The Brexit impasse and Theresa May’s travails are inspiring children’s creativity according to analysis of short stories submitted to BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words competition by Oxford University Press.

Entries have also seen a significant increase in the use of vegan and vegetarianism, plus references to climate change and plastic, showing that British children are increasingly aware of health and environmental issues, along with political activism.

The 2019 BBC Radio 2 500 Words story writing competition, hosted by Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 Breakfast Show in partnership with Oxford University Press, received a whopping 112,986 entries from children in 25,000 UK schools this year.

Previous words of the year have been plastic (2018), Trump (2017) and refugee (2016) reflecting the influence of global affairs on children’s creativity. Similarly, this year, the national focus on Brexit has been a major topic for young writers to address. Use of the word Brexit alone has increased by 192 percent since last year’s competition, and with that, mentions of Theresa May have also gone up by 470 percent. But while Brexit as Children’s Word Of The Year may seem predictable in a year of news dominated by the issue, the stories that use it as a hook for storytelling are anything but.

While a small number of this year’s stories reference Brexit as a boring subject adults ‘bang on about’ and ‘go on about’, many more feature pro-active, empowered children attempting to find a deal, suggesting Brexit be cancelled, or attempting to help the beleaguered Prime Minister out themselves.

As one nine year-old girl writes in How I Solved The Brexit Problem For The Prime Minister:

‘Guess who walks in? You’re right, it’s Theresa May, our Prime Minister. I get down to business straight away and tell her my version of the Brexit Deal. She asks for my name and I reply, “Beatrice but you can call me, Bea”. The next morning I am watching the BBC news and see the Prime Minister going into a press conference with my plan in her hand. She announces that: “As Plan A won’t work, I’ve come up with Plan B, which will be perfect.” I chuckle to myself because I know that she meant my ‘Plan Bea’. So, that’s how I solved the Brexit problem for the Prime Minister.’

References to the backstop and no deal also pepper stories. As The Impossible Task puts it: “What I might do is help Mrs. May sort out Brexit. No need to recall Parliament, I’ll sort out a deal. I’ll discover what the Irish Backstop actually is – job done! Everyone’s happy.”

The sense of frustration amongst those tasked with steering a path through Britain leaving the EU is also wonderfully captured in two tales: one in which Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, is so fed-up that he dreams of becoming a Bake Off contestant:

”You can have your Brexit deal,” said Tusk, nibbling at his cake. “But please, can I be in the Great British Bake Off? Baking has really been my only passion! I don’t know why I became the European Union leader!” (The Brexit Battle, girl, age 11). And in another story Theresa May resorts to turning herself into a tree to avoid discussing Brexit again.

Brexit itself is a portmanteau word created from British and Exit, which children have used as inspiration to invent their own forms, such as prexit (Primary School), wexit (wood), dexit (den), plexit (plastic) and clexit (class leaving the school). This even extended to gripes in the garden:

‘The Apples said, ‘We all think it would just be easier to leave without a deal of warmth throughout the Winter since it is late Autumn and is almost time to leave!’ The blueberries didn’t agree and said ‘That would be a no deal FREXIT!’ (The Summer The Fruits Argued, boy, aged 12).

The Brexit debate informed a series of imaginative titles, replete with weird and wonderful plotlines: Dan And The Big White Fluffy Brexit Bug, Darrel The Brexit Pony, The Cat Who Solved Brexit, Aliens In Brexit, A Unicorn Called Brexit, Jade The Brexit Fairy, Brexit Breakfast, Brexit Gets Lost, Dear Brexit, The Three Little Politicians and the Big Bad Brexit Monster, Henry VIII negotiates BREXIT! and Unicorns Plus Brexit Equals CHAOS!!!

“Brexit is, unsurprisingly, a huge theme in the stories this year,” says Helen Freeman, Director of Publishing Operations and Home Sector at Oxford University Press. “What is an extremely complex and difficult issue for some of the finest political minds has inspired children’s creativity and inventiveness in a really interesting and smart way.

“In 2017 and 2018 Brexit was mostly referred to as a boring subject parents talked about as something in the background. This year, however, it is a very different picture: Brexit is front and centre of the action, with children swooping in to help Theresa May in a proactive, empowered and fun way. This year’s stories show an overwhelming desire among children to take action and create positive change themselves, at home, at school and in society more generally. Agency and empowerment are massive themes.”

Zoe Ball, Radio 2 Breakfast show presenter, says: “I love how the analysis of Radio 2’s 500 Words entries is able to uncover so much fascinating information about the stories. The research shows just how aware and engaged kids are with both history and the world around them today, and how amazing that they bring these subjects to life in such inventive and entertaining ways.”

Lewis Carnie, Head of BBC Radio 2, says: “OUP’s findings are such a unique insight into the creative minds of children today, showing the many points of reference and the different themes which inspire them each year. I’d like to thank OUP for their brilliant work analysing the language in almost 113,000 stories submitted to 500 Words this year.”

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