What do you think the world got right this year?
I am pleased Labour won the election. Labour thinks differently.
What do you think the world got wrong this year?
War. And secondly the understanding of travel. There is a myopic belief that immigration causes the deterioration of a nation, when it is nation-building. Immigration is the nature of nature and the maker of nations. Space travel is immigration. Birth is migration from the womb to the open air. We are born immigrants. Death is the migration of breath.
Did you get Oasis tickets?
No. When I heard Noel and Liam had reconnected, something good happened in the world. They found the oasis.
What is your cultural highlight of 2024?
There are many but I am going to say my cultural highlight was when Princess Kate Middleton was declared cancer-free. She is a mother, wife, daughter, sister, photographer and activist. At the opposite side of the spectrum, the author Alex Wheatle survived an attack of cancer and has continued rising in a stellar career of films, books and pure success.
What’s your biggest failure this year?
On one hand, I am my biggest failure and on the other hand, I am my biggest success.
What’s the one conversation you wish you were able to have in 2024?
I wish I was able to speak with Camila Batmanghelidjh [who died in January] about the care system. She was kind, thoughtful, honest, funny, and all her work was based on academic research. She brought the word ‘love’ into the care system. She said it before anyone else.
What is the most unique Christmas tradition you keep?
I am one of thousands across the country who organise The Christmas Dinner, a unique event which organises Christmas dinners for care leavers on Christmas Day. A ‘care leaver’ is an adult who spent some of their childhood in foster care or children’s homes. I am a founder member of The Gold From The Stone Foundation which supports the dinners.
What’s your big issue for 2025?
The number of children in care is a barometer for the wellbeing of a nation. We need a care system. We always will. Families break down and need help at times. There were 65,000 children in care in 2015; there are over 100,000 children in care today. We need a care system which works as a defender for children.
Lemn Sissay is a British author, poet and broadcaster.
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