Watching some music channel today, and they were showing “Do they know it’s Christmas” by Band Aid. My son, 7, says ‘why are they showing all that?’. He’s pointing at the clips of starving people in Africa. I explained why. He asks a few more questions. Then he says, ‘why don’t they just get them all out in helicopters?’ – I said, ‘who?’ – he said, ‘those poor people.’ (Note: they’re not “Black” or “Africans”) – I said, ‘but where are you going to put them?’ – ‘the army could do it,’ he says – ‘but where are you going to put them?’ I say again – ‘bring them all to England,’ he says, looking at me like I’m stupid.

When you grow up, the phrase ‘it’s someone else’s problem,’ is used a lot, isn’t it?

(To lighten the mood, he then tells me, ‘my school think it’s so serious, they’ve put a poster on the wall about it.’)