ONE THING is certain now that the morality debate sparked by Mrs Frances Lawrence, widow of the murdered London head teacher, has gathered momentum.

It is that, while political parties seek to claim the moral high ground, there is much confusion over what are modern-day basic values.

For while millions of people might, with hardly a pause for thought, be able to write a list of good, old-fashioned virtues for society to follow - enshrining the family, marriage, respect for others and the law - those wrestling with drafting a moral code for our age are finding it difficult.

Just look, for instance, at the row over guidelines for teaching right and wrong to children in schools.

It turns out to contain few references to the family and none to marriage. And Education Minister Gillian Shephard has caused a row for demanding that the schools' morality code puts more stress on family life - whereas, with so many children coming from broken and single-parent homes, others shy away from setting a greater value on the traditional family.

See, too, how the Tories find the moral ground shifting beneath their feet - as the Chief Rabbi blames the years of "over-individualistic" Thatcherism for the phenomenon of broken families and weakened communities.

Note also how Labour leader Tony Blair's Christian values come under fire on the issue of abortion as he discovers the pitfall of preaching morality - as it puts the preacher on the spot in having to declare his own values and live up to them.

Indeed, was it not just the same sort of circumstance that scuppered John Major's 1993 Back To Basics campaign, when a string of Tory sex and sleaze scandals made it all look so hypocritical.

Now we see a new morality debate under way - fuelled not only by Mrs Lawrence's call for a moral agenda, but also by national outrage at the Dunblane massacre and widespread concern over law and order generally.

It is to be welcomed in that it pressures politicians to respond.

But, alas, do we already see it becoming bogged down in the confusion over what morality means nowadays and, perhaps, faint-heartedness when it comes to condemning?

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.