Trade unions are meant to be vehicles for workers to collectively organise, represent and lead ourselves, so my election should be an unremarkable event. Yet I will be the first ordinary member to lead my union in its history. This represents a huge opening for the democratic renewal of the labour movement. The fact that my election is so unprecedented tells its own tale.
The gradual gentrification of Britain's creative industries is a matter of record and an all too familiar theme. The alarm has repeatedly been sounded in recent years by senior figures in the arts. In 2022, Mark Rylance memorably questioned a distribution of cultural resources in which England's most famous public school enjoys the luxury of two theatres, while arts education is relentlessly downgraded in the state sector.