Status anxiety
‘Yes,’ I said, punching the air. ‘Daddy got the highest score’ — and other triumphs
Toby Young's half-term report
What are the two words guaranteed to fill any parents of young children with terror? School fees? Chicken Pox? Gina Ford? The answer, I’m afraid, is half term.
My daughter, Sasha, only started going to ‘big school’ in September so I wasn’t anticipating too many problems. What I hadn’t factored in is that my wife gave birth to a third child this year, which meant she already had her hands full with a three-month-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old. The fact that our au pair resigned a couple of months ago didn’t help, either. How could I cope?
The answer, said my wife, was to cram in as many activities as possible. In this way, she assured me, the time would pass quite quickly. Unfortunately, after I’d prepared a detailed schedule, Caroline decreed that ‘watching television’ and ‘going to the cinema’ didn’t count as activities. What I had to come up with, apparently, were ‘educational excursions’.
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On stage from the start
Sam LeithHenry: Virtuous Prince, by David Starkey
Stepping-stones of his past self
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Status Anxiety
Toby YoungIf I die this weekend, at least I will breathe my last in the name of a good cause
Senior moments
Simon HoggartNew Tricks (BBC1); Mutual Friends (BBC1); Masterchef: the Professionals (BBC1)
That was the year that was
Kate Chisholm1968: The Year of Revolutions (BBC Radio 4); The Golden Notebook (BBC Radio 4)
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