The John Lewis advert is out (underwhelming), Kevin the Carrot is still going strong (predictable) and Mr Yates has banned us from watching films on the last week of term (never gonna happen). Yep, it’s almost Christmas; a time of ‘peace on earth and good will to all men’ according to Luke 2:14. Although I’d defy anyone to quibble with Luke’s message, it’s hard to believe that even in the fairly stable country we live there is a state of ‘peace’ or even ‘goodwill’ at the moment when we are witnessing ugly TV debates in readiness for an potentially even uglier General Election. This year we’ve witnessed world leaders telling lies, innocent people dying in the backs of lorries at the hands of greedy traffickers and elderly protesters being arrested for trying to express concern over our planet which is in crisis.
The Oxford dictionary’s Word of the Year 2019 is climate emergency; last year it was toxic. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the 2020 Word of the Year was kind or tolerant or accepting - three words I would use to describe our Sixth Form community. I’d like to raise a glass of hot Vimto and thank everyone for looking out for and after each other this year. In the words of Tiny Tim, the Dickensian frog ‘God bless us, everyone!’