# Frank Cottrell-Boyce fears Britain has lost its childhood

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-statesman-podcast-subscriber-only-edition-1939815/frank-cottrell-boyce-fears-britain-has-lost-its-childhood.md
Podcast: [The New Statesman Podcast, Subscriber Only Edition](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-statesman-podcast-subscriber-only-edition-1939815)
Published: 2026-06-17T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/nssubscribers1913/Frank_CB_aud_mixdown.mp3?dest-id=814410
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-new-statesman-podcast-subscriber-only-edition-1939815/episodes/frank-cottrell-boyce-fears-britain-has-lost-its-childhood
Duration seconds: 3165

## Resource

Children's laureate, screenwriter, author of Millions , architect of the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, and father of seven, Frank Cottrell-Boyce joins Oli Dugmore to discuss what childhood means in Britain today. Over two years visiting schools, prisons and asylum hotels, he found a country that has quietly stopped looking after its youngest citizens. He talks about the NEETs crisis, furniture poverty, what summer holidays now mean to children who dread them, and why the most radical thing you can do for a child is sit on a sofa and read to them.

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