1. What made you want to become a rep?
I never really wanted to be a rep but I’ve got a lot of pals in the TU movement who had been at me for a long time, and the watches I’d worked were always saying I should do it (usual reasons - argumentative, shouty, opinionated etc). I was too busy but eventually I was sat at a branch meeting and the silence was too painful when nobody else would step up so I said I’d do it. And look what happened….
2. What is your proudest moment as a rep?
Scottish pay campaign, late 2019, SFRS had set up “engagement sessions”, one at the East HQ to deliver their pitch, saw them set out 100 chairs in a room for us. Watching HUNDREDS of angry members pour in and fill that room, and the next, and the corridor, responding to our ask, was a really proud moment.
3. Who is your ultimate hero?
The late Andrew Weatherall, a true musical pioneer, who never sold out and never compromised, and an absolute gentleman.
4. Describe yourself in three words.
To quote my teachers… Could. Do. Better
5. What was the last conversation you had that made you think differently about something?
Brendan Woodhouse’s speech at Conference had a huge impact on me on the issue of refugees, probably the first time I’d really had the human stories hit me like that.
And my son’s recent bid for a VR headset, a compelling argument about embracing technology, limitless possibilities, and the benefits of doing huge graffiti pieces without it costing loads for paint or getting arrested.
6. Which TV show could you not live without? (/What’s your favourite band or musician?)
Ozark (gutted). Talking Heads / LCD Soundsystem / Andrew Weatherall
7. If you weren’t a firefighter, what would you be?
Still trying to work out what I want to be when I grow up.
8. If you could travel back or forward in time, where and when would you travel to and why?
The future, when Tressell’s vision of the Golden Light is diffused throughout all the happy world from the rays of the risen sun of Socialism! Or Berlin 1938, just to know how it felt. But more honestly, Ibiza, 1988.
