Andrea Mann

Andrea Mann is a writer, musician and digital creative living in London

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.

The government’s ‘Taking Part’ survey has shown that people who visit museums and galleries are disproportionately prosperous, well-educated professionals over the age of 55. When it comes to participating in creative activities, the picture is the same in terms of education and occupation.

And in both attendance and participation, ethnicity is a factor – with museum and gallery visitors less likely to be black or Asian, and arts participants most likely to be white.

Arts attendees and participants also enjoy good health – whereas disadvantaged and marginalised groups are disproportionately affected by ill health.

Faced with the overwhelming evidence showing the positive effects of arts and culture on our health and wellbeing, I urge Westminster Council to integrate the arts into its health plans;  to think of our arts institutions and venues as part of the public health landscape;  and to see spending on arts and culture as an investment in the health and wellbeing of our residents.

I’m delighted to be part of the Access to Culture task group that has been set up, and I hope the Council seizes the opportunity it presents to be bold in improving this access. That it will work with arts providers and venues across our borough, so that those residents who don’t currently engage in some or all of our arts scene are able to start participating in it – and able to reap the benefits to their mental and physical health.

John F. Kennedy said the following about the arts in 1962 – and I apologise for quoting another American rather than a Brit, but this felt particularly pertinent to my request of the Council tonight.

JFK said:

“To further the appreciation of culture among all the people, to increase respect for the creative individual, to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art – this is one of the fascinating challenges of these days.”

I’d wager that it is no less fascinating a challenge in Westminster in 2019 – and I hope the Council can and will rise to it.

 

 

 

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.

I believe, as a nation, that we should have the right to change our minds – especially if we are about to commit to something which will change the course of this country for generations to come. To me, this is not anti-democratic: it is absolutely core to fairness and democracy.

As the writer John O’Farrell memorably put it on the podcast Strong And Stable last year: when you’re buying a house, you say you want to buy the house, you get a survey done – and if the survey shows up problems, you have the right to back out of the sale. Similarly, when you get a divorce, you have the decree nisi stage – ‘decree nisi’ being Latin for ‘listen, are you guys sure about this?’ – meaning your divorce is, at that stage, still provisional. And yet when the British public makes a decision before all the implications of that decision could possibly come to light, before all the facts and consequences are known, we’re not allowed to put the brakes on it?

And I use the word ‘brakes’ deliberately. The metaphor I find myself using in conversations – when I leave the house and the internet and start chuntering at social gatherings instead – is one of being in a car. I am the driver (leading the country) and you, the passenger (the British people. It’s a large car. Bear with me) are in the passenger seat telling me to drive you from A to B. You’ve told me I’m to follow your instructions. So off I set, driving you to B as you’ve asked… and yet halfway along the route I find out that B is, in fact, a cliff edge. What sort of driver/leader would I be if I carried on regardless?

Theresa May is very fond of telling us that she’s staying the course, making the tough decisions, seeing through what the people have asked her to do. And with the absolute shower of lazy, arrogant, responsibility-shy ministers she’s been surrounded by (at least until they all resigned when the going got tough, of course), it’s easy to be lured into thinking that she is, indeed, a bastion of calm and clear-headedness. But she’s not, no more than the Swedish Chef in The Muppets is the capable one because he’s not as bad as Beaker.

No, Theresa May is not a good leader. Because a good leader would not be driving us towards that cliff edge. A good leader would be stopping the car, turning to the passenger, explaining what they’ve discovered about what lies ahead and asking: do you really still want me to drive you there? They’d be reaching out, discussing, listening. And yet Theresa May – and the arch-Brexiteers – dismiss the 48%, dismiss MPs on their own side, dismiss the experts and business leaders expressing their concerns and making their forecasts. Blaming anyone but themselves for any obstacle they hit en route, May et al simply put their fingers in their ears while yelling “blah blah blah!” (or rather: “Project Fear!” “Stop talking down the country!”) and drive on regardless. Drive on in a clown car, with a new wheel falling off every day.

A People’s Vote is a chance, if this country wants it, to drive away from the cliff edge. And it would be different from the referendum because – unlike the unlimited unicorns and rainbows and free trade deals with Wakanda that the British public were led to believe they’d get the first time – we would all have a much clearer idea of what exactly we’re voting for. Now, we have specifics. Now, we know how Brexit would impact our country. Now, we know more about the benefits of staying in the EU. Now, we know exactly how much vibranium there is in Wakanda, thanks to the documentary Black Panther.  Most importantly, we know more about what Brexit would entail – whether in the form of the government’s deal or leaving the EU with no deal. In a People’s Vote using preferential voting and giving three options (leave with the government’s deal, leave with no deal, don’t leave) we’d be giving the public, knowing what we all know now, over two years down the line, a fair chance to choose between all the options on the table right now. Now that’s what I call democracy (Vol II).

I’d hope, too, that both sides will have learned from the referendum and that the tone of the campaigns in a People’s Vote would be different. Because I’m not angry at the people who voted Leave in June 2016 – I’m angry at the politicians and people in power who fed them lies and false promises and racist rhetoric (and broke electoral law while doing so); the people who promised them the earth, or at least £350m a week for the NHS; who made them believe that it was immigrants and the EU who were to blame for their long hospital waits, their low wages, the fact that their children can’t get on the housing ladder, and so many more issues – which are real and important issues facing people in their daily lives, and (spoiler!) not, in fact, the fault of the Brussels Eurocrats who want to ban our bendy bananas.

And I’m angry at those who led the Remain campaign for allowing the Leave campaign to capture people’s hearts and minds like that, with slogans like ‘Take back control’ and the promise of a shiny different future which – even if it’s based on lies – is of course going to appeal if life in this country for you and your family is really not great these days. I’m angry that Remainers didn’t realise we – all of us, whether left, right or centre – tend to vote with our hearts not our heads, and that we had no emotional messaging equivalent of ‘Take back control’, instead merely murmuring something along the lines of ‘Or, erm, everything could kind of stay as it is..?’ and patronising people with Monty Python skits (and then, after the election, insulting Leave voters even further with slurs that they were stupid and/or racist). When I spoke to my 80-year-old mum on the day of the referendum – catching her literally as she was about to step out of the house to vote – I ultimately managed to change her perfectly sound, intelligent mind from years of anti-EU brainwashing by the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, not by appealing to her intellect with facts and figures about the benefits of being in the EU (although I did try that first), but by appealing to her heart. We spoke about her grandchildren – my niece and nephews – and how Brexit would not affect her future, at her age, but how it would irrevocably change theirs. She immediately got this – and decided to vote Remain.

I firmly believe that it can be a sign of great strength, not weakness, to change your mind about something. To hold up your hands and say ‘I got it wrong’ or ‘I feel differently now’. Indeed, I think it’s human to change, learn and grow. But it can take guts to do so – and it’s a sign of real leadership if you’re able to give others a space and process in which they’re allowed to change their minds, too.

As John Maynard Keynes famously said: “As the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” If Theresa May was any kind of leader she’d reply: “I give the nation a chance to express its views again.” And she’d turn her clown car away from that cliff edge while we’ve still got a chance.

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.

Anyway, here’s what I said. I didn’t go on quite as long as James Stewart in Mr Smith Goes To Washington, mainly because you’re only given five minutes and there’s a big clock on the wall that counts you down. (Oh, and about the football reference? That’s because the Council meeting was taking place on the night England played Croatia in the World Cup semi-final. My husband even came to support me rather than stay at home/go to a pub and watch the game. The man’s a saint.)

“Thank you Lord Mayor.

It is an absolute honour and privilege to be here making my first speech to Council as a Labour councillor for Churchill Ward – alongside my colleague Cllr Talukder – and as the Shadow Member for Community.

I’d like take this opportunity to publicly thank the previous Churchill Labour Councillor Jason Williams for all his hard work and dedication helping Churchill residents for four years. He is sorely missed by them and I can only hope to continue the good work he did as councillor.

Now – given that there’s a slightly important football match going on tonight, I thought I’d make this a speech of two halves. And I’m going to devote the first half to why I’m sick as a parrot.

When the Cabinet roles were announced following the election in May, I looked keenly to see whose portfolio covered arts and culture. But apparently, no-one’s did – because there was no mention of it at all. It wasn’t until Councillor Hug and I raised this, that the words “…and culture and heritage’’ were tagged on to the end of Cllr Harvey’s portfolio description on the relevant Council website page.

Fast forward to my first Policy & Scrutiny Committee meeting, and I eagerly awaited a closer look at Cllr Harvey’s service areas. Libraries, Registration Services, Business & Enterprise, Physical Activity, Leisure & Sport, Education & Schools, the Voluntary & Community Sector and Westminster Advice Services all got their sections. But once again, arts and culture (and heritage) were notable by their absence – aside from one mention of the creative industries in terms of career opportunities.

It’s difficult not to see these omissions as a lack of interest in arts and culture from this Council, and I find that deeply disappointing. Cllr Harvey’s portfolio is, admittedly, larger than Gareth Southgate’s fanbase – but even so: I’m realising very quickly in my new role that Council decisions and areas of focus are all about priorities. There isn’t enough time or enough money – thanks largely to government cuts – to do everything we’d like to do. But for this Council – which made a decision to cut ALL arts funding in 2013 – not only do arts and culture not get priority, they don’t even get a mention. Instead, our borough is reliant on the brilliant work of arts organisations, the voluntary sector and charities.

Yes, it’s true that we have wonderful arts, culture and heritage on our doorstep here in Westminster. We are a borough like no other on that front, and we are incredibly privileged. But the fact is that some of us are more privileged than others. We are, as it were, a city of two halves. Because going to the theatre, cinema, concerts, exhibitions and so on is prohibitively expensive for many ordinary residents and families in our borough.

So here’s the second half of my speech: what I’d like to ask of Councillor Harvey in his new role.

I ask him not just look at culture in terms of those who want to work in that sector, but to recognise the importance of the arts in all our lives – and to improve access to the arts so that everyone in our borough can enjoy them regardless of income.

After a Westminster resident has enjoyed an extract from a show at the brilliant and free West End Live, let’s look at ways we can help them actually be able to afford to go and see that show.

Let’s see how we can make it so that a Westminster resident doesn’t have to pay the same as a rich American tourist to see a Monet exhibition at the National Gallery.

Let’s find ways to make a Saturday night trip to a West End cinema a properly affordable activity for the average Westminster family.

Let’s work out how we can get young people from Westminster’s BAME communities to see Hamilton for free.

I urge Westminster to learn from Oxford City Council, which charges tourists for entry into its colleges, but lets its residents visit for free. I urge us learn more about Newham Council’s wonderful schemes Every Child A Musician and Every Child A Theatregoer. And I urge us to find out how the RSC in Stratford is able to offer £10 tickets on the day of performance to people who live in the CV37 postcode area. Because where there’s a Will, there’s a way.

I believe, very fundamentally, in the words of Jo Cox, when she said in her maiden speech to Parliament that “We have far more in common with each other than things which divide us”. That is true here in this chamber, it is true out there among residents in Westminster – and one of the things that we all have in common is the power of the arts to make our lives not just enjoyable but bearable.

Culture and heritage, arts and creativity, aren’t just something that are nice to have or something to be looked at in terms of career opportunities ­­– they are, quite simply, essential to our wellbeing as human beings. And I hope that the Cabinet Member will work with me and others to improve access to them in Westminster.”

The Seven-month Itch

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The She Street Band

Signs that you are getting old:

  1. Policemen start looking younger
  2. Covers bands start looking younger
  3. Annual celebrations like Christmas Day, your birthday and #EdBallsDay come around at alarming speed
  4. Seven months passes in the blink of an eye (see 3.)

Yes, it has been seven (count ’em!) months since I last wrote a blog-y, news-y piece here, so I thought it was about time that I not only posted an update of sorts, but also used this as a public vow to start posting monthly about… well, what I’ve been up to that month. But chiefly: what I’ve been enjoying. For that’s what life is for, no?

And in fact, much of the past seven months has been spent doing work which has led to the most important event in my life over the past month: being elected as a councillor.

I’m ridiculously proud and honoured to now be representing the residents of Churchill Ward, Pimlico, on Westminster City Council. The work began immediately – the election was on a Thursday, the results were announced on the Friday, and I had an email from a resident asking me to look into the scaffolding on their building on Saturday – and has been full-on ever since: not just training and learning the ropes but immediately doing the day-to-day work that being a councillor entails, and looking for ways in which you can improve people’s lives. (Which are, of course, endless. Especially given the state of Britain today, and the conditions people are enduring.)

But to me, that’s what it’s all about. I stood as a councillor because I believe that politics should be, above all, practical. That it’s about helping people in a tangible, practical way – and being a councillor is just one way you can do that. It’s a huge honour to be elected and I’m incredibly grateful both to the people who voted for me and the Labour Party activists who helped get me and my fellow Labour councillors elected (and there are now 19 of us on Westminster Council: 4 more than before the election).  From scaffolding to surgeries, casework to committees, I promise I will do my best (as we used to say in the Girl Guides) every step of the way.

So, here’s the bit which I will try to do each month from now on: a little round-up of the things I’ve been enjoying. Probably cultural, but who knows? This month I’ve been enjoying the sunshine a lot too, so: yay weather!

This month, I’ve been…

Listening to…

Old episodes of Desert Island Discs (for reasons that I may or may not be able to divulge soon). As in, not just subscribing to the DID podcast but also delving into its archive (because one always ‘delves’ into an ‘archive’, yes?) such as this one, to give just one example. It was especially poignant and lovely to listen to the Sue Townsend episode.

Also, as always, The Huey Show on BBC 6 Music, which is my major source these days for discovering both new music (recent gems: Kruangbin, Hollie Cook, Stimulator Jones) and a new-found appreciation for music which I didn’t appreciate back in, oh, the mid-1990s.

The Leif Vollebekk album Twin Solitude; and the new Christine And The Queens song Girlfriend, which sounds like it was produced by the 1980s-era Quincy Jones. Bliss.

Reading…

Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe – which is funny, and delightful, and was recommended by Isy Suttie on a recent episode of a new podcast I’ve also been enjoying (insert also into ‘Listening to…’ above) called Rule Of Three.  Which is a must-listen (now there’s a noun which presumably gets used more these days due to podcasts) for those interested in comedy, writing, and, above all, comedy writing.

Watching…

Also falling into ‘Listening to’ above is The She Street Band – who I both watched and listened to because I went to see them live this month. This involved going to The Water Rats in King’s Cross for the first time since, I reckon, 1995 (all I remember is that I was listening to Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill a lot around that time – hey, who wasn’t?! – and I confirm that it’s been smartened up considerably since then). But I digress. The She Street Band – who are, you guessed it, an all-female Bruce Springsteen covers band – were brilliant, and gave the audience what can only be described as 90 minutes of pure joy. Do go and see them (and indeed listen to them) if you ever get the chance.

I also, finally, watched Heat. It’s only taken me 23 years (see points 3. and 4. above). Full disclosure: my husband and I had to watch it over two nights because it’s 2 hr 52 min long and I am now Of That Age. This is probably why it’s taken me 23 years to watch it, tbqh.

Celebrating…

My sister-in-law’s 50th birthday. She, my brother and their children live on a marina with their motley crew of dogs, three of whom (dogs, not children) are pictured below. All of them were abandoned in some way (the dogs, not the children), and the reason I mention this is to promote the charity that my sister-in-law fosters for, and adopts from, ProDogs. They rescue dogs and find loving homes for them – in many cases, sadly, their first loving home – so if you’re thinking about getting a dog (and who among us isn’t, right?!) then please check out their website; and that of another great charity which rehomes older dogs on behalf of many charities: Oldies.

(Left to right: Elvis, Willow and Eddie. Now all living their best life, thanks to my sister-in-law)

 

This post is fake news. OR IS IT?

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Hello folks! This is just a quick news post to spread the word about an event I’ll be speaking at in a few week’s time, at London’s fashionable The Barbican. It’s called The Battle Of Ideas, and it’s a weekend of debates and discussions about all kinds of interesting things – one of which is Can Satire Survive In The Era Of Fake News? Well, can it? Come along on Saturday 28 October at 2.00pm to find out! 🙂