I grew up in Lancaster and had an incredibly free childhood, with lots of time to roam around the town and countryside by myself or with my sisters. We experienced a kind of independence as young people that I imagine isn’t possible these days. The main reason I had such a lot of freedom was because I was home educated, and I didn’t go to school until I was 14. Education for me was about being in and experiencing the world directly, rather than being taken out of it to go to school. We didn’t have much money – living on either the dole or a student grant for much of my childhood – but that didn’t seem important at the time. Not being inside the school system meant I didn’t have to compare myself with my contemporaries or be judged by what I wore or the things I had.
My grandfather was one of nine and his family were immigrants from eastern Europe. They were all musicians, dancers and actors before the war. When I moved to London at 18, I went to study piano, but lacking confidence in performance I swapped to philosophy after the first year. London is exhausting so I left after 14 years when I got my dog, Reggie, and went to live in the countryside.
My work is in digital campaigning and fundraising for charities, where the news cycle can massively impact on what they are trying to achieve, both positively and negatively. I am involved with the Quakers, a greyhound and lurcher rescue charity, and spend nearly all of my spare time sewing and doing paper craft; generally keeping a hand in with my alternative roots.
I started reading the Guardian in around 2000, purely for Guy Browning’s “How to…” column. His 2001 How to… be deep column had me in creases and was pinned to my wall for years. There has always been a columnist that keeps me reading each week: from Arabella Weir to Jon Ronson, then Lucy Mangan and currently Tim Dowling. The personal stories in Family are fascinating, and my husband and I devised a game for Review: we invent book titles (My Struggle by Big Brother Celebrity, Free Food in your Shed by Hipster Food Blogger etc) that could be swapped for similar genuine titles on the bestseller lists. I do read “proper” news articles, generally just dipping in and out every day online.
I am well aware of the Guardian reader stereotype, and I’d say I probably fit it: left-of-centre politics and a bit preachy about sustainability. I am also conscious of not solely reading the opinions of those I agree with. Online, this is particularly troublesome. We all exist in digital echo chambers for most of the time. But it does sound good.
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