Angus Bell's story is remarkable. His experience of attending a well known boarding school in Scotland is utterly horrific, but Angus has certainly taken action. He took legal action against the school that he attended and won a significant settlement from them. He gave testimony to the Scottish Child Abuse Enquiry. Both of these actions took considerable courage. They meant confronting his own awful experience and the damage that it had done to him. They also meant taking on very powerful forces, which we can legitimately talk about as "the Establishment" in Scottish society. He has been prepared to be public about all that has happened to him and to engage with the media and with the police.

To his considerable credit he has not done all of this not in a spirit of retribution or revenge, but in a genuine effort to ensure that what happened to him will not happen to others. He is always positive and determined to discuss what can be done to improve the situation for young people in boarding schools now and in the future

He has also taken action to overcome his own trauma and talks interestingly and informatively about how he has done that, This is only one of the ways in which Angus's interview resonates far beyond the world of boarding schools. He is very aware that many of those who attended boarding school are not casualties as he was, but are damaged by the experience nonetheless. They still occupy a disproportionate number of key positions in our society and the damage that they carry is then transferred to wider society.

He is also describing bullying and the abuse of power which too many young people experience in other contexts, so this is an episode which has much for all of us to reflect on and learn from, regardless of our background.

Angus highlights the work of Seen & Heard https://seenheard.org.uk/ who have been a huge help to him and that of the Edinburgh Academy Survivors group https://easurvivors.info/

Angus is interested in sharing his experience and ideas more widely and can be contacted at angusjjbell@gmail.com