About

Hi, I’m Richard a home educating father with a passion for politics. I have a first class degree in Politics from the University of Sheffield and my strong interest in all things political has served me well in my work in the communications sector for the last 20 plus years.

I was only nine when I caught the politics bug. Although I didn’t take in all the subtilties of the Conservative Party’s fondness of regicide, I was captivated by the drama of the removal of Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher in November 1990. As I grew older, I started to follow the cabinet reshuffles, the Westminster rumours and became fascinated by opinion polls, with the pollsters’ miscalculations in 1992 when they forecast a win for Neil Kinnock’s Labour but John Major sneaked back in with a smallish majority. I didn’t realise at the time that less than a decade later I would be studying that election and the rise of New Labour during my degree studies.

But, of course, politics is about more than just the glamour of the national scene and is conducted all around us right across the UK and indeed the world. In fact, you could say that politics makes the world go round. And I think that is why it is so important for children to get a good grounding in it, to understand the basics, how they can get involved and how it influences their lives whether it is about getting help from your local council to fix a leaking community centre roof, ensuring the local playground caters for all ages or that a new crossing is installed on a busy road where new homes have just been built. Becoming a parent has reinforced my feeling that children in the UK could do with a bite sized politics curriculum written specially for them which encourages them to be active, responsible and knowledgeable citizens. That is what I have created with my Unlocking Politics course.

I live in Ware with my wife and two daughters aged eight and 11. In my spare time I’m a big sports fan and supporter of Aston Villa.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can make politics enticing for children and any ideas you have for future projects. You can get in touch by emailing rafreestonclough@rafreestonclough

Richard Freeston-Clough