But What Can I Do?: Why Politics Has Gone So Wrong, and How You Can Help Fix It

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like him or loathe him, his words deserve an audience.It all combines to fuel rather than challenge cynicism and apathy. Yet what I sense going round the country is a real interest in political issues, but something close to disgust at a lot of what politics has become, and the way it is presented to people. I do think that can change, but it needs a lot more than a change of government. Then my phone rang. It was my deputy, Godric Smith, calling for a chat. He was unaware that I had been asked for my diaries and that I had been advised to get my own independent legal advice. He exploded, on my behalf, at the unfairness. Then he exploded at the fact he, who was also being called to the inquiry, had been given no advice from the Cabinet Office at all. His explosion was so huge it became comic, and helped my suicidal feelings pass.

But What Can I Do? by Alastair Campbell review: A doom

Alastair Campbell was born in Keighley, Yorkshire in 1957, the son of a vet. Having graduated from Cambridge University in modern languages, he went into journalism, principally with the Mirror Group. When Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party, Campbell worked for him first as press secretary, then as official spokesman and director of communications and strategy from 1994 to 2003. He continued to act as an advisor to Mr Blair and the Labour Party, including during subsequent election campaigns. He now splits his time between writing, speaking, politics in Britain and overseas, consultancy and charity, as chairman of fundraising for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, and a leading ambassador for the mental health campaign Time to Change. The openness we have found in recent years, me telling her when the cloud is coming, has really helped us both’: Alastair Campbell with his partner, Fiona Millar. Photograph: Grégoire Bernardi/The Observer Fiona thought we were still going through a period of intense recrimination – she blamed me for bringing so much pressure into the family, I blamed her for forcing me out of the role I felt I was made for – was really trying her best and suggested we go for a walk to talk things over. Again. Eventually, I pulled over, and tried to calm myself. I did what I often did when under pressure – I compared how I was feeling to how I felt at my worst, psychotic meltdown in 1986. That was a nine. How bad is this? Six, maybe seven. Come on. You can get through it. What advice would Campbell give to those following the election campaign today? In his new book But what can I do: why politics has gone so wrong and how you can change it, Campbell attempts to set out the recipe for success. Written as a guide for a new generation of leaders and campaigners, who he thinks could help turn politics around, it’s part campaign tool, part inspirational guide and part support manual. After all, Campbell knows all too well how bruising politics can be.In the old days, I would live with that feeling, get up, carry on, pretend I was fine, drink to drown the depression, work to chase it away. Now I tell Fiona straight away. She always asks, though she knows what my answer will be, “What triggered it?” and I say, “I don’t know.” What is the next stage in the war between Israel and Hamas? How important is Joe Biden's impending visit? Is it possible to be both victim and oppressor? Does Britain’s relationship with the USA prevent independent decision making? What does conservatism mean to Jordan Peterson? How do you disagree agreeably about politics with your partner? Self-harm is a downscaled version of the same thing. Any addiction is self-harm. I have known addiction, I have known self-harm, and in 2005, a couple of years after I had “left” Downing Street (I never really left and that was one of the big problems), amid one of my worst and most prolonged bouts of depression, I inflicted on myself one of my worst experiences of physical self-harm. Join Rory and Alastair as they answer all these questions, followed by a discussion of The Voice referendum in Australia and the election results in Poland and New Zealand.

But What Can I Do? by Alastair Campbell | Goodreads

Popular podcaster, Alastair Campbell, discussed how the next generation can change politics as he joined a panel debate held by UCL Political Science. Ahead of the event he spoke with James Baggaley at the UCL Policy Lab about why he thinks politics can and must change. So if one and 10 are out of bounds, how does the rest of my scale work? Two feels great. I wake, having slept well; Fiona [Millar, a journalist and education campaigner] is alongside me and I feel blessed that she has stayed with me for four decades of considerable ups and downs; I have a day ahead that will keep me busy, motivated, doing something vaguely important. Three and four are slightly downscale variations on the same themes. I don’t think it is exclusively aimed at the young. It is aimed at anyone who feels angry and frustrated and is looking to channel their anger and frustration to make change. And I agree that there is way too much cynicism, apathy and dumbing down among all generations. But I do feel we need to get the young interested and engaged, and understanding how politics works both so that they can influence it but also change it.” That question is the inspiration behind this book. It's a question regularly posed to Alastair Campbell, not least in reaction to The Rest is Politics, the chart-topping podcast he presents with former Tory Cabinet minister Rory Stewart. His answer, typically, is forthright and impassioned. We cannot afford to stand on the sidelines. If we think things need to change, then we need to change them, and that means getting involved. That the current government has to be shown the door is surely now clear to all but the most committed Tories. Austerity. Brexit. Covid corruption – a disastrous ABC contributing to, and being topped by, a cost of living crisis that is pushing millions to the brink and beyond, and exposing Rishi Sunak’s regime as horrifically out of touch.

As with any system, proportional representation of course poses risks. Opponents argue that it would open the doors to extremists entering Parliament. But I would respond that we already have extremists in power, and they have been able to gain and wield that power in no small part because of our voting system. Mutating the genetic DNA of our Parliamentary system is a seminal strand running through Campbell’s book, its imperative force gives Promethean fire to the kindle fuelling the flames of his core argument. I put it to him that ingrained tribal bias, ignorance and internecine conflict, not to mention rank self-interest characterising much of our political landscape, paradoxically serve to make his argument more valid, but less appealing to those he urges to act upon it : I know my depression will always be a part of me. I’ve accepted that now. I still have suicidal thoughts and dark days, and I always will. But at least now I can recognise them, I feel them coming on, and I can deal with them better than I used to. There may one day be a vaccine for Covid-19. But I doubt there will ever be a vaccine or a cure for depression. It is part of the human condition; it is certainly part of mine. I’ve spent decades learning to live with that. And now, through trial and error, through medication and therapy, through highs and lows, above all through grief and love, I have finally got to know my enemy. I live better for having dealt with it. And I deal with it, through living better. I hope that for some of you out there, this book can help you do the same. Analysis The Tory voter ID experiment is like Trussonomics - but based on even less evidence Read More