A Reflective Goodbye to a Punk Icon

I think it was Johnny Rotten who said "I don't have any heroes" - I hope he did anyway.  I unfortunately am something of a romantic who has heroes (or in this case a heroine).  The heroine of which I speak is the wonderful Poly Styrene - icon, innovator, singer, fashionista - and so much more.  It was yesterday that I belatedly heard of her passing, news which has proven to be a bit of a shock to the system.

I think the shock is partly explained by the stark fact that part of your youth, the person who (amongst others) provided the soundtrack to some of your rites of passage is suddenly gone.  I am beginning to realise that a cruel bi-product of getting older is that your heroes and heroines are on that same treadmill of time, a treadmill that in some cases moves a bit too fast for my liking.  Johnny Thunders, most of the Ramones, Stiv Bators, Malcolm McClaren, Lux Interior, Arthur "Killer" Kane, Ian Dury, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Joe Strummer, Nikki Sudden, Ari Up - all gone.

I guess all of this is an inevitability but for some reason the passing of the people who play cameo parts in your life gets harder each time.  That said, I will remember Poly Styrene and X Ray Spex in my own way. It was 1978 and this strange and intriguing vision appeared on Top of the Pops singing The Day the World Turned Day-glo.  I was immediately transfixed, aided in no small part by my Dad saying "What's this bloody rubbish".  That was the starting point of a brief but throughly rewarding relationship.  Later X Ray Spex became one of the bands I played before going out with my mates to The Limit Club in Sheffield - great times.  As I write this post I am listening to Germ Free Adolescents, looking back fondly on a time when it felt like music such as this was all you needed. In many ways it was, and quite often still is.

About Me and This Blog

I have been thinking long and hard about this blog - should I or shouldn’t I? I wanted my blog to reflect what I am passionate about – for me there’s no point otherwise. The problem is my passion also poses a dilemma (more later).

For as long as I can remember my life (like many of us) has been touched by politics, democracy and “events dear boy, events” . I wouldn’t say that I had a political upbringing, but there was always some

strong messages about the importance of voting and understanding what politicians were “doing for us and in our name”.

As a child I remember the excitement of the power cuts under the Heath government, the Lib Lab Pact, Wilson surprisingly leaving Number 10 and the subsequent Winter of Discontent. I may not have understood the political ideologies and decisions behind those events, but they are part of my past and must have sparked some curiosity. Growing up in Sheffield in the 1970s and 1980s certainly fuelled this curiosity. This was a time when the Labour run council had some fame (and notoriety) for some of its policies – the cheapest bus fares in the country being one that everyone reminds me of (like I’d forget) when I say I’m from Sheffield.

Cheap bus fares aside, it was “Rock on the Rates” that I remember. My teenage (and adult) passion was music, punk rock music. It was the collision of my curiosity and my passion that shaped the course of my life from then on – a grand statement, but on reflection true. I was a teenager who was able to see The Damned, The Fall, The UK Subs (I could go on) because the Council put on these free gigs for young people like me. I remember well waiting in line to get my “free” tickets to see bands that I couldn’t afford to see.

Around this time I had a bit of a lightning bolt moment – somebody had made a decision to make that happen. Not exactly rocket science, but enough to have a real impact on me. Politicians had made a decision to give me the chance to do something that was so important to me.

My curiosity with all things democratic and political accelerated – I developed a voracious interest in the world of government and politics. This interest began in the early 1980s and stays with me to this day. When I wasn’t studying politics I was fascinated by the people and events that characterised that period. Labour under Foot, Kinnock and Smith, the SDP, the Thatcher government, inner city riots, the Falklands War, monetarism, the miners strike, Scargill, privatisation, Derek Hatton, yuppies, the Brighton bombing, North Sea oil… I could go on.

At the same time punk music continued to spin on my turntable (CDs don’t feature until much later), with many bands making social comment about the people and their policies that I found myself studying about. I think you’re getting the picture.

I came out of Polytechnic (now there’s a term that dates me) being clear about one thing – I wanted a job that somehow involved making use of all this politics stuff I’d been filling my head with. I wanted to work with these political decision makers, find out more about them and their world. Beyond that, I didn’t have a clue.

It was a Margaret Thatcher policy that I have to thank for getting my foot on the local government ladder. In the late 1980s the Community Charge (aka Poll Tax) came into being. I got a job as a Trainee Revenues Clerk with Kirklees Council in February 1990. Now, I thought, was my chance to get into this political world. Not quite.

Four years!!! later I managed to get a job that gave me the back stage pass to local government politics I had been looking for – Committee Administrator. Since then I have had many roles working with and for politicians in Kirklees. At the moment I am Assistant Head of Policy and Governance.

In terms of this blog, the jobs I have had aren’t important (CV available on request). What matters is the way those experiences have shaped my values, passions and interest. Working closely with councillors at all levels has made me appreciate what they do, why they do it and why local democracy really matters.

Elections, decision making, openness, transparency, representation, governance, scrutiny, accountability, legitimacy, democracy – lots of words, but ones that are important to me. That’s what this blog is about – my take on this world of local democracy and its key players, the councillors. Councillors like the ones who made a decision to allow some kids in Sheffield to see some bands for free.

Finally, the dilemma. I am an officer working for Kirklees Council, and want that to continue thank you very much. I don’t intend to say anything in this blog to compromise the Council’s reputation or my professional position. So you will get my experiences and views (I hope to get yours in return) about loads of stuff, but there will be no politics, no confidences broken and no trusts betrayed.

I also reserve the right to talk about anything else besides. So be warned, there may be rants.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s get on with it.