I was raised in working class Manchester, where my Dad was a night watchman and avid reader of the Manchester Guardian. I met my husband-to-be at Holly Royde College, Didsbury, in 1968 when, on a scholarship from the Norwegian Workers’ Educational Association, he took a summer course in social studies.
I moved to Norway in 1969. I had already secured a regular delivery of the Guardian Weekly. Living across the road from Rosenberg shipyard in Stavanger, I was amazed to see hundreds of workers march past my house on their way to the mainland ferry after their shift. They were clean. Where I came from, men were mucky after a day’s labour. What lay behind the clean shipyard workers? There were showers in the workplace. I’d landed in social democratic Norway. The Norwegian model, in which government, unions and employers’ association work in harness to improve working conditions, production and society in general.
When I get my Guardian Weekly, I start from the back, hop over sport, attempt and cheat at puzzles, before Oliver Burkeman gives me food for thought. I will continue exploring the world with you.
I am particularly interested in politics. For the past 12 years I’ve been a local councillor for the Norwegian Labour party. The Weekly reminds me that the Norwegian model works very well.
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