A sinister cocktail of junk food, marketing, over-competitive schooling and electronic entertainment is poisoning childhood, a powerful lobby of academics and children's experts says today. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, 110 teachers, psychologists, children's authors and other experts call on the Government to act to prevent the death of childhood. They write: “We are deeply concerned at the escalating incidence of childhood depression and children's behavioural and developmental conditions.” The group, which includes Philip Pullman, blames a failure by politicians and public alike to understand how children develop. Read more.