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

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Roll of Honour March 2022" (PDF). The Royal College of Psychiatrists. March 2022 . Retrieved 15 October 2022. Campbell appeared as a mentor in the BBC Two series The Speaker in April 2009, offering his advice on persuasive speaking. [31]

HIGNFY Series 43 Episode 8". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 5 June 2012 . Retrieved 11 July 2012. Immediately after the UK's referendum on membership of the European Union in June 2016, Campbell stated that he thought it was "the worst decision Britain had made in his lifetime" and would do what he could to change people's minds. In addition to establishing The New European, he was one of the early movers in the People's Vote campaign for a referendum on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. [55] Campbell voted Labour in the 2019 general election, having been part of a failed tactical voting campaign aimed at preventing Johnson from winning a majority. [70] [77] Sturges, Fiona (28 March 2022). "Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell's odd-couple podcast". Financial Times. London. ISSN 0307-1766. Archived from the original on 20 April 2022 . Retrieved 8 June 2022. Kazakhstan". Freedom House. Archived from the original on 11 February 2013 . Retrieved 5 July 2013.celebrity apprentice 'your fired' ". youtube.com. YouTube. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010 . Retrieved 17 May 2017.

In July 2017, he was invited to speak at the French National Assembly to the newly elected MPs of President Emmanuel Macron's victorious En Marche party. This was after Campbell had met and advised Macron during the campaign. He urged the French to be patient with the United Kingdom and to give them a chance to change course and reverse Brexit. He said Macron had been bolder than Tony Blair in setting up a new party and leading it to power within little over a year. [59] [60] East, Ben (14 September 2013). "My Name Is... by Alastair Campbell – review". The Observer. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014 . Retrieved 15 February 2014. Political Awards: and the winner is..." Channel 4 News. Channel 4. 23 January 2008. Archived from the original on 24 February 2009 . Retrieved 16 October 2008. After leaving university and doing casual jobs Campbell was accepted as a trainee reporter with the Mirror Group Newspapers. Campbell made his first appearance on the BBC One political discussion programme Question Time on 27 May 2010. At the opening of the edition, presenter David Dimbleby said that the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition would not allow a frontbench member of the government to appear on the show unless Campbell was dropped. The BBC refused to do this. The government later accused the BBC of behaving improperly for allowing Campbell to appear as a more in-depth version of his diaries was due to be published the following week, and a Downing Street spokesman told The Guardian, "Campbell seemed to be on because he's flogging a book next week, so the BBC haven't behaved entirely properly here." [33] Campbell said that he had waited until Labour were in opposition before appearing on the show and that the date was a coincidence as it was the only time he was free. He suggested the discord was part of a Conservative anti-BBC agenda. [33] The minister who had been scheduled to appear was the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws, who Campbell produced a picture of during the programme. Three days later, Laws resigned his post following revelations about possible irregularities in his expenses claims in The Telegraph the day before.He is a keen runner, cyclist, swimmer and triathlete. He raised over half a million pounds for charity running the London Marathon in 2003. In his 60s, he developed an interest in cold water swimming. [88] 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. On 28 May 2019, Campbell announced that he had been expelled from the Labour Party after voting for the Liberal Democrats in that month's European elections, and that he would appeal against the decision. [69] He also questioned the speed of his expulsion compared to the treatment of Labour colleagues accused of anti-semitism. In response, shadow minister Dawn Butler stated that it was common knowledge that voting for another party would result in automatic exclusion. [70] Campbell worked again for the Labour Party as Campaign Director in the run-up to their third consecutive victory at the 2005 general election. Campbell also acted as an adviser to Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband at the 2010 and the 2015 general elections. Sir Clive Woodward recruited Campbell to manage relations with the press for the British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand in 2005. Campbell wrote a column for The Times during the tour.

Our politics is a mess. We have leaders who can't or shouldn't be allowed to lead. We endure governments that lie, and seek to undermine our democratic values. And we are confronted with policies that serve the interests of the privileged few. It's no surprise that so many of us feel frustrated, let down and drawn to ask, 'But what can I do?' He was sponsored by US President George W. Bush to complete the London Marathon in aid of leukaemia research charity Bloodwise. 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. Throughout his time in Downing Street, Campbell kept a diary which reportedly totalled some 2 million words. Selected extracts, titled The Blair Years, were published on 9 July 2007. Subsequent press coverage of the book's release included coverage of what Campbell had chosen to leave out, particularly in respect of the relationship between Blair and his chancellor and successor Gordon Brown. Campbell expressed an intention to one day publish the diaries in fuller form, and indicated in the introduction to the book that he did not wish to make matters harder for Brown in his new role as Prime Minister, or to damage the Labour Party.

On Brexit, Trump, trust and whither politics". alastaircampbell.org. 29 April 2017. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017 . Retrieved 8 May 2017. Most importantly in the second part of ‘ But What Can I Do?’, Campbell lays out a roadmap of what people – young people in particular – can do to get involved. He also dedicates several chapters to the skills required to be an effective changemaker and offers a hopeful outlook that these skills can be developed to ensure that anyone with a passion for making change can have an impact. According to Campbell the most important skill for dealing with the day-to-day brutal combat of modern politics, is a word that he is determined to get into the Oxford English Dictionary: ‘persevilience’. Ryan, Anya (5 August 2022). "Comedian Grace Campbell, 'I don't give a f**k, I get that from my dad' ". Evening Standard . Retrieved 17 February 2023. He attended Bradford Grammar School for a short period of time, [8] followed by City of Leicester Boys' Grammar School [4] and the University of Cambridge where he was an undergraduate student of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. [4] [5] He studied modern languages, (French and German), gaining an upper second (2:1) degree. Campbell is an emeritus professor in media at Cambridge University. [ citation needed] Journalism [ edit ]

Does the scale help? I find it does. Ruling out one and 10 helps, but I have definitely been at nine. In Australia recently, where I was announced as a global ambassador for Australians for Mental Health, a road transport official talked to me about the official suicide statistics. He said the real figures were totally underestimated “because so many road traffic deaths, which are classed as accidents, are actually almost certainly suicides.” That really resonated with me.

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The book’s premise is rooted in the belief that Brexiteers failed to grasp the complexities of European politics and economics, leading to what Campbell characterizes as a monumental decision based on ignorance. Through a combination of biting satire, political analysis, and personal anecdotes, Campbell endeavors to make Brexiteers confront what he sees as their intellectual shortcomings.