Life

I am keeping my son home from school next week. We are boycotting SATs. Here’s why:

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When my eldest child started school seven years ago, I soon noticed that my views on my children’s development weren’t the same as other mums’. I recall waiting in line to pick my son up from nursery and overhearing two mums comparing their children’s milestone achievements. One of the mums anxiously stated that her child wasn’t very advanced, but resigned herself to the fact that “you’re either born bright, or you’re not.” No parent waiting in the line flinched when … Read more

Books

Inside an Ad Agency

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  I’m planning novel #4 at the the moment, so I was doing some more research into ad agency departments. I’ve already done so much already, but I’m going to be writing characters who work in production, so that means I’m introducing lots of new job titles. As I was working through, I realised that many readers might be a little bit muddled about the various departments / functions I talk about so I’ve written this (very) rough guide to … Read more

Life

How you destroyed our lives

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‘ Dear neighbour, Eleven years ago my husband and I bought what we thought would be our dream home. At the time we were newly engaged and excited to be embarking on the next chapter of our lives together. We hadn’t noticed that the end-of-terrace townhouse next door had been converted into flats until the week we moved in. We’d asked the previous owner about the neighbours during the buying process, and he told us that the woman next door … Read more