Politics pales beside Brooklyn’s snub

This week, the Teenager and her peers will be able to vote in an election for the first time, thanks to the voting age in Scotland being lowered to include 16 and 17-year-olds.

For many of them, it is a double whammy as Thursday is also the first day of Highers, investing both landmarks with extra significance.

The right to cast their vote is not something the Teenager and her friends are taking lightly, with the level of serious political debate topping anything you’ll hear from politicians on the campaign trail.

I don’t think my friends and I were quite so politically switched on at the same age, although I did have a flashback when the cry went up at Penman Towers from deep inside the revision bunker: “Aaargh. Oh my god, my life is over. Brooklyn Beckham’s got a real girlfriend… It must be real because they’ve both put it on their Instagrams. But I love him … why didn’t he wait for me?”

A background in dealing with the disappointments of various unattainable slebs missing the opportunity to marry me when they had no idea of my existence has proved invaluable in such circumstances. I feel her pain.

However, I find it much more difficult when it comes to wise advice on exams.

As a concerned parent, I veer between a desperate urge to nag about the need to revise and the desperate urge to say “You’re 16 - enjoy yourself. Run free and think happy thoughts”.

I have tried to do neither and follow a strategy of hovering unhelpfully silent in the background, offering cups of tea and snacks at various intervals.

To any parents in a similar position, good luck to you and your offspring for the next few weeks.