Regular readers will know that this blogger supports the principles of diversity and inclusiveness. You may also have gleaned that I believe in treating kids with the respect that all human beings deserve. And this is not just a theoretical notion. Take a careful look at my blogs of Saturday April 10th and Tuesday April 13th. You'll appreciate that Newsround should always be careful how it treats kids .....but should have been assiduous having regard to the views of those kids in Liverpool, at a time when it was specifically trying to let kids 'have your say' during the 2010 general election campaign.

It's clear that Newsround's 2010 general election consultation exercise came pretty low down on Hart's Ladder of Participation - perhaps rungs 2 to 3 at most. In general The BBC doesn't treat kids with the appropriate level of respect.

A coalition called 'ROCK' is working towards incorporating the UN Convention on children's rights into UK law. And as I blogged here August 12th 2010 marked the start of the International Year of Youth 2010. Last week the World Youth Conference 2010 was held in Léon Mexico (Twitter). From reports it seems that locals in Mexico treated youth delegates from around the world in a similar condescending way to how Newsround treats kids.

A note on terminology - Children are people under 18. By a common convention 'adolescent' refers to any individual aged between 10-19 years; 'young person' refers to any individual between 10-24 years; and 'youth' to people between the ages of 15 and 24 years.