Being a Guardian-cack-inspired councillor
In the comments below:
Ms Bance fails to grasp that promoting lesbianism and alternative lifestyles, noble as it is, is not going to enthuse the majority of working class former or current Labour voters to carry on voting for us or to push leafelts through doors etc. A great many loyal labour people, especially from the older generations, would not identify one iota with the kind of guardian trendy stuff Ms Bance spouts. In order to win a fourth term we need to address their concerns and not isolate them with guardian inspired cack.
I get quite a lot of homophobic comments on this blog, most of them incredulous that my area could have elected a lesbian - not a Labour person, or a woman, or a young person, but a lesbian. Apparently living with a woman, talking about the issues that matter to me and occasionally mentioning the shared episodes of our life on my blog is “promoting lesbianism and alternative lifestyles”. (Talking of which, Wednesday was the anniversary of the day four years ago that Jo and I got together. We had steak and pepper sauce in front of the telly to celebrate. Does anyone feel a twinge of envy? Want to come and join the lesbian fold? After all, we recruit… )
Quite why the people of Rose Hill are supposed to care about who I sleep with, I don’t know. Lots of them know Jo, who comes out leafletting and canvassing and is my personal driver and photographer; no-one has ever had a problem with us - not the working-class Labour activist couple in their eighties, nor the community centre bar regulars.
So, I thought I’d blog my week for you - unexpurgated, complete with all the vegan-food-and-sandals-101 classes and the mentoring sessions with baby dykes, just so you can get the reality of being a Guardian-cack councillor.
Sunday - Lots of paper, need a filing cabinet. Pick up unwanted filing cabinet from a friend. Labour colleagues come over and we discuss tomorrow’s first meeting of Lib Dem-dominated executive.
Monday - 8.30am to the town hall for the executive meeting. It’s the first one since the election, at which we moved from minority administration to opposition to a minority Lib Dem administration. I’m one of two Labour members without portfolio, so our job is to represent the views of Labour voters and the group. Primarily that means arguing for more housing and better waste collection and recycling in Oxford, all of which the Lib Dems are apparently reluctant to do. There’s also a review of community grants on the agenda, and with diffculty I resist the temptation to argue for funding for a three storey building to house lesbian mothers’ self-insemination workshops. The meeting goes on until about one o’clock, I have lunch with the other Labour member and go to my real, paying, job. Monday is a rare night off, so Jo and I promote lesbian lifestyles by going to the supermarket and blatently buying groceries.
Tuesday - At 8.30am, I’m at the city council, meeting the community centres team about the redevelopment of the Rose Hill Community Centre. It’s an exciting project and could become a real hub for a community with meagre facilities nearby. The money’s a problem, but when’s it not? I try to work in how important it is that there is space for gay men’s dancing lessons in the building, but we run out of time. The meeting overruns, and I’m late for the real, paying, job. To make up my hours, I’m at my desk until 7.30pm, and then go to watch the England match with friends. Two constituents call during the day with housing issues. I spend time taking details from them and email the relevant staff members. I’m still chasing two bits of casework from last week, and one from the week before. The new queries prompt me to follow up on them too.
Wednesday - A full day in the office, followed by a meeting with the new learning co-ordinator for our estate. She’s got loads of great ideas, and is really impressive. In the one lesbian moment of the week, she assumes that me and male co-councillor Ed are a couple. We gently disabuse her amid much shared laughter. Get home at eight-ish after last-minute dash to buy steak for beloved. BT have finally installed new landline, so we have an answerphone and my mobile number can finally come off the council website. Huzzah!
Thursday - Another glorious full day in the office of the organisation that pays my salary. Leave at 7.15pm and to Labour group until 9pm. It’s my first meeting of full council next week, and despite the temptation to ask question about changing the city badge to the gay pride flag, Labour group agree that I will ask a question about getting a dispersal order on Rose Hill to help us deal with the problems of young people intimidating everyone at the shops.
Friday - 8am with the neighbourhood renewal team to get an update on the progress of the redevelopment of the council-owned prefab houses on Rose Hill. The first ones have been demolished, but the scheme is six months behind schedule. Nothing is more important in our area than getting these buildings down and the new housing built; most of the Orlits (as they are called) are empty and boarded up, and are a magnet for trouble; the remaining residents are desperate to move. As it was only an update meeting, I didn’t raise the issue of the segregated sheltered block for elderly separatist lesbians that we so sorely need, but rest assured, I’ll make sure it’s in the final plans.
At 10am, I’m at the youth centre on Rose Hill at a meeting of our brand new neighbourhood action group, which is managing the rollout of neighbourhood policing on our estate. It’s a great meeting, with a clear shared priority list: stopping antisocial behaviour on the estate, dealing with the gangs of young people, and getting to grips with the drugs problem. We get an action plan, and I’m hopeful that the police have taken residents’ concerns on board. It’s pretty infuriating that the county council don’t seem to understand that the youth services that we’ve got on the estate, while run by great committed workers, just don’t have the capacity to meet the needs of young people. So once again the city council will plug the gap, and the Tories on the county can find yet another rural bus route to subsidise instead of supporting really deprived young people and communities. As I come out of the meeting, a resident approaches with a housing problem, so Ed and I spend some time with her. I’m back at my desk for half-past one, and try to focus on work - difficult.
At four-thirty, Ed and I are supporting a resident at a meeting with the city council’s building control team. We’re plagued with unscrupulous developers in our area, so whilst the technical details are sometimes obscure, it’s worth it. By six it’s over, and Ed and I sit down for a debrief on the week and catch-up on the casework. A while later, we’re joined by Jo and get some dinner.
Saturday - It’s time to catch-up on the paperwork and emails. There’s over 100 council emails in my inbox, and I’ve just been firefighting them all week. Now I should get a chance to answer some and chase others, as well as followup on the casework, queries and letters that have been arriving all week.
So, that’s my week. What have you learned about lesbian councillors? Well, that this one goes to the supermarket, watches the football, eats dinner with her partner, helps constituents and talks about community centres and crime and young people and housing and education and building control in her area. Hopefully you’ve also learned that being a member of a particular section of the community doesn’t mean that I put that community first to the detriment of all others. If you’re surprised by that, you shouldn’t be, and if you don’t know which bits of this week didn’t actually happen, then you’re a numpty.
Jo, who comes out leafletting and canvassing and is my personal driver and photographer
Sounds grand! Glad to see you have her well trained
As for the homophobic stuff - ignore the idiots, and carry on regardless.
BTW, I’m not a Labour supporter, but I just thought I would say that anyway.
Thanks Benjamin. Sorry for the rant everyone.
Tis okay, I think if I were in your shoes Antonia I would get more than a bit irate. What bugs me is that those who accuse you of having your own agenda at the expense of your constituents would probably have their own elitist agenda if they were councillors.
) and whilst sexuality is an important issue, it should not define how we are judged as people. In other words people should not be seen as “The straight…” or “The Gay…”, rather “…who happens to be gay” or “….who happens to be straight”
I suppose it is cliched, but you feel that it needs to be said sometimes, but at the end of the day people are people. We all eat and drink and worry about taxes (well some anyway!
BTW This made me laugh
“Monday is a rare night off, so Jo and I promote lesbian lifestyles by going to the supermarket and blatently buying groceries.”
And I never knew! The complex codes people have in signalling to each other!
it was a funny rant, it’s all good.
where the fuck do these prejudiced idiots come from?
Good on you. Stick it to ‘em.
Thanks Paul, Tom and Iain.
I personally would ingnore the homophobic bigotted prats who, I assume, post anonymously. I find it very interesting that you had steak with pepper sauce on your laps in front of the telly - are you being deliberately minimalistic? Did you not have any vegetables? What were you watching - the football? Coronation Street? Please do not leave these details out in the future - they are very important.
Actually I do take issue with the ‘pepper sauce with steak’ bit myself.
That is just plain wrong. Salt yes, HP sauce yes, tomato sauce yes!
But pepper sauce. Erm why?
Pepper sauce is lovely. All manifestations of the pepper family are a veritable delight and as all good Christians should know this point is made in the Bible.
I refer you to the mention of the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy on the world spice market in the Song of Solomon, chapter 8, verse 14.
Hang on! Just grab the nearest Bible for clarification!
According to the NIV version it mentions spice-laden mountains, but you need to put things in context. Pepper is not spice per se and I admit it is lovely, but you can only have so much of it in one go and on sauce it doesn’t give a nice impression.
Still have yet to try it, so I may well stand corrected
I’m relieved to see you talking about those boarded-up houses. I can’t understand why, with such a shortage of council housing, those places are being left to disintegrate (with the help of the local youth, of course!) A friend’s father lives next to one of the boarded-up places, and he says that he can hear teenagers banging around in there and playing their stereos at all hours.
In the meantime, his teenage daughter, her young husband, and their baby are camped out on the living room floor of her mother’s house, desperately waiting for a council house to come up (she’s been informed that if she has another baby, their odds of getting a house will be better. She’s eighteen.)
As for the deprived young people and their needs… I vote for a nine o’clock curfew. But then, I’m tired of getting broken bottles and cigarettes chucked over the fence into my flowerbeds, and tired of being called a slag on my daily run. I notice that their deprivation doesn’t seem to extend to denying them trendy trainers and endless packets of cigarettes - honestly, how DO they afford them?!
(By the rural bus route, you don’t mean the 106, do you? Because that’s the only way to get to Donnington Health Centre for a lot of the old folk who live out past me… and heck, when I’m feeling too poorly to cycle, I use it!)
Tam - I spend lots of time talking about the Orlits, just not here on the blog! The reason that they are boarded up is because they are going to be knocked down in the next few weeks and months. Six or eight have already come down. Over the past few years, when tenants have moved on from them, an assessment was done to see whether it was worth putting a new tenant in - if the estimated rent return was higher than the cost of getting them fit for continued habitation, then they were reused. As might be expected of houses that were built to last for ten years and have so far lasted for sixty, that didn’t apply to all of them, so lots were boarded up. And yes, it makes for horrid living conditions for everyone in the vicinity.
You’re right, we have a dreadful shortage of social housing in this city; that’s why the 150-odd Orlits will be replaced by 250-odd new homes, some for outright sale, to fund the scheme, some for shared ownership, and lots for rent. You’re welcome to suggest that the family you know get in touch with me, I’m happy to check that everything that needs to be done is being done on their behalf though I can’t ever make any promises where it comes to housing.
Re deprived young people - I do understand. That’s why we need better youth facilities and a dispersal order on the estate. And I wasn’t thinking of any particular rural bus route, to be honest - those Tories are more likely to have spent it on better road surfaces so they can get a smooth ride in their Jags!
Britblog Roundup #71…
Once more into hte breach of good taste that is the Britblog Roundup, this time the 71 st, err, time. You can make your nominations for next week’s but simply emailing theURL of your recommended post to britblog AT gmail…
Antonia, that comment is horrifying, but the response is brilliant, very well said. I frequently have reason to disagree with your politics, but not your commitment, and hope you can get on with being a decent councillor and people just get used to you being both competent and you.
Disappointed to see the steak eating though, Quorn has really come on these days y’know, there’s no reason to keep eating dead stuff (says the straight, male, non-Guardian reading vegetarian…)
Antonia, your shameless promotion of the lesbian lifestyle has won me over. I too want to live a life of steak-eating and football watching. Can I bring the hubby though?
Wow, I’m impressed, you keep on going …………don’t let them stop you.
I keep checking out your blog, mine needs some work and less of the Tory gremlins/trolls.
Labour Councillors unite - there are getting less of us especially here in Swindon!
Help stop homophobic bullying in schools…
http://www.libdems.org.uk/campaigns/stop-homophobic-bullying.html
Ok, so it’s Lib Dem, but it’s a great idea.
It’s amazing what you learn here. I never knew Lib Dems were against housing and recycling, or that Ed was a lesbian.
Good post.
Best,
Richard.
I never knew that Ed was a lesbian
It’s one of Oxford’s best kept secrets
You mean Ed is really Edwina and dresses up as a bloke, a la Nora Vincent!
I never knew Lib Dems were against housing and recycling
No? Well, perhaps ask John Goddard to explain to you.
“Perhaps ask John Goddard to explain to you.”
Or Saj Malik would be happy to talk you through it all.
Dan xxx
A great blog entry!
The reference about subsidies for rural bus routes worries me though. The deprived rural poor may be less familiar to you than urban young people, but their problems are real. Giving some of them house arrest to transfer a relatively small amount of money to urban areas is unfair and actively costly if the elderly who cannot contiue to live independently move into care.
Public transport is an interesting issue, and one that needs the type of analysis provided by gender budgeting. http://www.wbg.org.uk/
Hi Jenny,
Yes, I know the work of the women’s budget group pretty well, and your point about rural poverty is taken. In my defence, Oxfordshire is overwhelmingly an affluent rural county, so the issue of providing a lifeline is less pertinent.
Wow does being a troll mean I am a Tory?Well there’s posh.
That’s a new phase of life for me never before attained by my dad in his clogs and cloth cap.
Does two planks mean you think thegood doctor is thick? Well I amsure he isn’t .His waelthy supporters locally assure me he has served them well.
Antonia, In all seriousness, I did not know you were a lesbian until You re-jigged your web.
I would not presume to suppose that from the obvious fact that you live with a woman. I love women too but I am not a lesbian or bi and I want that to be ok ,too. oK? I think it is a good thing that people know that you are gay ,so that they can validate your position and not undermine you. It is also important to know that you are in a stable relationship for the same reasons.
I don’t like the word lesbian a lot because the sound is harsh. Nothing personal Don’t like the name Scullard much for the same reason.
I don’t want to know about your sex life any more than I want to know about my next door neighbour@s.( who are “straight” as far as I know ) It is a private matter. I would not dream of asking them. Why should I presume to ask you?
In that sense I think our Evan is right.He says a person’s sexuality is private. I don’t like all this stuff about homophobia. I think it is going too far ,or is too “in yer face” or whatever you want to call it.
I am now starting to think that gay people have more rights than I do.
No-one can be criminalised for expressing an opinion about a lone woman bringing up children alone , but one had better not say anything about a gay couple? Is that the way it is?
That is the way it seems to me.
I am glad to see that Peter Tatchell is alot happier now. But I think he is going too far telling students ,who are impressionable and open -minded to a great fault at best ( and I would include my former self in that) that gay marriage is just as good an idea as heterosexual marriage. I think he may be wrong and that the students will may regret it if they act on his advice.
When I see(PT) him settled in a good relationship then just maybe. When i see him making some of teh sacrifces that agoo dparent would make ,well oK.
I personally think ‘wot who me?’ When I read this stuff about homophobia.
I did not used to see gay people in a different light to me, for the simple reason that the gay people I met had a range of experiences just the same as anyone else only gay ,but now I feel a bit threatned by the talk of homophobia.
I don’t think it is Ok to call it an “international sickness.”
It makes gay pople sound like spiders or something.
It is Ok to be afraid. (phobia) unless you allow people to admit they afraid and reasure them it is going to be hard on others.
can think of people who would not want to “come out” for fear of hurting their new families or for fear of rejection. I think that applies to all “skeletons in the cupboard” not
” just” gay ones. Just look at Lady Heather Mcartney.She should have been allowed a fresh start.
Wednesday was the anniversary of the day four years ago that Jo and I got together
I’ve never met Antonia but I think this quote quite possibly gives the whole being a lesbian thing away. Or is it possible that, despite the number of comments you’ve posted, you’ve never actually read Antonia’s blog?