The lefty schoolchildren of Britain are playing truant to demonstrate against George W. Bush, and the government is on the case. (I wonder. Would they be so severe on demonstrations that the Prime Minister was in favour of? No need to answer that.) If that's what it takes for teenagers to grasp how silly compulsory education is, then I'm for it.

The government today launched the latest wave of anti-truancy sweeps of town centres and shopping arcades - as speculation mounted that some children will bunk off school to protest against the visit of US president George Bush.

Teams of police and education welfare officers will patrol known truancy hot spots in England over the next three weeks in the fourth such nationwide operation, said young people's minister Ivan Lewis.

Figures from the last national sweep in May showed police caught 5,182 truants, 2,194 of whom were in the company of an adult.

In the previous operation last December, 7,341 children who should have been in school were stopped, 3,645 of whom were with a parent.

Mr Lewis said: "The message could not be clearer - school attendance matters. Truancy is a passport to a life blighted by wasted opportunities, unemployment and even crime.

Well if you make truancy into a crime, it isn't that surprising that it leads to … crime. But if "truancy" was legalised, it would surely do far less damage, and stop being a gateway crime to real crimes. By making truancy illegal, you put those who do it beyond the protection of the law, and thus make the process far worse.

Legalise all truancy. Not just soft truancy like taking a day off for a demo that your mother will be at as well. No, legalise the lot. I know it sounds terrible, but really, it would be better.