Kirsty makes having it all look effortless – for most it’s anything but

Some weeks I think I’m doing pretty well. I manage to juggle a full-time job with the school run, my son’s homework and cooking family meals. I occasionally squeeze in a couple of jogs round the park and bake a round of dodgy fairy cakes. But then I come across women like this week’s cover star Kirsty Wark and I wonder what I’ve been doing with my life.

Kirsty is best known as the presenter of Newsnight, a post she’s held for 27 years, but the broadcaster has way more strings to her bow than that. Reading about her busy schedule on pages 6&7 left me feeling dizzy.

As well as working on a major four-part TV documentary about Scotland, Kirsty has recently taken over as host of one of Radio 4’s much-loved show, The Reunion, replacing Sue Macgregor. She is on the board of Scottish Ballet, helping steer the theatre company through the pain of lockdown. Oh, and her second novel is out this week.

The fact that she has built this successful career while raising two children is inspiring. Indeed, she was pregnant with daughter Caitlin when she famously interviewed Margaret Thatcher on BBC Scotland in 1990. That kind of comment can be seen as double edged – because why shouldn’t working mums be able to compete with their male counterparts? But let’s not do ourselves a disservice here. It’s often the case that women have to work harder than men to stay at the top of their careers. Being a working mum may not seem like a big deal these days, but that’s because women like Kirsty make it look easy.