You know how everything is shit at the moment. It's scary and feels out of our control. Imagine being a teenager, having to navigate this world, while your hormones are pulling you in different directions. Then imagine having to deal with exams that will affect the course of your

life. You're having to come to terms with the isolation of lockdown, the constant, frequently changing rules and vigilance around covid. Imagine that being exacerbated by additional mental or physical health issues. Maybe you have a supportive home, maybe you don't.

Who knows which particular combination of world events and personal circumstances are going to enable you to sink or swim in this world that, as a 57 year old privileged white man, I find almost impossible to negotiate at the best of times.

So maybe give those kids a break for a couple of years. Maybe think about privilege - whatever form that takes, even if it's just the ability to cope with all this - and how it favours people. Maybe take the pressure off them for a bit.

They'll always, as they go through further education or work, be part of that covid generation. Everyone will know what they went through, the achievement for many of them of just holding it together.

Maybe what all this has shown us, what we need to learn from it, is that doing well in your exams when you're 16 or 18 isn't the criteria that should determine how you get a step up in life.

This may read as a heartfelt plea, but please rest assured that comes from a place of utter fury.