9 APRIL 2003
One is the British prime minister, one is the sexy Irishman who brings James Bond to life. Though Tony Blair and Pierce Brosnan may seem worlds apart, they do have a few things in common – they're both raising little ones as they approach the big 5-0 next month, and they've both recently shared their insight on fatherhood.

The PM has some wry observations on kids, and uses the youngest of his four children, toddler Leo, as an example. "Children divide into two types– the ones who come into your bed and lie still, and the ones that wriggle," he tells The Daily Telegraph. "Leo is a wriggler. So once he gets in, you find a foot in your ear."

While raising three teenagers – Euan, Nicholas and Kathryn – presents joys of its own, Tony says it is Leo who keeps him young. "Especially when he wakes us in the night," he says, "as he does rather frequently." And though it was the PM's chore to respond to those late night needs with the first three children, it's generally mum Cherie's job these days. And that's not the only difference between then and now.

"Our eldest kids are always telling us we're better with Leo than we were with them," says Blair. "But there are events you go to where all the other parents are 18 years younger and you think, hmmm, some mistake, surely."

It's a situation which may sound familiar to Pierce Brosnan, who is dad to five children, ranging in age from toddler to 20something. Paris, born in 2001 to the actor's wife Keely, is the latest addition to the family. "I am in awe of my children's lives, especially with the birth of little Paris as I approach 50," he tells Dad magazine. "There are regrets. Did I give them all as much love as I give this one? Time is of the essence."

Though the Evelyn star is a hands-on dad, he admits that when it comes to discipline, he's "more of a soft touch". He says: "I get hoodwinked sometimes. I find the older children using my own material on me."