BEING a fairly new father, I can appreciate how traumatic it must be if you can't see your child every day. And I can only imagine how awful it must be if you are separated from them for months, or even years, at a time.

So I know where the "Fathers 4 Justice" campaigners are coming from, even if I don't entirely side with everything they're saying.

It's not a black and white issue, but it certainly is an important one that needs debating and sorting out.

But what struck me about the most recent shenanigans, with protester Jason Hatch dressing up as Batman and scaling Buckingham Palace, was not the message but the way it was delivered.

See, lots of groups feel their cause is an important one, and clamour for our attention.

Some animal rights campaigners think it's okay to send letter bombs and death threats to scientists.

Both sides of the religious divide in Northern Ireland found their own justification for indiscriminate murder.

Most recently, we've seen what depths some of those campaigning for Chechen independence will go to.

And last weekend we marked three years since one group of fanatics thought crashing jumbo jets into buildings packed with thousands of people was a good way of advertising its beliefs.

On that sort of scale, despite the sniffy official mouthpieces citing "security concerns", dressing up as a slightly paunchy Caped Crusader and shinning up Bucks House is pretty minor league stuff.

And, best of all, it's somehow a terribly English form of protest: humorous, faintly ridiculous, and inconveniencing as few people as possible.

Mr Hatch was joined in his protest by David Pyke, who was dressed as Robin. Now Mr Pyke is 48. Robin is, well, the Boy Wonder.

Almost any other superhero would have been more appropriate. Except that one who lives underwater, Aquaman or whatever.

At least he had the wisdom to opt for what I believe is the "modern" Robin look, as opposed to the red, yellow and green monstrosity with tights that we all remember from childhood.

The point is, this is a group who could have got attention by throwing anthrax powder at Parliament, or by sending a suicide bomber to the palace when the Queen was sunning herself on the balcony.

Instead, they've given us a bit of a laugh by chucking a condom full of purple flour at Mr Blair and Co, and waltzing about on the ledge of an empty Buckingham Palace.

It may not be the most adult form of protest in the world, but it's a damn sight more grown up than killing someone to get your point across.

I can't help worrying about the children of Messrs Hatch and Pyke, however.

Presumably, they'll be the ones with their heads in their hands when someone asks the question: "And what does your dad do?"