I've set up a new website for my most recent posts, which means all my posts about childhood cancer and child bereavement are in the same place. This also leaves me the space to also return New Pencil Case to polemical nonsense at some point in the future. If you'd like to subscribe to this … Continue reading New website announcement
Don’t Look Down: Why children don’t fight cancer
How we talk about children's cancer matters. It’s easy to worry about saying the right thing, the wrong thing, and often people end up saying nothing at all, which is the worst of all. The language used usually involves wars, battles, fighting, bravery. In many ways it’s odd. We never say a child lost their battle against an articulated lorry, but cancer it seems is up for the fight.
Carry me home
There are many kinds of mother you can be. Tiger mother, Alpha, Helicopter. I’ve never really seen myself as any of them, and certainly tried to avoid a few. If I had to classify my parenting style, I’d say that I carried stuff. To give it a festive flavour, if this were a nativity, I’d be the donkey.
Get down from there – life with childhood leukaemia
A month ago today, I was sitting in Regent’s Park, reading a book, drinking coffee. I had an evening at the theatre planned. For the first time in years I felt that everything was under control. I'd spent the previous evening watching Barbra Streisand. I would never to make it to the theatre. 6 hours … Continue reading Get down from there – life with childhood leukaemia
You can take your Wonderland, and your Elf on the Shelf, and bugger off
This year, the elf on the shelf appears like a festive psychopath to ruin it for everyone.
Enough now? Me Too. Surely we can now see the back of the Harvey Weinsteins
The most surprising thing about the Harvey Weinstein story this week is that anyone was surprised. Powerful man turns out to be a predatory sleazebag is nothing new: Trump’s locker room and the criminal records of most of my childhood celebrities is testament to that. Well it was the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, a … Continue reading Enough now? Me Too. Surely we can now see the back of the Harvey Weinsteins
Won’t someone think of the children – the election orphans.
My son’s first reaction on hearing there was going to be an election was “You don’t like elections do you Mum? You never win” And it’s true. He’s only 8 and the past 2 years have seen an obscenely swift succession of disappointing results. The day after the Brexit result we had a family outing … Continue reading Won’t someone think of the children – the election orphans.
“She’s Got The Shrinks” – living with anxiety
It’s hard to talk about anxiety. On the one hand, admitting that you have a mental health issue does carry with it a certain amount of stigma. On the other, the fear that it will be dismissed as middle class whining when people have real illnesses to worry about is strong.
Life Without George
George Michael was mine and all of these other people are merely charlatans hired in as professional mourners. They had no business intruding on my grief.
Grammar Schools: Life at the coal face
Theresa May is considering bringing back Grammar Schools - that darling education panacea of the right. For some of us, they never went away, and this Saturday my precious first born sits his 11+. If you thought I was anxious about Son2's Year 2 SATS, brace yourself.
New Pencil Case 