Children
In defence of strict teachers
Labour have become alarmed by the strict, ‘cruel’ approach to discipline in schools and the rise in the number of…
Why children have stopped reading
It’s only when you read the old stories again, to a child maybe, that you become aware of the extent…
Who is your favourite character in children’s literature?
Rod Liddle Rabbits, always rabbits. I remember at age 13 forcing my poor parents to trudge despondently across hilly downland…
Keir Starmer’s parenting lessons
Before he became Prime Minister, Keir Starmer admitted he was concerned about what life in Downing Street might be like…
Are kids’ games under threat?
We hear a lot about the rights of the child, but the first I heard of the child’s right to…
I’m taking mental notes for my old age
I know straight away, from the look on my friend Alice’s face, whether it’s a ‘bad carer’ day. Five years…
Why is the government making it harder to get an au pair?
You will have heard, I am sure, of the Conservatives’ recent largesse towards working parents, as their ‘free’ childcare policy…
Why Mummy smokes
It’s 7.02 p.m. and I’m standing outside my house by the bins smoking a fag. Upstairs, I can hear that…
Stop worrying if your child is a picky eater
One parent in our class WhatsApp chat raised a pressing concern: her daughter was coming home every day with a…
‘Childhood has been rewired’: Professor Jonathan Haidt on how smartphones are damaging a generation
Something strange is happening with teenagers’ mental health. In Britain, the US, Australia and beyond, the same trend can be…
Dog ice-cream: proof we’ve lost our minds
During the few hot days we had in June, I came across my first tub of dog ice-cream nestled among…
Viking invasion
How the import of Danish sperm has become big business
What Miriam Cates gets right – and wrong – about declining fertility
Fulfil your civic duty. Get married. Have children. That was the message from Miriam Cates, the increasingly prominent Conservative backbencher, to guests…
What a drag
Why are protestors so angry about a children’s story hour?
Anti heroes
Why this mad insistence that everyone has special powers?
Parenting matters. It’s about time we were brave enough to say so
The Duchess of Cambridge has been out and about hosting roundtables with very important people, discussing what can be done…
Soldiery stuff
The Battlegroundpodcast on the wars of the 20th century, said presenter Saul David happily, ‘will have lots of bombs and…
Letters
Soft ground Sir: We have heard much over the years from the overseas aid lobby about the value of soft…
Brave new world
Joe Biden announced in November: ‘Transgender people are some of the bravest Americans I know.’ When Conservative MP Jamie Wallis…
The kids aren’t all right – and the grown-ups are to blame
I think it’s time we stopped scaring the children. I think they’ve had enough. They’re at breaking point now, every…
Anxiety is killing parenthood
Britain is on a slow descent to oblivion. Scotland is even closer to the abyss, with a birth rate of…
My three straight weeks of saintliness
I’m currently standing at the top of Brownie Point Mountain, having spent the past two weeks looking after our three…
The Pope is right: it is selfish to choose pets over children
Well, we’ve been terrifically amused and amusing at the expense of Pope Francis, who this week declared at a Vatican…
Nature vs nurture
The ‘social mobility tsar’ Katharine Birbalsingh has suggested that children, born evil, ‘need to be taught right from wrong and…
The stolen children
My family still bears the scars of the forced adoption scandal
