Nikki Watkins

1 month ago | thesun.co.uk | Nikki Watkins

ARE you glued to your phone at mealtimes, is your child having to repeat themselves before you listen to them, are you checking your device before giving your little one a cuddle in the morning? You are not alone. Dame Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England has criticised the ever-growing number of parents who spend too much time glued to their mobile phones - and said that we need to look at our own behaviour if we want to protect our children from smartphone usage.

1 month ago | thesun.co.uk | Nikki Watkins

OPENING my purse, I stared at the crisp £10 note – the last of my week’s benefits to support our family of eight. Most people would have felt a wave of panic, but I was gripped by a familiar adrenalin surge as I dashed in to the corner shop and exchanged it for scratchcards. To an outsider, it might have looked reckless, even selfish, to gamble away the last of my Universal Credit. But the truth is, I’d been doing it for 20 years.

2 months ago | thesun.co.uk | Nikki Watkins |Heather Main

QUEUEING in a heaving Greggs to grab a lunchtime sandwich, Louise looks like any other peckish office worker. After smiling sweetly at the cashier, she pays for her sandwich and exits through the door – all while hiding a couple of bottles of Coke and a packet of ready salted crisps in her handbag that she hasn’t paid for.

2 months ago | thesun.co.uk | Nikki Watkins |Amy Reast

TEARS streamed down her face as Sarah Dalgleish’s husband repeated the words that broke her heart: “I’m having an online affair.”After 16 years of marriage, Sarah, 62, was still madly in love with retired sales manager Clive, 67. But his admission of adultery was not only the start of the once-happy couple’s separation, but the revelation that his new romance was nothing of the sort. Clive was being scammed.

2 months ago | thesun.co.uk | Nikki Watkins |Heather Main

WHEN my 17-year-old son Harvey headed out with his friends, I never imagined I’d end up in a police station, being told his body had been discovered in a car crash. Harvey had never shown any interest in driving — he hadn’t ever had a lesson — so it just wasn’t on my radar of things to worry about. On that fateful night in 2023, I had no idea he was in a car being driven by his friends. But what happened to Harvey can happen to any teenager — and we need to do more to protect our young people.