunning electoral victory and they were now in power. We had been withdrawn from the European Union, all the petty rules had been abolished and we had withdrawn from the European human rights act. There was a case going through the House of Lords that could change life for me, as a teacher, overnight. It was a new appeal over an old case. If the union won teachers and the courts would be able to use corporal punishment again. The students had no idea that this appeal was going through. Suddenly I felt my mobile phone vibrate, a text had come in. I carefully read it. The union had won. We were bringing back corporal punishment from now. I opened up the CCTV access software and typed in the time and a note to say that corporal punishment was about to come into force. I was certainly looking forward to our dinner time when we could finalise our plans. In the meantime I would note the worst offenders. To be fair though, I had to give them warning. I rapped on my desk; the noise fell to a dull roar.

"I am giving you a warning, discipline in this school is being tightened up as of today," I looked at my watch, "at 11:45; punishments will be changed." The rest of what I was saying was drowned out by the jeers and catcalls. I stood there making a note of the ring leaders. Britney was the worst of them, ah well another 2 hours or so, and then I would be able to start teaching again. I would at last be able to do what I had trained for. I checked my screen and noted that I had five students working; I sent a note to each of their computers to come to the front. Almost immediately there was the scraping of five chairs and my students walked to the front of the classroom. I indicated them to go into my prep room. I followed them and closed the door. Before I could speak Jason asked me a question.

"Sir, was your statement a result of national Union of teachers' v Association of teen rights, in the House of Lords?"

"Yes Jason it was."

"I presume that means corporal punishment is being re-introduced into schools and the courts?"

"That's right Jason, Britney's name as the girls' ringleader and Doug's name as the boys' ringleader have already been given to the office along with your names." I saw the stunned look on their faces. "No, no, you're not as students to be punished but as the only students in my group who are not to be punished.

"All the rest are to be punished?"

"Oh yes, Britney and Doug will be flogged with the birch and the rest will receive a lesser corporal punishment, two strokes of the cane.

"How is it going to work?"

"When you come back into school after the lunch break there will be an electronic gate just inside the doors which will operate according to your ID card. Britney and Doug will be diverted into the new nurse's office. You five will be allowed to pass through into the auditorium, the rest of the students will be sent into the outer hall. Britney and Doug will strip or be stripped and they will then have a medical check to ensure that they are healthy enough to undergo their punishment. They will then be taken round to the back of the stage and attached to handcuffs on the rear wall."

"You have known about this for sometime then sir?"

"Oh yes, the last six months, that was why I, and all the other staff have given their students warning of the change in punishments. They won't be able to claim in court that they weren't warned."

"What about their parents' sir? We know how they have come into school to make trouble in the past."

"Oh they can come into school, but they won't cause trouble." With that I pulled out a tazer. "If we have to use this, then they will be on stage for the next punishment session and they will be flogged. A new criminal offence has been created today of assault on, or threats to, a member of the school teaching and maintenance staff, oh yes, will you five please volunteer now as teaching aides." I could see at first the hesitation and then the smiles as the penny dropped. Jason was the first.

"Thank you sir, I'll volunteer to be a member of the teaching staff." He broke into a big grin, and then looked more serious. "What about outside school sir?"

"You are protected there as well, if other students change their ways; then they will be able to volunteer as well. Anyway, time for lunch." The school bells rang and I went back into the classroom. Teaching from now on would be a very different proposition; finally I would be able to teach. Britney and Doug would no longer be in my class but would be in a class with all the other troublemakers. I don't think they will enjoy school very much in the future. Classes would now be set up on the basis of how eager students were to work. The best behaved students would get the best education. We had borrowed teachers from the military to train our new remedial teachers, it would be the equivalent of boot camp for the troublesome students, but much more painful.

Lunch in the staff room was a happy time; at last we would be able to retake control of the school. The headmaster had been into the dining hall and given instructions about the beginning of afternoon school, the new teachers, well they were called teachers but they were in fact the disciplinarians, had arrived and were in the hall checking everything was ready. Finally the school bell sounded and we went out to our pre determined positions. I was stood by the electronic gate. The four of us there were the first to deal with the students. Britney and Doug were at the front of the queue as befitted the top dogs on the school tree, they were sent straight through the door into the new nurse's office. There were rails set up to keep the students in line, with moving bars which separated the rails into individual stalls. Once all the ringleaders were in the room they would be told of their fate. The good students were then diverted to be taken to the front of the hall, to prime viewing positions whilst the rest were diverted to the side entrance of the hall and were led into a larger set of queuing rails, they were solid sided and too high to jump over. Everyone was finally in place. We could hear the uproar in the nurse's office from our station at the electronic gate, so after we had finished at our post we went in to assist. The students had been told what was going to happen to them and were very unhappy. Four members of staff took each student as they got to the front of the queue. Britney was at the front so I assisted.

"Britney you and every one of the students in this room are going to get the birch, the number of strokes you receive depends on your age; if you hit or attempt to hit anyone of us then you will receive a harsher penalty.

"You can't do this sir, it's against the law."

"Correction Britney, it used to be against the law, if you all would like to look at that screen you will see a film of the moment the law changed. I along with all the other teachers were informed when it happened and I warned all of you that discipline was changing. Now all of you take off your clothes and put them in the basket when you get to the front of the queue; you will get them back at the end of this session. If you don't take your clothes off then your clothes will be cut from you when you get to the front of the queue, the choice is yours."

Britney stood there unmoving, I nodded to the disciplinarians. They came over with the cutters used by paramedics, they had a protected blade that would cut through any clothing safely, Britney's arms were grabbed and the cutters run down her under arm and down her body to the floor, the neck band was cut through down to the underarm cut, her clothes fell away leaving her in socks and trainers. She was led screaming to the nursing station. She was weighed and measured then placed on the nursing trolley. That was set up to do an ECG without co-operation and to take the patient's blood pressure, they were recorded and Britney was informed that she was healthy enough to receive punishment today. It was then a steady procession of children being checked; only one other child had to be forcibly stripped. Finally we were through in the nursing office so we followed the last student through onto the stage. The curtains were closed and we could hear the uproar in the main hall. It only took another ten minutes before the stage curtains opened.

At the front of the stage were the three birching stations and five caning stations waiting ready for their victims. They were set so that the back of the student was facing the main hall with cameras set up to video the students faces and backs, those pictures were sent to the main screen above the stage. Britney and co had small video screens in front of them so that they could watch the punishment as they waited to be punished. We, the teaching staff moved down from the stage to sit in the rows of seats at the front, alongside our students. I sat between Ruth and Jason in the front row.

The video screens lit up and we were first showed the broadcast by our new Prime Minister. He outlined what the rest of the procedure would be, the students to receive the cane would come up in groups of five, would bend over the caning desks and receive their strokes, if they struggled or tried to get away they would be restrained and would then receive at least two strokes of the birch instead. Then those to be birched would be led forward and placed in the birching stations. Once the first student, the youngest had received his or her strokes they would be checked medically and replaced, that would continue smoothly until all those to be punished had been punished. The students would then be allowed to dress, any who had their clothes cut off would be assisted with staples to hold their clothes together. Replacement clothes would be at students' expense as they had been warned. He then explained about the new volunteer aides.

"They and all the school staff are protected by the new legislation; there is a new offence of Assault on, or threats to a member of the school teaching and maintenance staff, that includes the volunteer aides. It is a summary offence. The school level punishments vary from a caning for being insulting to a whipping for assault. If the assault is severe enough then it goes to the crown court after a school flogging; and punishment at Crown Court is unlimited; and I do mean unlimited. That is all from me, if you are watching this in school you will return to your school program, if you are watching TV anywhere else you will return to normal programming."

The screen went blank and then the picture of the caning stools appeared. The five disciplinarian teachers then went to the front of the five waiting lines along with two aides each. The teachers put their keys in the controls on the gate allowing the aides to collect the children to be caned. The teachers and one aide walked the first students across to the caning stool. The students were bent over and each teacher picked up his cane. I say his but two were women teachers. The aide took the students wrist and bent down in front of the caning desk bending them over. The cracks of the canes were joined with cries of pain. Two crisp red lines per bottom. As the first punishments were being applied the second aide was bringing over the next victim. After five minutes the caning had settled into a steady stream, a total of 20 victims a minute, suddenly there was a scuffle and a half naked student was running towards me, heading for an emergency exit. I stood up and aimed the tazer; he finished up sliding on the floor unconscious. The four students at the desks were caned and the aide who had been pushed over moved to the heads podium. He touched his shoulder and the scene was played back on the screen. The insults, the threats and the punch in the face. The film clip stopped and the head picked up the mike.

"Take that one down to the nurse and get him checked, he will be birched at the end of this afternoons session." He whispered in the aide's ear, he nodded and returned to collect the next one for caning. It was soon over, the last of those caned were led back to the wooden bleachers, and I smiled to see them trying to ease the pressure on their caned bums. Now was time for the really serious business. The head stood up and addressed the student body.

"I welcome those watching the local broadcast channel that joins us for our newly inaugurated punishment session. In future these sessions will be held each Wednesday and Friday afternoon. Those students you see sitting uncomfortably in the bleachers have just received two strokes of the cane each. These students" he waited for the cameras to pan round onto those waiting to be birched, "are waiting to be birched. They are all the ringleaders in their year groups for the trouble they have caused. The youngest ones, in year seven will receive three strokes of the light weight birch, year eight's will receive four, year nines will receive five, year tens will receive 5 lightweight and two of the heavyweight birch, year elevens will receive five and three strokes, year twelve's will receive five and four. If their are any in the sixth forms then year thirteen's will receive five and five strokes and year fourteens will receive ten strokes with the heavy weight birch. You may ask what the difference is between the two birches, the lightweight birch has five strands, and the heavyweight has ten strands. The final student to be birched this afternoon would have only received a caning; but he threatened, and then actually hit a teacher's aide. For that he will receive six strokes of the cane and then receive twenty strokes of the heavyweight birch."

The first three students from year seven were brought forward, I could see them visibly trembling as their wrists and ankles were placed in the automatic clips. They locked automatically but could only be released by two handles being operated together. The birching station then started to rotate, moving the student to the correct height and position for the master to develop his or her best swing, there were two masters and a mistress who would take turns. We could see how hard they were hitting as there were speed guns and pressure sensors on the stations

One of the new disciplinarian staff then stepped forward and took a birch from the long bucket standing by the station; we could see the water dripping from the birch. The head took up the microphone again.

"As you can see the birches are stored in salt water, this is to stop the cuts from becoming infected. As a side effect it increases the pain felt; Start the punishment master."

With that the disciplinarian started the birching, the first stroke on the thighs, the second on the bum and the third on the back. The screams of pain were truly awe inspiring. The birch was then replaced in its bucket as the student continued to scream in pain. The master moved across to the second child and started on her back, if anything the screams were even louder. As he worked the nurse was wiping down the first child's back and legs with an antiseptic wipe. Each master or mistress would birch two children before the next would take over. The nurse then took up a spray can; we could see the label on the TV monitor, Nu Skin and sprayed it over the bloody wheals. The touch of the spray restarted the screams of pain. The microphones picked up the nurses words.

"I know that this hurts but it is to protect your back, bum and legs from infection." We were soon dealing with my class, I saw Britney being moved into position. This I would enjoy, she had made my life a misery since I started at the school. I watched carefully as the first three were laid on her legs, back and bum. Then the master changed direction and laid the next two diagonally across her bum one from below and the other above, he then repeated the whole procedure with the heavy birch. Britney was screaming from the very first stroke. The third stroke with the heavy birch had just been applied when a bell started ringing from her birching station. I realized her eyes had closed. The head stood up.

"As you can hear, automatic devices have come into play, Britney has passed out from pain, her vital signs are still within the normal range and two minutes after she comes round her punishment will re-commence. In the meantime we will continue using the other two stations."

Doug was next to receive his punishment and I was delighted to see that he had started to look sick when Britney had passed out. His ten strokes passed uneventfully, for us that is, and he was treated and then led off the back of the stage with his fellow victims. Britney came round and we heard the nurse say to her.

"Your birching will restart in two minutes."

I laughed to hear her beg to be let off, she was promising the world. Two minutes later she received the last two strokes of the birch. She had to be carried off stage. Finally the last of the students was led off. The final student was then brought in and fastened to the birching station. All four of the disciplinarians moved up. They stood either side of the student, two by the back and two by the legs. The head master then moved onto the stage.

"This student thought he could escape his punishment by assaulting a teacher's aide. I will give him six strokes of the cane; he will then receive twenty strokes of the birch. If he wants he can tell us afterwards which hurts more." The student then said, "Can't I appeal against this?"

"I will have to delay this punishment as he wants to exercise his right of appeal, is the link set up, oh good I see it is. Good afternoon your worship, this student had been sentenced to receive two strokes of the cane for his misbehaviour between the time of the change in law, when he received notification of the discipline change, and the lunch period; whilst waiting for punishment he threatened one of my aides, and then assaulted him. He was stopped in his flight by Mr Clive who used his newly issued tazer. The student was restrained, checked by the nurse and then held for punishment, I have ordered six of the cane and twenty of the heavyweight birch."

"Thank you headmaster. Now young man, what have you got to say for yourself?"

"I didn't receive no warning so I shouldn't have been punished in the first place."

"Whose class are you in?"

"Mr Clives."

"Mr Clive do you have the recording of this morning's class warning?"

"Yes your worship, if I can put my memory stick into the podium?"

"Certainly Mr Clive." I moved forward and pushed my memory stick into the podium, the video recording of this morning flashed through until it reached the relevant spot. You could hear me rap on the desk and then my voice over the hush. I am giving you a warning, discipline in this school is being tightened up as of today, at 11:45; punishments will be changed."Whatever else I said was drowned out by the noise of the students. In fact it was my continued statement about the change in the law protecting staff.

"I see that what was drowned out by your class was the warning on threats of assault and assault of members of staff. However I can see that you gave the warning, the fact that your student failed to hear the warning by his own behaviour is not your fault. Case proved; appeal disallowed; punishment changed to six of the cane on the bottom and twenty of the heavyweight birch diagonally across his thighs and back to cross the bottom. How old is the student?"

I looked in my personal computer. "Sixteen your worship, do you want me to upload the data for you?"

"I suppose you better had." I stepped back to the podium and offered my organizer into the dock, his student file flashed up on screen.

"That's fine, a court officer is on his way to you, he will be ready by the time you have finished the first part of the punishment, he will then apply twenty strokes of the whip, he will bring it with him in the ambulance as your student will need to go to hospital after his punishment finishes. The discipline master went to the head.

"Sir we will have to dismount Jones as we need to fit the ECG equipment to him along with his blood oxygen monitor." Jones was taken down from the birching station whilst the nurse was bringing a red box through; she gave it to the Master.

"I'll fit this master, or else it could be seen as part of the punishment, will you give the running commentary."

The disciplinarians held Jones by his arms and legs whilst the master took the connectors for the ECG.

"The nurse is going to fit the electrodes for the ECG, as there will be a lot of movement and sweat normal contact electrodes are not secure enough, as you can see on the screen, each electrode has a curved sharp hook which penetrates the skin and as the electrode is rocked around pulls it tight to Jones flesh. If you look closely you will see that the hooks are thin but wide this ensures that they won't pull out through the skin, similarly the blood oxygen monitor. I will also be inserting an intravenous line so I can administer fluids, if they are needed. Fifteen minutes after the end of the punishment I will administer an anaesthetic through the line for the journey to the correction centre hospital; he will not receive any further pain relief whilst he is a patient in the correction centre hospital."

Finally Jones was fully hooked up; blood was trickling down his chest from the ECG electrodes. He was strapped back onto the birching station and the head moved into position. He gave Jones six very fast and hard swipes of the cane, each one had drops of blood oozing from them, then the birchers took position there was a disturbance at the back of the hall, the court officer had arrived. He was led to the stage; he had with him two cases, a long thin one and a stubby one. He turned to the master

"Can you loosen him slightly; I need to fit my defibrillator to your electrodes, then if his heart stops we can restart him automatically. It shouldn't be needed though." There was a collective gasp in the hall at his words. The defibrillator was fitted and the birching started. His howls and screams were payment for all the insults we had put up with over the years; I have no doubt his victims were extracting pleasure at the sight of their tormentor strung up and on the receiving end. He got to the sixteenth stroke before he fainted the first time, he then got to twenty strokes and the birches were returned to the buckets. The nurse then wiped his legs, bum and back to mop up the blood before she handed over to the court officer. The ambulance crew had come in with their stretcher and they were monitoring the ECG and blood gas levels. The court officer then moved over to the heads chair and took the microphone. He then went to centre stage where Jones' screams were finally dying down.

"I am about to whip this young fool, what he will receive is not dangerous to a healthy person of his age, even the youngest of those birched today could handle this whipping without serious danger. However I don't know if this idiot has used drugs and if so what drugs. If he has then there is a danger to his heart, which is why I have a paramedic with me and the defibrillator attached to him. You heard the bells when he passed out from pain, if his heart should stop then a siren will sound to make sure I and my colleagues get clear of the birching station, then his heart will be shocked and restarted. He will then be transported to the correction centre hospital. He will then return here when he has fully recovered for the rest of his sentence."

He then adjusted the birching station to an upright position, took out his whip from the case and spread out the nine lashes, I could see the knots in the end of each lash. There was a loud whistle, a loud crack and a gut churning scream, I could see blood starting to run down his back, there was a sonorous call ONE, a second slash of the whip and TWO, THREE he got to five and changed sides, the whip tails were curling around Jones abdomen. I was actually starting to feel sorry for the idiot. He got to six and the bells rang, he got a three minute break, one minute to come round and two to rest. The nurse was taking his blood pressure, she went to the officer and I saw him nod his head. She then connected a drip up and fitted an oxygen mask. I looked more carefully at the large display alongside the two pictures of his back and distorted face. I knew for a fact that Jones had played with drugs a lot. The bells rang again at nine and again at twelve strokes. Blood was streaming down over his bum and down his legs, being diverted only by the wheals raised by the birching. The court officer extended the rest period to five minutes before restarting; he had just given the fifteenth lash when the siren sounded. Jones' body then rocked in its clamps as the electric shock hit him to restart his heart; it took two shocks to do the job. Fifteen minutes later the nurse administered the anaesthetic whilst the paramedic released Jones from the station; he was soon on the life-support stretcher and was away to the correction centre by ambulance. The head moved to centre stage.

"Punishment has finished for this afternoon, Jones was a known drug user and this is the result, he will return when he has recovered and receive the last five strokes of the cat o nine tails. I will point out that this is not a once off event, true I can't see us having to administer punishment to so many students at one time again, but if it is needed we will. Jones has learned that time wasting appeals will result in an increased sentence. Our aides are connected to security centres by radio link, if you think you can get away with attacking a member of staff from any direction; let me reassure you, you won't get away with it. The new laws are going out on TV, Radio and the newspapers tonight. The death penalty has been re introduced and the fine print of the Schools, staff protection bill allows punishments to be increased by two levels so actual bodily harm will be treated as murder. The aide that Jones hit has received a black eye, which amounts to actual bodily harm. If I had decided to send him direct to court he could have been sentenced to death. Because I had sentenced him to a flogging the sentence could only be raised one level, to the cat o nine tails. If the judge had thought I was unduly lenient though he could have asked for my sentence to be set aside and his put in its place, Jones could have been in the correction centre hospital tonight, waiting for the completion of his flogging before he was executed. Be warned that discipline in this school will improve, your class teachers are authorized to use the cane or slipper in the classroom, over trousers or skirts for lesser offences, on your underwear and bare bottom caning or nude birching will be authorized by me and that will usually take place in public on this stage at the very least. Notorious offenders will be punished in the central square."

By this time the students were beyond expressing their feelings. "Those students who were caned may now leave the auditorium; you will go to your classes and wait for your teachers. You can put on shoes and socks but you cannot put on your skirts, trousers pants or knickers until you are finally dismissed by your class teacher at the end of school. Those who have been birched will be taken home and you may have tomorrow off to recover, if you are off longer than that you must come in to see the school nurse on Friday she will then allow or disallow an extension on a case by case basis."

After the rest of the students had departed we issued our aides with new blazers, they had a small unit built in the epaulet that took 360 degree pictures and both recorded and transmitted the images and sound. It was explained that they were able to disable the transmitter for varying periods of ten minutes to an hour at a time, this being the length of the recording loop. The new security manager came to me.

Trouble in your class room Mr Clive, look." He showed me his handset and I could see young Tracy baring her bum on my desk and saying how she was going to do me when I got into the class.

"Will you be alright Mr Clive?"

I should think so, 3 lessons a week of martial art under an army PT instructor for the last six months should enable me to take her down. Even with that knife she is brandishing." I collected my five student aides and together we walked back to my class and walked in.

"Tracy get down from my desk and return to your seat."

"Fuck off you wanker, I'm going to slice your face up for starters, it's your fault I got these marks on my arse." Whilst she was shouting her mouth off at me and waving the knife in my direction I closed the distance, grabbed her ankle and pulled, she fell to the floor and got up screaming and started to come at me with the knife. I let her close the distance then grabbed her wrist, twisted and then turned with her arm over my shoulder, she hit the floor hard and dropped the knife, I dragged her across the room and threw her into my new caning station. Jason and Becky came up behind me with wrist and ankle cuffs to hold her in place. As we were finishing the door burst open and the security manager and four army instructors ran in.