Pressure. It’s all around us. Never more so, it could be argued, than now, at Christmas time . . . Mistletoe and Wine? For some, perhaps. For others, it’s a period to dread. Mental Illness doesn’t take a break for the festive season. If anything, it intensifies. Depression. Expectation. Drugs. Debt. Drink. Bereavement. Loneliness. Painful...Read More

So first the good news . . . Bullying – in the traditional sense, at least – is said to no longer be quite the problem it once was in schools in England. This is a conclusion based upon research and figures that the Department for Education has released in recent days to coincide with...Read More

Steve Jobs – the Universal Studios biopic that is scheduled to be released in the UK this week – looks to be a fascinating film and one that we’re looking forward to watching. The most interesting aspect might not be the movie itself, however, but rather an enlightening interview that Kate Winslet, who stars alongside...Read More

There’s a viral photograph that is doing the rounds on Facebook just now . . . It shows a group of teenagers, presumably pictured on a school trip, at an art gallery. Hanging on the walls, all around them, are beautiful paintings in ornate frames. No-one is looking at the art, however, because EVERYONE in...Read More

In the UK, over the past three decades or so, there has been a tenfold increase in the number of people diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. This astonishing rise is a cause for concern, autism (and other associated conditions, Asperger’s syndrome included) having emerged from nowhere to trouble our children and threaten their...Read More

In a recent post on our blog, we wrote about risk. It was our contention that, in the main, young people aren’t exposed to it enough. It’s far better, our argument goes, to climb a tree (and risk falling out) than it is to spend days on end glued to a screen, watching the TV,...Read More

Let us be clear about this right from the start. Our intention is not to criticise, to denigrate or to find fault. There has been much finger pointing – in the main at police forces in England and Wales – in response to the Inspectorate of Constabulary’s report on how child abuse investigations are conducted....Read More

Perfect bodies. They’re everywhere. In adverts. On Instagram. Television. Magazines. They’re impossible to avoid. Last month, Protein World’s ‘Beach Body’ billboards hit the headlines after being plastered all over the London Underground. These have since been banned. Taken down. Never to be seen again. Yet damage has been done and there are countless other offending...Read More

Could YOUR child climb a tree? Many, we contend, would have no idea how, while others, it’s fair to say, would have little or no inclination. Give them an Xbox (or something similar) and it’d be a different matter . . . That children have, in general terms, become so detached from the great outdoors...Read More

This means that, right across the country, young people are, at this precise moment, under the most extreme pressure imaginable.   The resulting stresses and strains have been much discussed in the media in recent times. This is good and bad. Good in that talking about such problems is always the all-important first step to...Read More