Andrea Mann

Andrea Mann is a London-based writer

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing

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Barrie Mann – 1936-2020

On Tuesday, we said goodbye to our Dad. Just eight of us, separated into our little family units. I’m so grateful we each have our little family units.

The trees and the cherry blossom in the crematorium grounds were bursting with joy and colour – pink, white, all shades of green. The birdsong from outside could be heard throughout the service, through the open doors. The sky was – as a favourite songwriter of mine (yes, Bruce) says in a song about life continuing after sadness and tragedy – “still the same unbelievable blue”.

I’m not religious, so had to do a bit of research before finding a suitable passage for the vicar to read. When I found Ecclesiastes 3 1:8 – which I’m sure you’ll all know, whether through the Bible or through the Pete Seeger/Byrds song Turn! Turn! Turn! – it seemed completely appropriate. For our dad, for us kids, for all of us seeing the glorious spring and beginings of summer out there through our windows and in our gardens and parks, and being reminded that the earth keeps turning, that our feelings keep changing, that there is a time and a season for everything. And what is a funeral during a pandemic if not ‘a time to refrain from embracing’, eh… ?

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

My heart goes out to everyone who has lost someone during this time, when it’s so hard to gather together to celebrate the lives of those we loved, and to physically be there to comfort each other in our grief.

But we are not alone – in our sadness, or ever. Our friends and family and strangers look out for and care for us. Nature will keep revealing its comforting reminders to us. And the sky will still be the same unbelievable blue.

(Top photo: Bill Wadman)

After A Devastating Election Defeat, I Joined Labour. I Urge You To Do The Same

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A piece I wrote for The Huffington Post:

It was the aftermath of a shocking, devastating general election loss. The Labour party leader was standing down. Nobody knew exactly what would happen next.

It was May 2015 – and it hit me that I actually cared very much about what happened next: both in the Labour party and in the country. And it hit me that I couldn’t really complain about what happened next unless I got involved somehow. 

So in June 2015, I joined the Labour party. Without any history of activism, volunteering or politics. Just a history of shouting at my computer screen. 

It was that election result that finally made me take action, of course; but probably also, somewhere in the back of my mind, a favourite scene from one of my favourite films.

It’s in James L. Brooks’ Broadcast News – a moment where super-smart, super-informed TV news producer Jane (Holly Hunter) chastises super-handsome, not-very-informed TV presenter Tom (William Hurt) for complaining about feeling out-of-depth in his new role as a news anchor. “I agree with you – you’re not qualified,” she tells him. “So get qualified… Stop whining and do something about it.”

Lines from films, books or songs stay with you because they resonate somehow. I realised that deep down, I wanted to be a Jane – but had actually been living my life as a Tom. So in June 2015, I decided to stop whining and do something about it. 

And if, as I felt back then, you’re feeling upset at the general election result; if you have an opinion on why Labour lost so terribly, on why the Tories won so convincingly, on what’s happening in our country, on what you think should happen next in the Labour party; if your values align with Labour’s and, most of all, if you’re sick of shouting at your computer screen, then I urge you to join us.

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Arts, Health and Wellbeing: My Speech to Westminster Council

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This is the speech I gave at Westminster City Council’s full council meeting tonight, in a debate about Public Health. I highly recommend reading all of Kurt Vonnegut’s letter to the high school students. 🙂

When a group of high school students contacted him as part of an English assignment, the writer Kurt Vonnegut gave them the following advice:

“Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”

Whether we’re participating in them as creators, audience members, or something in between – the arts make our souls grow. They make us feel ourselves; feel connected; feel better – sometimes in more ways than one. Because there’s an overwhelming body of evidence to show that taking part in creative and cultural activities can dramatically improve our health and wellbeing.

This connection between health and creativity was backed up as recently as 2017, in the report produced by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing.

Their two-year inquiry found that arts engagement improves psychological, social and emotional wellbeing in people of all ages.

It can reduce stress, anxiety and depression, social isolation and loneliness; it can promote healthy ageing; help with the self-management of long-term health conditions; tackle health inequalities and begin to address obesity.

The report also found that engagement in the arts influences childhood development, and shapes educational and employment opportunities. It prevents illness and infirmity from developing in the first place and worsening in the longer term.

And it doesn’t just help us as individuals: it improves the wellbeing of groups, whole communities and our wider society – strengthening bonds between us, and promoting community cohesion.

And for those who care about the bottom line: the report also found that arts engagement saves money in social care and the health service.

Now, we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to arts offerings here in Westminster – but I don’t need to tell you that this rich cultural scene is not enjoyed equally by everyone.

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Some thoughts on Brexit, the People’s Vote, leadership and clown cars

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I’ve just read the headline ‘Pound hits 20-month low amid Brexit confusion’, and to be honest: I know how the pound feels.

As I write this, Theresa May has just announced that she’s delaying the Commons vote on her Brexit deal. Or more precisely: as I begin to write this, Theresa May has just announced that she’s delaying the Commons vote on her Brexit deal. Because who knows what will have happened by the time I’ve reached the end of this blog post? She may have resigned and put Harry Redknapp in charge of things. Or worse: Andrea Leadsom.

Yes, a week may indeed be a long time in politics; but right now, a day feels easily long enough, doesn’t it? Let alone two and a half years.

It’s been two and half years (nearly) since 23rd June 2016. Two and a half years – long enough for plenty of facts to emerge; long enough for the reality of a situation to become clearer. And long enough for people to change their minds as a result.

I’ve finally decided to put pen to paper – or finger to keyboard – on Brexit because, frankly, I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to chunter quietly at the internet anymore.

I think it’s time to plant my EU-starred flag in the sand and say: I back the campaign for a People’s Vote on what happens next in the interminable saga that is Brexit; and here’s why.

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Ms Mann Goes To Westminster

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Me holding my iPad at Full Council (artist’s impression)

A few weeks ago, I made my maiden speech as a Westminster City Councillor. It wasn’t actually the first speech I had to write and give as a councillor – that came a few days earlier, when I addressed the Cabinet about the proposed demolition of an estate in my ward – but it was officially my maiden speech, in the sense of the first speech I gave at a Full Council meeting.

I have been given the portfolio of Shadow Cabinet Member for Community – and while that covers things you would most commonly associate with the term ‘community’, such as the voluntary sector and community organisations, it also includes other areas of the Cabinet Member whose brief I am partly shadowing: including libraries, sports & leisure, and arts & culture.

So I decided to make the latter the focus of my maiden speech – not least because, since 2014, Westminster City Council has cut all its funding to the arts. Yes, our borough is home, incredibly, to all the West End theatres and cinemas, Soho music venues, galleries and museums like the National Gallery, opera houses and so much more. We are incredibly privileged to have it all on our doorstep. But as anyone who’s ever wanted to go one of those theatres, cinemas or music venues knows, it can also be extremely – often prohibitively – expensive. Our museums may be largely free, for example (thanks to a Labour government! ;)) but it can still cost you (see the Churchill War Rooms and the London Transport Museum, to name but two in Westminster). And my point – as someone elected to represent Westminster residents – is that a Westminster resident shouldn’t have to pay the same as a rich American tourist to see the Monet Architecture exhibition at the National.

The arts, of course, are dear to my heart. I’ve been a cinema manager in Westminster and a talent scout for comedians in its comedy clubs; I’ve sung jazz in its bars and clubs; I’ve written in its cafes. And since moving to London in 1994, I’ve spent approximately 95% of my disposable income seeing films, plays, musicals and gigs – mostly in Westminster.

But while the political is personal, this isn’t about me: it’s about the residents I now represent in Westminster. And I reckon that improving access to arts and culture for them wouldn’t even cost the Council very much money, if any. I’m fast learning in this role that having the will to do something – and finding others who similarly have that will, whether they’re one’s own party colleagues, fellow councillors from another party, council officers, or local groups, organisations or individuals – is absolutely key. And I’m hopeful that my fellow councillors, and our local cultural organisations, could indeed have the will to improve access to arts for our residents.

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