I wish I had the chutzpah to take my kids on a term-time holiday

Envious of families flying off for winter sun, Will Gore faces up to the logistical quagmire that is the half-term break

(Getty/iStock)

There must be any number of politicians – at least on the Conservative benches of the House of Commons – who will be delighted that the half-term recess has arrived. It has, after all, been a bruising period, so a few days rest and relaxation are surely deserved. What’s the betting that Russia invades Ukraine while ministers are shooting the breeze in Val d’Isere or using their hols to fill in a questionnaire from the Metropolitan police.

As a schoolboy, half-term holidays rarely held the same sense of anticipation as the longer vacations. There was no sense of festivity, or – in the case of the summer break – of endless weeks stretching out ahead of us. Yet perhaps because of that lack of expectation, those shorter holidays rarely disappointed; by contrast, Christmas was often anti-climactic and the summer ended in boredom and belligerence. Easter was often decent, until I realised I actually didn’t like chocolate as much as I thought I did.