Jess Phillips is the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, and shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding. She was born in 1981 in Birmingham and studied economic and social history and social policy at the University of Leeds. In 2010 she began working for the domestic violence charity Women’s Aid, and in 2012 was elected as a Labour councillor. Her book, Truth to Power: How to Call Time on Bullsh*t, Speak Up & Make a Difference, is out now in paperback.
1. Board game
My friend Jess had one of these jigsaw puzzles and I’ve become totally hooked. Me and my three mates each buy a jigsaw and then we swap them – you can do one in an evening. The pieces make up things like sheds and peacocks, and I find them incredibly relaxing. I was recently invited to a new outdoor cinema opening just round the corner from where I live, but I was like: “I’m sorry, I can’t, I’m doing jigsaw puzzles with my mates.”
2. Television
This show is about trying to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed in the 1970s. It charts the story of 12 women who were part of that struggle or against it. It’s obviously dramatised: like the activist Gloria Steinem has said, it’s not very accurate. However, I like watching it because it makes me feel inspired. I cry with anger at every episode, because I am still having the exact same fights. Unfortunately, the most standout actor by a country mile is Cate Blanchett – she plays the baddie and is very rightwing. My dad was watching and he said they shouldn’t allow her to play bad people because you just end up liking them.
3. Bar
You can’t drink out to help out, unfortunately, but I’ve been going to this brilliant little bar, and supporting it. The people who run it have travelled all over the world as cocktail specialists. They have a menu that changes every six weeks. At the moment the cocktails are based on songs. I think the next one is films. It’s in a part of Birmingham that’s still up and coming. You can walk out of that bar and get yourself a very cheap carpet next door.
4. Book
This story is about mothers and daughters, but also secrets in families and women in Ireland. It’s an easy read, with a quintessentially Irish tone. The plot involves a famous actor, who goes mad and dies, and her daughter then writes her story and we hear what she uncovers. It’s essentially a book about celebrity and how it feels to be the child of a celebrity. It’s brilliant.
5. Place
One of my sons is a proper film lover: he’s obsessed with seeing things specifically at the cinema, so we’ve been going to watch old films at the Odeon Luxe, lots of stuff from the 1990s. We saw [Tim Burton’s] Batman and I liked it better than the current Batman [trilogy, directed by Christopher Nolan], mainly because it has a Prince soundtrack, and it reminded me of being 11. We went to see Jurassic Park and they’re also showing all the old Star Wars. It’s really nice, it’s quiet, and you don’t have to queue a lot.
6. App
I’ve become obsessed with playing Words With Friends, which is basically Scrabble online. I play it with some of my friends and also lots of Americans late into the night. I’ve turned into one of those awful people that I hated when I used to play Scrabble with my mum – someone who uses all those two-letter words that no one can use in a sentence. For one word, I got about 112 points. I’m going to remove the app from my phone because I could spend hours playing. Ha, I’m really making myself sound incredibly cool!
• To order Truth to Power by Jess Phillips go to guardianbookshop.com
