Ah, yes, the definition of "irony". All Mike knew was that his Dad didn't want him fighting and I'm sure a lot of other kids were punished for the very same thing. I recall first seeing it in the Sunday edition of the newspaper and it was in color. Wish I still had it instead of the inferior black-and-white version...
"For Better Or For Worse" is basically rerunning old strips now, as the kids have all grown up and moved out. "Mike" is married himself now and the strip is pretty much at the end of its storyline. There's a current American strip called "Baby Blues" where I've noticed at least one spanking some time ago (at least the aftermath). The eldest sister was teasing her younger brother about crying at a visit to the doctor's office and the last panel featured her vigorously rubbing her behind and "pain stars" were emanating from it. It's a wonder the boy, Hammie, isn't spanked more often, as he is every bit as "mischievous" as Dennis the Menace or Calvin ever were and, admittedly lives to tease and torture his sister...