I remember that the National (i.e. centre-right) MP for our local area was electioneering, and although my parents were Labour voters my father took me to see him and asked what the MP would do about class sizes in primary schools, telling him that there were 40 kids in my class that year. The MP agreed that this was too high a number. This was in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, and I would have been about seven years old.
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Last autumn we ran an experimental online public engagement series called 'earliest political memories'. We collected a total of 68 memories that were generously contributed by members of the public. You can read all the contributions here. The series caught the attention of our colleague Rachel O'Connell in the School of English who…
In "earliest political memories"
I think a belief in social justice (in my non-religious home) was always the moral backdrop of my upbringing. So my first political memories are of disruption to that taken-for-grantedness. In my mind they go together but actually they must be nearly a year apart. They relate to my teacher…
In "earliest political memories"
Mine is: "Maggie Thatcher, milk snatcher!" I remember going to nursery school when I was older and being surprised there was still milk. Round about that time was also the news about Idi Amin in Uganda and I remember being absolutely terrified of him: he was like the bogeyman. I…
In "earliest political memories"