The Guardian was not the family newspaper in our house. My mother, an East End native, and father, a Caribbean migrant living in an Essex suburb, flitted between the Sun, Mirror and the Daily Mail. It was grim reading round our house. My first encounter with the Guardian came at 12 years old. I have a sister nine years my senior, who had moved to Islington with her boyfriend. I went to visit one Saturday afternoon and strewn across their kitchen table was the weekend Guardian, supplements and all. I picked up the Family section and was hooked. I read with vigour, folded it up and snuck it out of their house, re-reading article after article at home.
Eighteen years later, I read more content from the Guardian than any other news source. Switching from online articles when I’m busy or on the go, to sitting down with the full paper on the rare weekends when time is plentiful. I also find myself buying the Guardian at certain times of the year and stashing it away like copies of Vogue; November for the Christmas gift guide, January for the 2017 holiday hot list, and every time Sali Hughes has an extended beauty feature with cover shoot.
The Guardian has definitely impacted on my worldview. I think I can safely attribute my career change in my 20s into social work to the Family section, and my introduction to the Women’s Equality party, for which I am an activist and a founding member, to the Paula Cocozza article that I read the night before my wedding – which occurred wholly due to a Southbank Centre advertisement in the Guardian for their festival of love.
Politics across the globe is in a state of crisis. The current system doesn’t work for the vast majority of people and being involved, organising and having your voice heard is the only way you can ever affect the outcome. I wish more people – especially those who think their voices don’t count or feel they are not smart enough for politics – would join me, get involved and, as Hallmark as it sounds, be the change they wish to see in the world.
The Guardian has been there to help me navigate some of the most important parts of my life, like an old cool aunt or uncle, and long may it continue to do so!
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