There, I've mentioned it anyway now!
But, then after the news I watched the Richard Dimbleby lecture.
It is another literary confession of mine that I have never read any of Michael Morpurgo's books. That is going to have to change. Thankfully we have most of his books, or at least Jake does, as fairly regularly, his great aunt in Yorkshire sends one of his books for Christmas or birthday. We think that she must have kept a list of what she's sent, as there's never been any duplication.
Anyway, Mr Morpurgo was delivering the Dimbleby lecture, on the topic of the rights of children, and put simply, the man is a genius.
I don't think iplayer has a recording of the lecture, which is a shame as it would be worth a second listen. As he promised, he wove a number of stories into his lecture to illustrate his points, focusing on three of the fundamental rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. Those three rights are to freedom, to survival and to education. Doesn't seem like much to ask does it?
On the topic of education, a couple of comments (no doubt slightly misquoted due to my poor memory) that resonated:
"In the heart of every child lies a unique genius." and
"The most important thing in a child's education is the quality of the relationships they make."