There’s a constant struggle between breaking news and being a parent

If Boris Johnson had resigned a day later, I would still have had to go to my children’s sports day, writes Victoria Richards

I felt incredibly anxious as I lined up for the parents’ race (Getty)

Never have I been more aware of my two jobs than on school sports day. And by “jobs” I mean my work as a journalist, as Voices editor, and then my other role: as a parent to two young children.

Most of the time it’s a happy, fruitful – if hectic and chaotic – kaleidoscope of me shovelling fish fingers and chips into my children on a busy news day, or asking the childminder to stay on for a couple of extra hours when something breaks (as it did on Tuesday night, with the first of what would prove to be a landslide of Conservative Party resignations started trickling in).

Izzy, who’s 19 and a first-year university student, was an absolute life-saver and stayed until 9pm; swiftly realising that I didn’t have the headspace or the physical capacity to carry out bathtime and bedtime when the Tory party was on the brink of toppling.

But Friday was sports day; and I had to be there. I had no choice. I can only thank Boris Johnson for resigning on Thursday, a day earlier, as I was in the office in Kensington and – like the rest of my colleagues – could put my all into our coverage of what turned out to be a truly momentous event.

There are some things that as a parent you cannot miss, even if there’s a global breaking news event: the school play might be one of them, a carol concert, say. For me, it’s sports day.

As it turned out, I ended up fielding calls from – quite literally – the field: breaking the tragic news of Shinzo Abe’s death to a correspondent during the 100m sprint and discussing how to cover Rishi Sunak’s leadership bid while the egg and spoon race was going on. But I (and allow me a moment to brag) still managed to win the mums’ race.

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I wouldn’t change my job for anything, and I wouldn’t stop being a parent, either. So somehow, even when it’s tough – and believe me it can be tough, especially when you live alone, like I do – we just have to make it work.

It is a great irony that as I write this editor’s letter, my children are proving my point: that it can sometimes feel like an impossible struggle to get the balance right; that I carry an enormous sense of guilt about not being ever-present. One of them has fallen over during a game of hide and seek, and I have to go and administer a kiss and a plaster – then get straight back to work.

Yours,

Victoria Richards

Voices editor