Years ago, my son’s secondary school counsellor told me that the biggest issue he faced was parents trying to force students to study Stem subjects and not humanities at A-level, in the belief this would inexorably lead to a better job. And yet no one knows what knowledge will be “useful” to them in their career. My own “rip-off” degree in Old and Middle English led to my writing 100 Horrid Henry stories, millions of books sold worldwide and countless kids becoming readers. (And I wrote them while on one of those “indefinite leave to remain” visas that Reform UK has vowed to revoke.) Though I didn’t know it, I couldn’t have chosen a better subject to train me to become a children’s author.