Ross Greer MSP, writes:

We’re a few days off an exciting year for Scotland, our Year of Young People.

In 2018 we will celebrate the contribution Scotland’s young people make, focusing on how to enhance their rights and genuinely empower them to play a bigger role in making decisions about not just their own lives but their communities and society.

I obviously have an interest to declare, as the sole MSP fitting the agreed definition of a “young person” (eight to 24) but I’m really looking forward to hearing these voices directly, undiluted by those who typically speak on their behalf. For most of us, 2018 will be a year to listen.

We should listen to the young people who’ve spent the festive season working for poverty pay, on zero-hours contracts and in poor conditions.

We should listen to the 5,000 children waking up homeless on Christmas day.

And we should listen to the young refugees who have been made welcome in Scotland after fleeing war, persecution or climate change at home.

After all, the Christmas story is one of a baby born a refugee and a family forced to flee for his life.

This year our church nativity coincided with a baptism. I thought about the world that baby will grow up in and the responsibility I have in 2018 to work every day to make that world a more just one. That is a responsibility and a privilege we all have and I look forward to making it a reality alongside you.