Comms for Kids

It was not so much his words but his tone. It spoke volumes. Most of all, it spoke of defeat! I was chatting to a local barista this week when we got onto the dreaded subject of Christmas (Yes, I’m all bah humbug and don’t start me on corporate pressure!). He shared that he’d taken on extra shifts just to afford Christmas before briefly listing the series of bills that were due through his door. His back was to me but I saw his shoulders droop and heard his overly long an

Every politician loves a photocall! Add in a great cause, a placard or two and the ultimate…a human with ‘lived experience’ and the excitement is tangible. I can say this, I used to be a local one and I won’t deny, I indulged in a fair few myself. It’s progress for people, isn’t it? Raising awareness is important and whatever the medium, children’s issues are often the subject matter. Let’s be honest, they're vote winners! However, as the Scottish Parliament returns from

I’m back from Canada (with heat exhaustion!) and hugging the CN Tower has got me thinking about our aspirations for children and young people. Forgive the dramatics (there’s more to come) but wow, you know that feeling just before a Scottish thunderstorm when it’s so humid and the air needs cleared? Well, max on that feeling. In fact, max on it a thousand times! No joke, the humidity levels whilst out there reached feels like temps of 47⁰ and had me diving head first into t

I recently lost my voice! No joke. It dawned on me that things were pretty bad when I couldn’t utter those three little words…”vanilla latte please” in my local coffee shop. It got worse. I had to pull out of supply. You try teaching a 30 plus class with literally no voice, never mind the projection that’s needed. Same with tutoring as with even the best theatrical skills in the world, miming is not enough. However, this whole lack of access to my vocal chords got me thinki

Child safeguarding failures show the urgent need for an independent whistleblowers office and for politicians to not look away. As published in Scotsman on 21/2/26... Some books stay with you, or at least they should. I know that Holly’s will be one of them and I hope that Edinburgh’s councillors will read it thoroughly and choose not to look away. I read the aptly named ‘I Thought You Cared’ in one sitting. It’s the brave and inspirational story of a child abuse survivor and