YouSaid · the spoken record

Layla Moran

lines on the record: 43
first: 2020-07-24
most recent: 2020-07-24
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

“Oh, I hope so. And you know, actually, I'm so proud of Oxford right now because vaccine group that the Jenner Institute are the ones who just this week, it looks like it's making progress. And I'm fangirling over those scientists because I think back to when I was inspired to go into science and when I was a science teacher, you know, this is the reason why I would encourage young people to take up science subjects is so you can make those huge changes in the world. So maybe, you know, this time next year, we might have a vaccine and we might be looking to properly get out of the situation. But for now, that's not where we are, sadly.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“33, 30 of which are over Zoom. And it is a strange new world that we live in and people can't see us, but Nick and I are talking over Zoom right now with a green screen behind me because that is how we are conducting these hustings. And it's very, very strange because I'm such a people person. I love the big crowded room. I love a rah-rah speech. That's what I'm good at. And to not be able to do it in this time, when actually it's probably one of the things that I would bring to the palty, you know, when coronavirus is over, it's the ability to sort of inspire and take big rooms of people with you. I can't show that. So we're having to do it in a slightly different way. But here we are where we are and it's difficult for everyone, coronavirus.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. And of course, Putin would say that. It suits him, doesn't it? Of course there is life in Western liberalism.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That is one of the spaces that I think as a party we need to now occupy. There is a space for a rational, calm, hopeful party that can try and lead people through this divisive politics that we are now. That's the authoritarian way. We see this across the world. The authoritarians of this world, the Trumps, the Erdogans, the Putins, they divide. Liberals collaborate. We bring people together. And it's one of the reasons why a revived Liberal Party is so important right now.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I really hope there is, Nick. And I have to say, when I first joined the party in two thousand seven, it actually didn't feel that way. And I think even the 2010 to twenty fifteen period, we started to see it with the Scottish referendum. And it was something that I observed sort of from afar as an activist and hearing fellow activists talk about the way that that debate had polarised. And then it just supercharged under Brexit. It's leaked into our own spaces in our communities. You are one or the other. You are this or that. And actually, as a liberal, I find this an affront, actually, on everybody. You should be able to freely hold opinions that are contradictory. That's your right. If you find someone who disagrees with you, show some intellectual curiosity and ask them why. And maybe you'll learn something. And actually, I...”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't know why they've done that or in what context that is. My own view is that actually, let's go back to the liberal principle here. Where is the harm? You know, where is the harm? In someone changing their gender because that makes them feel more confident in their own body. It's what they feel that they are. It's how they want to identify. It will make them happier. It will improve their mental health. It will make them better able to access society and surely happiness is the goal that we should all be aiming for.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think actually on that there are plenty of women who don't menstruate either. So I think you're always going to find that there are holes to be picked.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well a woman is a gender. It's a way to self-identify. And there are lots of genders. There is male and that is biological. There is female, which is also biological. A woman is a gender identity, which is more akin to being a man. Those are the opposites. And then there is also non-binary, which is people who don't identify with either.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Single sex spaces like changing rooms or toilets. Am I going to now have to carry a card in my wallet that says I have a vagina? Here, you can look. I just don't think that is actually at all plausible and it is an affront on my own civil liberties and human rights in and of itself as a woman. So I think we're all on the same side of this argument.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I do champion women's rights. I am a feminist, as well, and the problem I have with that characterization of the debate is it is conflating two things. One is predatory men who are criminals, who in some way are there to cause harm, and there are laws to stop them, and they should absolutely be cracked down on. On the other hand, you've got trans women who are at various stages of transitioning. And I would ask people, when was the last time they went into a changing room and even noticed that there was a trans woman there? And it's not because they don't exist. It's because more often than not, they're the ones using the private cubicle and not changing in front of other people because of the changes that are happening in their body. Actually, they deserve our compassion and our love. But the last point that I'll make is to those women who say this is an affront on our rights, actually it's the other way around. How on earth are we going to police same”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So there worry is that the Gender Recognition Act debate and the way that it's been characterized as this attack on women's rights Has meant that actually some very simple changes that needed to be made for trans people in order to self-ID and to remove some of those, particularly those medicalized barriers to it. The debate has descended to such an extent that their own mental health is suffering. And they feel that because of the trajectory of the debate that they want to consider moving country. And I think that's really, really regrettable.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Equate trans women, for example, with predatory men. Those are two very, very different things. And what I try and do, and this is the rational side of my brain, is let's unpick this rationally, calmly. Let's have a conversation. But I stand firm in my support for the trans community. And the Liberal Democrats as a whole always have, and we're very proud of it. It's not dividing our party. It's something that we all agree is important. Because actually at the core of liberalism is that you should be able to be who you are. And there is no, I don't think, any conflict with fighting for feminism and women's rights and fighting for trans rights. Actually, we are all humans and we all deserve to be able to self-determine. We all deserve to feel safe. And at the moment, the debate is actually having the opposite effect. And it's very regrettable.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So the side of this that I'm on is first of all on the side of compassionate liberalism. And one of the things I'll start by saying is to characterize it as a one side or another, that combative debate, I really regret. I really, really am worried about where this debate is right now because they are purely held views on both sides. And what I'm hearing from my trans friends in particular is that they feel very, very under attack. In recent weeks, many are considering leaving the country because they feel it's going the other way. And I am really, really worried about those who...”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's absolutely a definition that you needn't pick for yourself, Nick. If you like that definition, then you are absolutely welcome to also be a pansexual. And actually, I've spoken to a number of different people since then who then looked up the definition and said, ah, I think I am too, but it's up to you.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think so. And I think this is a problem as old as time, isn't it? Every generation chooses new language, chooses a new societal structure. We have these debates that we have and then society progresses. And I'm a progressive politician. So I see no issue with having different language for things. But as I say, and as I point out, it's a new word for a very old idea.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Multiple choices or actually for me and this is the thing that I recognize about my own relationship actually so much of it is just the same. It's about the person. It's about that human connection between two people and their gender to me is irrelevant. So it's not about the number of different genders. It's actually more about the irrelevance of gender and it's actually two souls connecting and that's the deeper meaning behind it.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So when this happened, and actually it was because I was forced to define myself by the fact that this newspaper was going to be now talking about it, I actually went online. So I went online and I was like, okay, so what are the words that you can associate? Because, you know, these are old boxes that people ask you to put yourself in. And you kind of almost feel you have to. So I picked a pansexual because what it means is actually it's about the person. It's a new word for a very old idea. It's about the person and the connection that you have with them. And I read it and I thought, oh, well, it's that. And it's not anything else. So I'm going to use that. And I didn't actually, I think, appreciate the fact that the word itself would then make the story bigger than it was. It was just the definition that I was attracted to.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Interviewing people and others and shouting at the screen going, just answer the bloody question. Just why? What have you got to hide? You know, you are yourself. And I think there is an appetite right now for politicians who are just quite open and honest about themselves. And so I am. But I think what it also does is it does build trust. And I do think there is a new way of doing politics where you are quite open about yourself.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A woman indeed. And I was contacted by a newspaper who said that they were going to run this story. And I told many of my friends and family, but bluntly not the wider family. They didn't know yet because it was a relatively new thing. And so I decided rather than let them tell my very personal story I was going to do it and try and turn it into something that was very positive and it was and I had people afterwards contacting me saying thank you for talking about it because actually I let me have that conversation with my parents. But I think I was never ashamed of it. It was always something that I wanted people to know about me but perhaps given that the relationship itself hadn't even been a year at that point, I would have probably waited a bit longer. In terms of do people have a right to know, I really don't mind people knowing. And one of the things that I remember from all those years where I had absolutely no interest in politics at all is looking at you, Nick,”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“For the circumstances of that at the time, and actually I'd come to this quite late, I'd been with men for all my life before this relationship.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think so. I mean, it comes from that definition that I started with right at the very beginning to be free to, you also need to be free from. And that means strong public services. And I think there now has been a long tradition, probably, you know, where I can remember under Patty Ashtown when he's, depending on the pound for education and making the party of education, somewhere I'd like to see the party become again. And that strong public service element where you as an individual have access to all of these things. It shouldn't matter how much money you have. You should be able to have great education. You should be able to have a great health system. And that's how you tackle inequality. It's not equality of outcome. It's equality of access.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Very expensive for poorer families in particular, having fresh good food can be the more expensive option. So there may well be a role for the state in making sure that that's different. There is no one thing, I'm afraid.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's both, and it really depends. Obviously, the best thing to do is to put as much as you can in place around a person so that they've got every opportunity, you know, whether it's sports in schools. And one of the things that I've been focusing on in my role of education spokesperson is actually tackling the number of schools that I'm selling off playing fields because they can't make ends meet in terms of their own funding. You know, we have to have those opportunities for children. It's not going to be any one thing. There is no silver bullet to change this. And it's going to have to be very tailored to every individual. So give everyone that chance. And yes, all of that public health stuff is incredibly, incredibly important. The food labeling stuff is very helpful. I found that very helpful when I was doing Weight Watchers and other things. And occasionally I still do those things because it's a way of eating healthily. I do think that to subsidize fruit and vegetables, which are often”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was stomach stapling, essentially. And it was done in Belgium at the time. It was actually quite a new operation done under anesthetic, but obviously endoscopically. So it was actually very, very effective. And I know that the NHS is now saying that more people should have it. But what I would say is for any individual who's even considering it, the NHS needs to be very well equipped. It's not just about the operation, it's also about the psychiatric assessments that go around it. And the years of support that you need afterwards, because actually the long-lasting effects of such operations are quite complex. And I still to this day have regular blood tests to make sure that my vitamins are correct and my vitamin D in particular and my iron are there because actually I can't absorb them.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, in my own story, what I realized was over the years, actually the public debate was making it worse. Because you would see these statistics about how obese people are costing the NHS X amounts of money. And as someone who is that way, you suddenly feel like it's your fault. And actually that link between my mental health and my weight was very, very strong. And that fat shaming that the debate was pushing on me actually led me to then have poorer mental health, which in turn led to more obesity. And in the end, actually, I had a bariatric operation to deal with it.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think at that point I must have been in the order of about 110 kilos. It actually got worse after that point because the break was so bad that I was in a wheelchair for the next three months. And actually at my height of my weight, I was 126 kilos, which was a BMI very close to just over 40.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Imperial and got depressed there in my second year. And that's when it really ballooned. And I then broke my leg, having moved back from London to Belgium, didn't have a job, very briefly joined the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra of all of three months or whatever it was. I play the cello and one day decided that it would be a great idea to jump off a very high stage, broke my leg, and it was in that moment where these men were huffing and puffing trying to get me into this ambulance that I said, right, I've got to change something.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'd been obese or overweight at various points in my childhood for most of my childhood. My mum tells a story of how she'd been doing all the advice that the health visitor had told her. We then moved to Belgium. I'd had an appointment with the doctor and they said, she's overweight. And mum just sort of looked aghast because she didn't realize that she'd been doing anything wrong. And in fact, she hadn't. And actually that genetic link is very strong in my family. There are many on my mum's side of the family in particular who in past generations were known for being very obese. And clearly that gene carries with me. So as I progressed through childhood, it kind of got worse and worse. And I have to say I tried every single diet going from rosemary connolly to weight watchers. I joined a gym when I was 11. I went to nutritionists. And it got so bad at one stage in my early 20s. I actually went to...”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, it was absolutely about education policy on that very specific issue. That was the thing that was getting me out of bed. But of course, when you think about education and you think about children, you can't then separate that from wider society. And it's a repeater of the inequalities we're seeing. So actually it was inequality really that was the driving force.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I just hadn't realized, I don't think, quite to the extent that I had. And that made me angry. And at that point, I said, right, the way you affect education policy is to become an MP. So I'm going to now look at all the different policy websites. I'm going to download their policies. I'm going to compare them to what the research says. And I actually did a grid, which I wish I'd kept, but I did a grid. And the lived ends came out top. And then I went to my first conference and spoke against David Laws because I felt that the policy he was proposing at the time wasn't close to the research enough. So I'm very research driven.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I did I'd voted Livdem previously and I'd been very inspired by Charles Kennedy and the stance he took at the Iraq war. It was also actually the anti-establishment thing to do Imperial College was to vote LibDM and so I sort of followed that crowd. But when I then been teaching for a while, I did a master's in comparative education at the Institute of Education. Again, that theme of, well, there's all these different systems around the world. Which one is best and how do you measure it? And that's what I went off to study. But during that time, that was probably the first time that I became really exposed to the inequalities in our own country and realized that having lived in some of these incredibly poor countries, that we still have children who in this country go to bed hungry at night, and there are still children who can't access education. And in fact, the outcome for that child is very often far greater linked to the socioeconomic background of their parents, not their own content and character.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Certainly the transporter was one of them. How does that work? Is it possible? Can you reconstruct every single atom in the exact same place again? That was part of it. But actually the book itself took a romp through the universe itself and also warp drive. And I think it was warp drive that really got my imagination going.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That point onwards, I just thought I was going to spend my whole life doing physics. I'd be a researcher. I absolutely loved it.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I know, I know, I know. But just everywhere surrounding us all the time. And I remember feeling a bit shell-shocked by just how much consumerism there was in this country compared to what I'd been exposed to elsewhere. But even at that stage, I really wasn't at all paying that much attention to it all. I was much more interested in physics actually at school. And that was the thing. All throughout my childhood, and I think because I'd moved around so much, The question I kept trying to answer was what connects us all? You know, what connects us in Ethiopia, in Jamaica, in Jordan, in England, in the world, in the universe? And actually in the end, we are all stardust. And that's where I settled. When I was 16, I read actually, the physics of Star Trek was the book I read. And it absolutely lit me up. And I read it on a plane going back home to see my parents one half term, I think it was, and I decided that's it, that's me.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, one of the things I remember when I moved back properly was actually being a bit surprised by how little international news there was on the 6th and the 10 o'clock news compared to the other countries that I'd lived in. And that was certainly one of the things that I found difficult actually. But the thing that really struck me was just how many adverts there were in this country compared to some of the other countries that we were in. I do remember feeling a bit...”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Less rooted in sort of the day-to-day bin politics that I then ended up doing when I started to join the LibDEMs. It was much more about how do the different actors in the world work together. And ultimately,”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was always there, but it was actually global politics more than British politics. And my sense of British politics actually was very underdeveloped until my 20s, more around the dinner table, we would discuss, of course, Israel-Palestine, but depending on the country we were in, we would talk about what America was doing that year, because actually that tended to have a bigger influence on the local politics in the countries that we were at the time. And even when I was very, very young in Ethiopia, we moved there in the late 80s during the time of a dictator Mengistu. And he was horrific authoritarian, more interested in fighting a war with Eritrea than feeding his own people. And I remember there were military parades outside our house every day that stopped us moving in because it wasn't safe. And I remember asking my father, why was this happening? And he explained, you know, this was going on. It was a much more...”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In the country, and it didn't really come actually until much later. And it's one of the things that politics has given me, because I realize that local is, as local does. You don't have to be necessarily from somewhere to really get under the skin of a community. And that's what I really focus on now.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, bluntly. And what I realized was actually home was where my family was. Home is a concept and not a geographical place for me. And when later on I thought about what I wanted to do with my life, I became a teacher and was teaching in international schools. So it looked from my trajectory that I was going to keep up this globe trotting, just doing it in the guise of a math and physics teacher around the world. But I actually always had this sense of wanting to feel more connected to Britain. I actually moved back here to go to school when I was 13 for educational stability. We had a period where actually in Jamaica we started our own school so I was one of only 12 in a school. I actually did a home school curriculum for about a year and we realized that that wasn't ideal. So my parents sent me back to the UK at that time. I really wanted to feel that sense of”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Was so when I was one, I was born in Hammersmith and my mum is Palestinian. She'd met dad doing their masters and then we moved to Belgium and he'd taken up a job with the commission because apparently at the time that was the cool thing to do in the late 70s and early 80s. It was all the rage, not quite the same picture in terms of the view of the EU now in this country. And he joined what is now the External Action Service and first in his family to go to university, very working class in fact his parents were both Tory voters. He himself calls himself a Labour man very proudly because he felt they gave him the leg up by helping him to go to university. And he worked his way up and started off as a desk officer. We moved to Ethiopia when I was five and he eventually rose to become an ambassador.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, they might say that they're a liberal, but I would judge them by their actions. And we know that both Labour and the Conservative Party have a propensity to centralise. And in fact, you could argue that some of the issues that we're seeing around coronavirus in terms of test and trace, for example, far too centralised, not enough spreading out of that resource across the country. And it led to some of the issues that we've been having to catch up over this time. When we talk about power to the people, We mean it. It's why we have that focus on local government. And, you know, people joke at LibDems and Peak LibDem is mentioning a pothole in the house, and I have done that before. And it's met with gifts and people turning it into memes on Twitter. But the reason why we care so much is because actually it's that bread and butter stuff right by people's doors that we recognize as the symbol of giving power.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, for me, what it means is, I mean, the clue is in the name. Liberal is about freedom and it's about freedom for the individual. And if you start there, then everything then flows. So it's about strong communities that surround them. It's about their ability to thrive and have an equality of opportunity and access. But it's a balance because if you're going to be free to be your best self and lead the life you want to lead, you also have to be free from ignorance, poverty and conformity. And I think that the real difference between us and the other parties is that bottom-up approach. It's that focus on the citizen. And that's what I think we need to get people to understand again because I just don't think they do anymore.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, bluntly, it's why I'm fighting it because, as you said in your introduction, there has never been a more important time, in my view, to revive liberalism. And what's become really clear to me is that over the last 10 years, our identity has been crumbling away. We've had three general elections now in a row where it has been disappointing. I mean, the 2010 one, notwithstanding obviously us going into government, we actually lost seats. The 2015 one, we were swept away. 2017-2019, this is 10 years now of decline. We need to reverse this. And that's why I'm standing now, because I think there is this moment. And coronavirus, I think partly gives us this opportunity, but we need to more than ever make that positive. And all too many people don't even know what it even means.”
2020-07-24 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Layla Moran One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source