Pnewsology

The week’s news with a dash of psychology!

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with James Cannon at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 13/02/2026)

Week ending 13/02/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

It’s been a mixed bag of a week with lots of very sad stories of young people and crime and older people making bold decisions.  All of which got me thinking about the people behind the scenes and who knows what and what do they do and say?

Locally, in Guildford we have had more tributes come through for the poor 15-year-old boy who was killed in Stoke Park by two teenagers.  My kids spent much of their life in that park – just tragic.  We have also heard about the attempted murder of two pupils at a school in North London by a 13-year-old and the sentencing of a 14-year-old boy for the murder of a schoolboy in Birmingham.  Plus, Canada had a dreadful shooting at a school by an 18-year-old.  Who was in the background to these events? Did friends know about the knives or gun? Did they egg their friend on? Were they seen as cool or grown up? Or did anyone stand up to them and tell them to get rid of it? Did the parents know? Suspect? Or were they oblivious?

Then we have also had a difficult time for the adults.

Keir Starmer has been wrestling with his leadership of the Labour party and whilst he looked like it was curtains for him at the beginning of the week, as we speak, his party have rallied round, and he has announced that he is determined to stay.  Did he discuss this at home? What happened at the breakfast table? Was he advised to stay or go? Did his family and friends just support his wishes, or did they have views of their own? And did they make these clear or did they keep them to themselves?

And then Jim Ratcliffe, co-owner of Manchester United football club decided to say that Britian had been ‘colonised’ by foreigners and needed tough leadership as we have too many people from overseas and too many people on benefits.  Apparently, that’s why we are short of cash!  Does he have friends and family – in Monaco where he is the foreigner and pays no tax to us or them?? Did anyone dare to point out the hypocrisy? Did the words pot and kettle spring to anyone’s mind? And did no one tell him that Man Utd have a massive African fan base, that they have a history of coming down hard on racism and that the Mancunians who come to the matches are a very multi-cultural bunch of fans?  He has apologised.  Almost.

Every event has a back story and all the people involved have people around them.  No one is an island.  But so often relationships are built on enablement and collusion rather than honesty.  We support through ‘going along’ rather than through contradiction; we listen and agree rather than challenge and we often avoid conflict just to keep the peace.  If we moan about our partners our friends say ‘oh I know’ rather than ‘well, you can be difficult too’. Whether it’s as a parent, a spouse or a friend most of us just try to make things work and not rock the boat.  And even if we want to speak out there may never seem to be right time.  If the boat is already rocky then we don’t want to make it worse and if the boat is calm why rock it? But everyone needs a critical friend who can say it as it is, point out where we are going wrong and keep us on the straight and narrow.  As parents this is our role but its hard at times amidst all the other stuff life throws at us.  But for the rich and famous its much harder for others to speak out when money and power get in the way and when it is often clear that anyone who ever did speak out in the past is now history.