YouSaid · the spoken record

Daniel Kebede

lines on the record: 47
first: 2026-01-16
most recent: 2026-01-16
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Do you know there's a number? There are a number, and I couldn't possibly name them all, but I did have a, I had teachers of history who just was so nurturing and allowed real debate in classroom, in the classroom. And they know who they are and they know that they're very special to me.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I love teaching. And actually, I had lucky enough to have some teachers who had a real positive influence in me as a young person. I love the profession and I love education. The way I think that we change things is actually not necessarily through electing nice politicians, but more through our collective endeavour together through trade unions. You know, unfortunately, Nick, in the last 40 years, we've seen trade union membership decline quite significantly. And as we've seen that decline happen, we've seen people's living standards decline also. I think strong trade unions are important for a prosperous society. And I'm incredibly proud to lead a union that I love and for a profession that I deeply care about. And I just hope to make the improvements that education needs.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, I really hope that we don't have a reformed government in three or four years' time. For that to happen, though, I think we need to see a radical change in direction from this government. We need to see investment in public services and we need to see people's lives improve materially.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, every teacher has a right to vote and have a political view. They don't have the right to indoctrinate, and nor do they. I think this is hyperbolic nonsense largely from Nigel Farage around, you know, the NEU and the teaching profession. It's not unusual, people like Nigel Farage to attack teachers and education because we stand for things that they fundamentally disagree with. Wherever there has been hard ripe governments elected, teachers and trade unions come under attack.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I mean, you know, teachers have a responsibility to be politically impartial. Part of the teacher standards, our union.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, you know, Elon Musk has gone on record and publicly stated that he's used teaching as Vaudeville, which is like an 18th century cabaret, and he wants to make it like Hollywood cinema that you essentially roll out artificial intelligence on mass and do away with the role of the teacher. And that would be really problematic because, of course, teaching is a relationship.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I certainly think that Nigel Farage is a hard right populist and I certainly do stand by my comments that he's a pound shock Donald Trump, absolutely. I absolutely do stand by those comments. I think Nigel Farage would be a disaster for education. I think Nigel Farage will follow the same direction of travel as Donald Trump. He's pledging billions of pounds of spending cuts. That will mean there will be hyper austerity in public services. He's got questionable positions in indeed the NHS. But actually I'm worried about Nigel Farage and his direction of travel in regards to education specifically because Elon Musk has aspirations for education that very greatly concern me.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, in regards to the labels of Farage, those were debated by my conference. It was my conference that assigned those labels to Nigel Farage.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, my reason for taking that position was really clear. At the time there were protests against Kathleen Stock at the university. I want to see a left, indeed a trade union movement and a society in which debate and discussion about difficult subjects and topics can be had in solidarity to some way because that's how you find a way through. That's how you find a consensus. We never find a consensus by trying to stamp that down.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The number one thing I do think about this very difficult issue is this is one area where we do need to inject a lot more empathy into the discourse. Trans people, gender non-conforming people have existed throughout human history. You know, this idea that you can sometimes hear in the public discourse that it's a contagion, it's made up, it's mental illness, it's just so, so wrong. I would like to see much greater empathy injected into the discussion relating to that.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We've got a million children being taught in class sizes of 31 or more. If we brought those down to a level of 20, closer to a European average, we would be able to support in-school many more children with additional...”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so I spent an awful lot of my career teaching in special educational needs, and I thoroughly, I just loved it actually. Every year, though, in my classroom, there was probably one child that I did think, well, actually, had that education system been more inclusive, had we had a more flexible curriculum, had there been a smaller class sizes, I think would have managed in a mainstream provision. Probably one child in my class every year I could identify. So I think that should be the aspiration of government. And I support the Secretary of State when she talks about wanting a more inclusive system. My concern is that they're going to try and do it on the cheap. Now, we do have a unique moment. There's a record low birth rate, a declining pupil role. We do have an opportunity to bring our class sizes down at the million minute.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Would require £20 billion. Now, we're not asking for £20 billion, but what we are asking for is a pay award that enables that teachers can meet the cost of living. I mean, you know, look at the cost of housing in London at the moment. How can a teacher afford to live here? And, you know, that is causing a huge problem with recruitment and retention. And that in turn has a damaging impact on children's education. Imagine being that child doing GCSE maths who's had a revolving door of teachers or GCSE physics. You know, we all want children to flourish.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Would really like to avoid it. I would love to avoid it, but I think government need to make the right economic and political choices and invest in education. You know, to get us back to that...”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, Nick, I was a teacher in 2023 in that strike wave. That's when I was elected. The last time we took national action, no teacher wants to take strike action, and it's not something that they will do lightly. But I know that at the moment, teachers are going into school every day and they don't have enough resource to meet the needs of children. Their workloads are incredibly intense, and they can't pay the bills. And whilst the conditions remain like that, unless the government recognises a crisis and deal with it, I can see no other option than industrial action this year.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think there's been much, well, I think the government are getting this absolutely wrong. The pay awards that we've had in recent years have not outstripped inflation, particularly RPI. We've lost a fifth in real terms in terms of teacher pay since 2010. There does need to be a correction if we are going to meet our recruitment targets, but most importantly retain teachers. But actually what also this government needs to do is take seriously the issue of workload intensification, how intense the working day is for teachers. It's not just about hours, although the hours teachers are working in excess of 50 a week at the moment.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think if the government need to recognise there's a huge crisis, whilst there's been some small improvement in recruitment, retention of teachers is incredibly poor. We lose, oh God, I think it's over a third within five years at the moment. It's terrible. And we are hemorrhaging the experience of our classrooms, which is not going to improve outcomes for young people, which is something that we should all want to do.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Just stopped drinking water in the day. I know teachers that are having an hour added onto their morning routine because photocopies are broken or they're having to negotiate with each other because they've spent their photocopying limit. So they're having to try and borrow some credit off of colleagues. You know, these things are making the working day miserable. There's also a huge crisis in people need at the moment.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To those in receipt of universal credit. The real concern I've got is actually the material conditions, the daily grind for teachers actually and support staff is getting worse, not better. That's primarily been driven by a crisis in funding. So when the Labour government left office in 2010, we were spending in excess of 5% of GDP on education. We're now spending 3.9% of GDP on education. And I want this government to treat education like it's a national mission, like education, education, and put in that investment because the material conditions of teachers absolutely do need to get better. And, you know, what does it look like on the ground at the moment? I know a teacher who in this corrected now, but the toilet next to her had been broken for months. And instead of walking across the big secondary school to use the other staff toilet,”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was really hopeful that this government would deliver change. They promised to deliver change. And whilst I support the government and I certainly support the Secretary of State on what they've done on the issue of child poverty, removing the two child benefit cap, extending free school meals.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you know. I think one thing that does need to happen in society is that we inject much more empathy into our discourse. And I certainly appreciate and understand that if you are Jewish, you will feel October the 7th, you will feel what happened in Manchester or Bondi Beach deeply and personally. And I am now a person of public significance and I never planned to bid you come General Secretary of this union until quite, quite, quite late on. And what I say matters.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So on the school and the MP, it's right that that MP attends that school. And my understanding, and actually union groups cannot stop visits. That's just beyond their power. On the issue of what I said in, I think, was it 2019. 2021 look, I gave a speech about how support for the Palestinians was actually, it was an anti-racist struggle. This was at the time of the evictions in Sheikh Jira in East Jerusalem. And there was a general strike at the time and that was called in the West Bank and across Palestine that was called the Unity Infada. I certainly recognize now as General Secretary of this Union I cannot and I certainly will not use phrases like that”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. I think he should be in school and visiting schools and getting a deep understanding of the crisis in funding, crisis in workload that exists in education at the moment”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I would like to see as many MPs attending school as possible and actually I want my union to be a place and environment where as many people, where there's many differing views can participate fully.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I want as many MPs to visit as many schools as possible at the moment because there's a real crisis in education. In regards into this specific situation, I heard about it last night. It was beginning to get reported in the press. It certainly wasn't a position of the National Union that this MP shouldn't attend. And my understanding of the situation is that there were some concerns raised to the rep and of course there were some parents raising concerns also around the MP's attendance and that the school actually took it upon themselves to postpone that visit and it has been reinstated. You've got to remember as well Nick, you know, September we were in the most fiercest part of the genocide that has been happening in Gaza. There is internationally recognized and that feelings were running incredibly high.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that's quite important, Nick actually. That's an important point. I was a young man and I was a young left-wing activist and I am not ashamed of it. And it's something that has shaped me as a person. I now represent half a million teachers and support staff. And I take that role incredibly seriously. And I do choose my words very carefully.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think we should take a Wart-Nall view of Winston Churchill. I certainly recognise and understand why people hold him in such high regard as a World War leader. You know, Britain, as we know it today, would probably not be what it is had he not been the Prime Minister at that time. But we also have to recognize, I think that, you know, Winston Churchill also didn't pretty bad things, whether it was towards Welsh miners or indeed elsewhere in the world.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, what I think is that we need to tell a warts and all history of Britain. A Wart and All, of course there's been fantastic things that Britain has done in the world. And in fact, I actually think we should celebrate in schools much more the anti-racist history of Britain because, you know, cotton mill workers in the northwest of England went on strike against slavery, for example. There was the Battle of Cable Street. I think we need to celebrate that much more. We also, I don't think, really talk about our role in the world in its historical context in a really truthful manner. There's very little on the Mau Mau uprising, for example.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, one thing that I've always believed, Nick, is actually that there is an anti-racist majority that exists. Overwhelming majority of British people are appalled by racism. What I also do think is that the curriculum, whilst we have made progress, needs to change. And that's been something that's recognised in the curriculum and assessment review, that there needs to be, young people need to see themselves reflected in it. When I was a little boy, I never saw any literature that had anyone who looked like me in school. And things are getting better, but I do think there's much more to do.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think, you know, I think it is a fight against racism. We should absolutely all oppose it and we should all work towards a society in which all children, regardless of their background can flourish.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Small town and county Durham had this huge history of industry actually and there had been pools of bitterness left through deindustrialisation and I remember walking past the British National Party stall and thinking you know this is not acceptable That yeah, you know, I am British. I was born here and I will contribute to this society and no one's going to send me anywhere.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, yeah. So I was 17 actually when I first confronted the National Front and it wasn't really for political reasons. We knew that they were coming to our area and I suppose it was just a group of young men looking for a bit of drama. And I actually remember us turning up there and they were due to get off a train station. There was a counter demonstration and the police didn't let them get off. They had to go back. And so then was the sort of the first time that I sort of recognized being part of a mass anti-racism movement and actually trying to confront this was a positive thing. I didn't really do anything then until about 2008, but just after when I'd moved to the northeast of England, my mum had moved up while I was at university. I'd sort of gone into the credit crunch and needed a place to live. My mum was very much come and live with me. And I remember it was a...”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so my mum has always she's been a huge influence on my life. She is what you would call like a striver. I remember her going back to university when I was 10 years old, you know, she went to night classes to improve her lot. She's always been a get out there and make things happen. Don't sort of wallow. And yeah change things.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I think, yes, I tend to look on it with some favorably. The sense, you know, try to see the best in him and in that situation. But it does stick in my mind as a... An incident where I was probably treated a bit differently and made to feel uncomfortable and whether the intention was there or not, that's what happened.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The jungle. Yeah, it was you're not in the jungle now, you know. And I just remember, and I don't know whether his intention was, but I can just remember being quite shocked at that saying. I can also remember just sort of incidents in the playground, you know, I can remember, yeah, it being quite a toxic environment at times. I suppose the thing that really stuck in my mind as a young person when you knew that racism was a problem was actually the murder of Stephen Lawrence. I would have been about five or six at the time. And that being big news. And actually that as a young black child being quite terrifying. So yeah. Yeah, racism has. You were very aware.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so I can certainly remember racism as a young child. There's really one incident that always sticks out in my mind. I was messing around with a friend in geography. We'd have been about 14, 14 years old. And it was a trainee teacher at the time just came over and was like, you're not in the jungle now, Daniel. And I remember that.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I often started to reflect on this much more the older I've got. My earliest memories actually are my parents' separated when I was incredibly young is of a single mother just about managing, struggling. She worked every hour that God sent and we would wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning. I'd get dropped off at a childminder. My mum would work all day. We would get home at 7 o'clock in the evening. And as soon as East Enders theme tune had finished, it would be bedtime. That really did shape the more I reflect on it, why I am who I am. And I want to absolutely see society in which families can thrive.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think the press always likes to apply labels. I have always been someone who wants to see an end to child poverty. I want to see a properly funded education system. And actually, I want to see much more control for working people. They like to label that as Marxist. I think that's just what most people believe.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think freedom of speech is really important, Nick. Actually, I'm a huge believer in freedom of speech and get quite frustrated, actually, at how this has been owned as sort of the lightning rod of the right. I think it's something that the left has always traditionally championed. But there is, if we're focusing on big tech, that technology available to these companies to ensure that there is no distribution of indecent images. And I think that's where the legislation should apply.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would like to see legislation that holds the big tech owners responsible for the distribution of indecent images of children.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, I have a long history on the left, and there's always been concern around Murdoch press, for example. We're now just in a different era where social media is the big, big distributor of information and media. And yeah, indeed, they are often controlled by billionaire tech bros. Some are better than others, but all of them are harvesting children's attention at the moment in the pursuit of profit, which is absolutely, absolutely abhorrent. And of course, you know, when you look at platforms like X, you know, actually I would like to see the government take a much firmer stance on X. For example, with the artificial intelligence and the creation of images of children and women in particular, if you had a shop that was distributing child pornography, that owner would be in jail. And I would like to see a similar sort of consequences for Elon Musk and the like.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, on the specifics around phones in schools, most schools do have decent policies in place to manage mobile phones, but it's very difficult for parents and indeed for schools. And I think some legislation nationally on banning mobile phones would be the right thing. We've got to remember, you know, these are children that we're dealing with. It's all well and good having freedom for adults, but with children, we must be much more careful.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, there's always ways that young people will subvert legislation. That's a fairly common, but I don't think that should halt the aspiration to regulate because, you know, it is so dire out there for young people at the moment. They're spending on average 35 hours a week on screens. It's something that we're completely not evolved for. No one can recognize that as healthy.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I'm a parent as well, and I recognize how addictive social media is for children. And I'm sure many adults can relate to that. The Molly Rose Foundation has found that one teenager is committing suicide a week where technology or social media is at play. Indeed, I do think it is a public health issue. And that's why I'm hoping that government will take bold action.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. I am completely aligned. I thought her interview on Koonsberg last week was fantastic. In fact, when I was listening to her, I couldn't determine whether it was something I'd written or what Kemmi had indeed indeed written. And I'm really pleased to be working with Lord Nash, a conservative peer on an amendment to the children's bill because actually the stakes are so high in regards to children's well-being and indeed social media. I think it's time that we treat social media and big tech like the tobacco giants and indeed regulate them.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would say I'm steely. There's no doubt about that. You know, I am certain about what I'd like to see for education, for children, and indeed for society. But it's important to engage with everyone and try and convince the maximum number of people. The way to do things is different.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you know, I think it's really important to try and convince people that there is a better way of doing things. I would like to see, you know, of course, a redistribution of wealth and power and greater democracy. And to do that, actually, you've got to try and get on with people. I have never been a real tub thumper. I mean, that introduction, of course, makes me out to sound quite a heavy character, but I believe I'm much friendlier than that.”
2026-01-16 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The union leader who agrees with the Tory leader: Daniel Kebede · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source