Bullied children will be able to contact their parents discreetly thanks to a new mobile service being launched called PingAlert. PingAlert is activated via a speed dial button on handsets, and sends a message to the parent's phone with a location description and map. Why did no one think of this before? (And what the Hell did we all do before Mobile phones?)

Michele Elliott, director of children's charity Kidscape, said: "PingAlert provides a great tool in the war against bullying. Now kids can alert their parents that they're in trouble without having to call or text them."

The service can be accessed online and costs the sender's phone 50p per PingAlert, plus the cost of the call, which takes three to five seconds.