𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝. The day my husband died, my children came home from nursery and needed me to be the same reliable, loving, stable mum they knew. 𝐓𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐛, 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥�

𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥’𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 ‘𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞’ - 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬.

On Wednesday 4th March, South West Water submitted a guilty plea to supplying water unfit for human consumption during the cryptosporidium outbreak in Brixham. This admission has been a very long time coming and is a vital step towards accountability. I am glad SWW have finally owned up to their serious failures. But let's be clear: this awful event should never have happened. The fact that it did is symptomatic of our broken water industry. The industry needs a serious refit

Reading to children exposes them to millions of words that differ substantially from everyday spoken language, as books contain a wider range of vocabulary, more complex sentence structures and richer narrative forms. But the current state of children’s reading in this country is deeply concerning, with rates plummeting – and this cannot be detached from the increase in recreational screen use. Children are being engrossed by addictive algorithms, swiping through TikTok rathe

In 2002, when our youngest was five months and our eldest was two, my beloved husband was diagnosed with terminal oesophageal cancer.

In 2002, when our youngest was five months and our eldest was two, my beloved husband was diagnosed with terminal oesophageal cancer. A year later, he died. You cannot explain to a baby or a toddler what death means. All they know is: one day their parent is there, the next he is gone. I remember my youngest, who had just learned to say the word “dada”, going round the house opening doors, looking for him because she could not find him. I did not know much about the imp