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Lola Young

lines on the record: 44
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“It's so interesting you mention Ipswich. I'm an Arsenal supporter, right? So I got a feeling that I heard on a podcast the other day there was a time when Ipswich beat Arsenal in one of the cups. I think it was the FA Cup. So all power to you.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That will help us and support not only this country, we would like to take that sort of international view, we can't, you know, we're an island, but we're not an island. There are no islands anymore. There are no islands, so you know, and certainly pollution and global warming and climate change don't respect national boundaries. So, you know, just to have that perspective, and I always say to young people, be open, be open to the possibilities. If you could say to yourself, I really want to do some work internationally. But if you don't allow yourself to hear those words, then you won't get there. But if you hear almost literally sometimes, you know, oh, there's an opportunity to do, to get a grant and go and study X, Y, and Z in Norway and you think, oh yeah, that could be the opening that I'm thinking about, even though I hadn't thought about it before. So it's having that sort of open mind I think is really important too.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Some of them want to be local government, whatever, whatever. And I said, that's all great. I said, or you could also write a book. And it could be even a fiction book. I think some of the, and I try to give them examples of plays and dramas that have helped to change policy. So there's lots of different ways of doing it. So don't feel, it's a slightly long-winded way of saying to young people, don't feel that there's only one way to be successful. Don't feel that success means you're in the House of Lords or you're a top footballer or you're the best singer or you're this and that. You know, the person who makes sure you get your post every day or the person who maintains the paving stones, all of these people are really important to the way we live. So what can you do to contribute to any of those spheres that will help us?”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's something you think you might be able to do. And I think what we need to be able to say to younger people is there is something you can do. And these are some of the things you can do. So, for example, I have quite a few young people will approach me wanting internships. And I, you know, do the usual thing, write in, say what we like. And I try to sort of give them a little bit of an overview of how Parliament works and everything and some of the issues and a lot of them are surprised that things like fashion, you know, come into our remits. I say, yes, of course, because in my view, everything is political. So look. And then when I speak to something, I say, I say, what do you want to do? So we want to change the world, want to make it better. Okay, that's fine. How do you want to do that? And some of them want to be...”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's the biggie, isn't it, as a young person might say? No, seriously, it is a very big question. And yes, you're right, it does sort of follow on from what we were talking about earlier. But I would also say that for those of us who are in positions of relative power, this should be our number one priority. So I'll tell you what I've been thinking. I've been thinking, well, how many young people are now eligible to vote as a result of or will be eligible to vote in, will it be 2024, the next general election is slated to be if we don't have an early one? You know, how can we ensure that we drive home the importance of using that voice? Right? So I always say to people, don't, you know, don't sit up the corner crying.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“How can we ensure that they come, if they want to, into the center and or we go out to the margins and experience a little bit of what that feels like?”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Children, or I think they prefer to be called care experienced children or care experienced people, I should say. So I'm a care experienced person. So my sort of understanding of my predicament, how I felt when I was in the care system, I try to use that to improve matters there. So for me, particularly of late, it's become very important to say, again, not all young people are the same just because you get three young people under 25 on your border, on your commission or whatever doesn't mean to say you've solved the problem. What about all those young people in the care system for whom these kinds of opportunities do not present themselves in the same way that they do? Like as my kids or your kids or lots of people we know. So to me, again, it's about saying where the voices are marginalized.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And when I looked at the fellow commissioners on this group, one of the things I said, well, I said the thing about diversity. I said, it's not just me, is it? And also how we're going to give young people a voice in this. And there's this, I mean, I do it myself. You know, if I think, oh, who shall I ask about this? Or who should I get involved in this project? Often it's people that I know, either of my generational sort of cohort underneath, rather than making that effort and saying, who knows who would be some really good young people to sit at this table, all of us together and have that equality of ability or capacity and ability that enables us to say, this is what is really good for young people. Now, one area that I did that I'm also involved in in Parliament is looked after.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so two key terms you've used there, Charles. One is leadership and one is the power thing. And I think they're intimately connected. And so what I see is, again, a lot of almost lip service to yes, young people, we will do this for them. Okay, well, young people aren't stupid and their sort of their knowledge in many areas will surpass either of ours put together or both of ours put together. So we know that. So how do we empower them? How do we, even saying give them the space sort of suggests that, you know, it's ours to dispense, we need to share the spaces so that they can make their voices heard. So there's a project that I'm going to be involved in. I won't name it at the moment because it's not sort of finalized.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Just to people, Charles. I mean, you know, sorry, but you know, this is my argument. If you go and visit the caves where our ancestors did their drawings, they did drawings. People have done ever since we could, we've made work, people decorate themselves in various ways. And so this idea that it's somehow something that is lodged with an elite group of people, we need to really knock that on the head, I think.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Had been working on this for some time, but again, it's about having a long-term plan. You know, too often what we see is we'll do this for two or three years, we'll do a three-year project on ethnic minorities in dance sector or whatever. And then, you know, like... Five years later, somebody will say, Oh, why don't we do a project on ethnic minorities in the dance sector? So that historical sort of memory thing has gone. We need that sort of long-term strategy that will produce results. It is a complicated issue to address.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Give those sort of the equipment and the materials that you need to make work so you can continue to do that and then have that contact via Zoom or whatever. And I think once you see, I'm not saying all arts have to do that, but that's the bit of the arts sector that I'm interested in. How you can see the difference that it makes to people's lives, to their sense of self-esteem, their their ability to be able to articulate their experiences in a way that is really constructive. And so I think it's absolutely fundamental to me that the public funding for the arts, at least as solid amount of that should be used in that way. And again, I would say to the arts council or any of the other funding bodies in the sector that they...”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“All of these different areas. Mental well being is a primary one. So that diversity, if you think about what happened during lockdown and a couple of things that I heard about which were really, really encouraging. So an organisation that I've worked with in the past and the patron of, Autograph, they've done a lot of work with neurodivergent people, okay? So mainly people on the autistic spectrum. And for those young people to be able to express themselves and to do that consistently has been great. And then we have lockdown. So what do you do? How do you make sure that that service just doesn't disappear? And so many arts organizations did very similar things. They would send around the materials to people's houses, you know, literally.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Maybe I should ask that question. Well, you know, it's very important. We're talking about public funding. And I absolutely support that. Although, you know, it's really hard in times of stress, particularly for, for example, for local authorities. But I've been doing some work with the local government association on this issue of culture and local authorities, because you may or may not know that local authorities put more money into the arts and culture sector than arts council. And yeah, so it's a huge amount of money combined. The fascinating thing is that you see the potential of arts and culture to fulfill those agendas that you've just alluded to, like leveling up in a meaningful way.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't know, it's complicated anyway, but I do think that we've got loads more to do in the arts to make it more. Actually, though, what I would say on the other side, you refer to social media, right? So what I know about young people insofar as I know many young people is that they can make their own work without reference to these big institutions. But we're paying for them and they pay for them as well. So they should have that as a choice, even if they turn it down.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“An advertisement break on the channels that I watch at any rate, you'll see there are black people in virtually every single black and brown people in virtually every single advertisement. But again, so that's okay, but what's happening behind the scenes? If it's no different on the boards, at senior level, etc., etc., and in terms of gender representation as well. So what's the difference? It's cosmetic. We need to get beyond this kind of surface thing. And I think, as I say, in sport, it's just quite an interesting comparison. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I'm just saying that it seems to be”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And look over what happened in the last whatever it is, 18 months or so with those organizations, has the makeup of their boards changed? Has the makeup of their chief executives and senior management team change? And here I'm not just talking about racial diversity. I'm also thinking about in terms of disability and social class because to me it's really clear that still today the dominant force in terms of what we might call the mainstream is still very much of a particular kind of art. Now I think the arts council have done and continue to do quite a lot of work around this and I think that's very important work. But I do think that we can get a bit complacent. So we see if we see like we can see now”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To the arts, and it's on all sides, right? Because some people will come from families that say, what do you mean going into the arts? That's not proper job. You know, you can't do, you can't earn a living as a writer or painter or an actor or whatever. It's not respectable or whatever. So, you know, there's that kind of attitude that we need to shift a little bit, I think. And then at the same time, some of our institutions, they make all the right noises, Charles, but at the end of the day, what is the difference? And if I may, I'll refer back to that moment when George Floyd was murdered a couple of years ago and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter. And so, you know, you've got any number of cultural institutions with their black square on their Twitter account and their big statements on their websites. Now, there's a really interesting piece of research to be done, which is to go back.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, as I've already suggested, I'm also a big football fan. So I sort of think the parallels are very interesting in terms of in sport, particularly in football, we're quite happy, as it were, with the idea of elite sports people, right? Like you say, super talented people, you know, for whatever reason, you know, going out there and doing things that other people can't do. And if you look through the football pyramid, as it were, is it in perfect as it is, especially when you get to grassroots level, it's really open. It's really open, maybe could be even more open, and we know that there are pockets like girls aren't getting quite as much time on the pictures as boys, et cetera, et cetera. But by and large, I see it as being much more open than the arts because there's still this thing attached.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We're in the middle of our second heat wave of the summer. We've barely gotten over the fact that we went over 40 degrees a few weeks ago. And now here we are. We're looking at the high 30s. This hasn't come out of nothing. And so, you know, why isn't there more of a sense of urgency and less short-term thinking and too much greed still?”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's difficult because I want to say that everybody has a role to play. But again, I'm very conscious of the fact that there'll be a lot of people who their role is to try and find the food to go on the table, right? You know, we got this explosion of food banks, which is, in my view, totally unacceptable. I don't know how we can tolerate that situation. So how can you tell those people, you've got to be a bit more conscious about doing this, that and the other. Those of us who can should, I think, is my sort of phrase. And we, you know, depending on where we are in terms of our roles in jobs and society and what have you, we should be pressuring our politicians to do a lot more.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Around climate change, right? So, especially when you see big companies and they're building sort of ablaze with lights at the end of the day and so on and so forth. So the solutions has to be weighted towards, as I say, the companies and the government. Now, for the ordinary”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's the 64,000 trillion billion question, isn't it? And I think that what we, and it's going to sound trite, Charles, but I mean, essentially we have to work together and we have to recognize what the issues are. So to me, you know, the big problems around environmental sustainability around the way that people are exploited, the way that we're encouraged to think like if we don't buy, particularly for women, but also for men as well, particularly younger men, you know, if you don't buy this, then somehow you're not a proper human being. So keep buying stuff. We have to, we've got to retrain ourselves, but we can't do that on our own. Me switching off the lights, you know, every time I go out of a room is not going to, you know, address all of the issues.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, exactly. So, all of those things coming together to me is a welcome move because then we can begin to think about the holistic solutions to holistic problems. But as long as you've got little bits sectioned off here and there. And also if you're, sorry, did you want to say on galloping through, trying to get everything in. But for an ordinary consumer, if you've got two children and you've got to clothe them for school, particularly now with the cost of living being so high and rising, you know, you are not going to sit down and say, well, now I've got to read through all of these modern slavery statements just to make sure that these clothes haven't come. But you can't, I don't expect that of people and it's wrong to expect that of people. So to me, the ball is very firmly in the court of government in terms of...”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But we're also talking about things that happen here. And I think that's been one of the big challenges for this movement, if you like, to say that don't think it's only about something that happens to other people over there somewhere. And more recently, I'm sort of pleased to say that people are joining the dots between environmental sustainability, modern forms of slavery.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Has and more people know about it. So when we talk about supply chains, we're talking about, you know, if you want to take it right to the very beginning, it's the seed that goes into the ground to grow the cotton and then the cotton is picked and then it goes to be, you know, processed, then it goes to be dyed and then it goes there. Then it's made into garments, etc. All of that is part of the supply chain. And at any point along that, particularly when it takes place in countries that don't have sort of very high levels of scrutiny or have weak law enforcement, at any stage along that supply chain, you can have people being horribly abused and exploited. And many of those people will be women because garment industry is very highly populated by women. So yes, we're talking about cases like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Shavir.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And you are part of that problem, and it's not just about fast fashion, it's about all the way up the different grades of fashion companies. So what are you going to do about it? And, you know, sprung from that was an organization called Fashion Revolution. And again, those people who've been campaigning about this for years and there was fresh impetus. And I said, well, look, what can I do? Can I do something to support that? I love clothes and fashion. I want to know more about the bad side of it. And we can spread awareness amongst parliamentarians and perhaps the general public and the fashion industry. So that's what we did. So that was 2009. And so 13 years ago. And a lot of the things that those campaigners were into then has become much more mainstream.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Factories overseas than we had the awful tragedy of Rana Plaza building in 2013, which was a real, I mean, it's horrible to say because of all the people that died, 1100 people died, but it was a watershed in terms of campaigners being able to say, look, this is part of the property.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Called up and said anti slavery international and what was then called liberty wants somebody to put down an amendment to the coroners and justice bill that was the then Labour government one of the flagship bills and this clause this amendment was about forced labour and domestic servitude and I said yeah but that doesn't happen here and so of course I was briefed yes it does so to cut a long story short that was the start of my journey as it were around modern forms of slavery and so as this kind of begun to what people began to peel back the layers of what was going on and people would come to me from the fashion industry and say look we've been campaigning for years to try and get the fashion sector to be more aware of its responsibilities particularly when it outsources to”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's quite complicated, actually, Charles. And so, you know, forgive me if I go on, but do feel free to interrupt me by the same token, otherwise you'll get sort of 101 on modern slavery. But I guess what I would say is from that childhood and that growing up, I had a very keen sense of my own interpretation of what was right and what was wrong, you know, what was justice and what wasn't. And so when I went into the House of Lords, having an arts background, I'm thinking, you know, what am I going to be doing here? Because, you know, there's quite a lot that's obviously nothing to do with the arts, apparently on the surface. And then I thought, well, there's all that policy work you've done around equality and diversity and just beginning to think about environmental sustainability too. But it was one of those serendipitous things that happened in 2009. I was in my office and somebody”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It wasn't frightening, and it was quite amazing to be in a show with Irene Handel. And the thing was that I was a good eight or nine years older than what was meant to be my peer group within that program. So that was quite funny. I felt very worldly wise, particularly given my background, you know. But there was Irene Handel, a total legend, you know, sitting there and she was very funny. Of course, she was very funny. But also it was directed by Mickey DeLentz again, Circus Boy. You know, I'd sat and watched these people on the television. So, yeah, it was quite, I suppose, I was in awe for a while. Yeah, I was. It was quite awe-inspiring.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Time was quite sort of farsighted, I guess, because it wasn't long after things like Mind Your Language, which were pretty appalling, actually, around racial politics. So it was a bit of a breath of fresh air, but it wasn't something I was prepared for in terms of being recognised in the street and so on. And actually, you know, today it would be so much more intense and all the scrutiny that would come through social media. We didn't have that, but it was sort of, you know, don't go out when the kids are coming out school because they'll all be looking at you and sort of wanting your autograph and all the rest of it.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, that's a good question, actually, because I'd come to that now, these things sort of start, the memories start flooding back and I'd actually done an episode of another sitcom that was a London weekend sitcom. I can't remember the title of it now, but it was about a black woman being married to a white guy. And so, you know, that was obviously sort of focused on stereotypes and ideas about race that were trying, they were trying to debunk in that program. But with Metal Mickey, the role was kind of, I don't know what to call it, neutral. It wasn't written as a black role with a capital B and capital R. It was more or less, you know, okay, so you're the girlfriend lives next door and that's it, you know, with your mum and dad. And that was it. So that was quite refreshing, particularly for television.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The BBC work was kind of interesting, although I was quite aware that there were certain unwritten rules like you wouldn't normally have two women presenting at the same time or two black women. But it was an interesting experience and it was sometimes quite funny because we would go to see children watching us in their own home and they would say things like how did you get out of the box? You know, they'd look at the television, they'd look at you and think, how did you get out of the box? It was so sweet. But yes, it was all, you know, looking back, although there would have been moments where it was difficult. It was a great experience.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, you know, very condescending term. But yes, I was in theater in different places around the country. And then I sort of, what did I do? Oh, yeah, I came to London to work at Theatre Rollstrap for these. And I played Dick Whittington's cat. Yes, and Bertelt Brecht in Bertolt Brecht, you know, so it's like, you know, a huge range of stuff. And as I was in London, then you'd get producers and casting directors coming to see those productions. And it's actually Humphrey Barclay from London Weekend Television who came and said, let's give her a go on this new children's television program and sort of, so I got that wrong, I can't quite remember the exact sequence, but I know I was doing lots of different stuff more or less at the same time. So we can talk about the metal Mickey experience.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Make it all sound so smooth and straightforward, and of course, it wasn't. And actually, I did masses of theatre before I went into television because in those days there was more of a separation. And so I did what was then called rep theatre in what were then called wasn't the regions then, it was the provinces.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, yeah, although I wouldn't allow myself to think that. But it was much more about saying, well, nobody's brought me up, which isn't quite true, but this was me, you know, my bravado. Nobody's brought me up. I can do what I want. I've got no parents saying to me, you can't go to drama school at the age of 21 or whatever I was, or you shouldn't be doing this and forget acting and all this. Well, I'm going to try it. And if it doesn't work out, at least I would have tried it. And I thought I didn't want to get to, I don't know what seemed terribly old at the time, 30 or 40, and sort of say, oh, I wished I had had a go at acting. So I thought I'm going to have a go at it. And I did. And turns out I was quite good and I could sing as well. That's the other thing I found out. I joined a band and that's how I sort of paid my way through college.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“horror the horror but actually I was quite shy then it might be sort of difficult to understand that now I was quite shy and socially inept I mean I just didn't having been brought up in foster care in a quite sheltered position and then going into children's homes none of the kind of social skills you know were there basically and I'd never had anybody to say oh this is how you behave in these situations So I thought doing drama as an evening class, which is what I did first with my cousin. I said, let's go and do some amateur dramatic. That's the phrase. I'm dram and see how that works out. And so that's what we did. And it did sort of instill that bit of confidence in me. And I began to feel that I had a sense of humor and could have fun and all the rest of it. So I thought.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, it's a funny one, isn't it? And I can sort of look back and put this framework on it, which makes it seem neater than it probably is. But actually, I left a little bit of work experience out. So when I first left school without the requisite A-levels, I went to work for what was then the North Thames Gas Board. And so, and I put that in because that was when I was elected as a rep for the group that I was working with. And just to give you a sense of the times, I went to head office to ask if women could be allowed to wear trousers in the office.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Would say it was almost inevitable that I wouldn't get the grades at A level given my circumstances and my frame of mind at the time. And so I didn't get good enough grades to go to university, so decided to be a social worker, a residential social worker instead in a children's home. So basically you're looking after children in the care system”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, well, it's part of the continuum with being in foster care because that foster mother died when I was about 14. And then from then onwards, I was in and out of children's homes, various children's homes in north of London, I should say, but still in the care of Islington. And again, that turned out in retrospect to be quite a tumultuous time. The last children's home that I was working in in Islington was in Highbury. Actually, I was in care there. That's right. So I was in care there. That was the last home I was in as a child in care. And then I had this very strong sense of wanting to go back and give something back. But I'd applied to university, hoping to be a social worker out in the field”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Rights movement were being shown on television for the first time, so we were getting this window on this other world and it wasn't very nice, to put it mildly. So that had a huge impact on me. I was very conscious of both the racism in this country and how that worked out abroad as well.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Conditions that would not be allowed today. But on one level, I would say, I wouldn't say I was happy exactly because I was very conscious of not having my parents there, but I didn't sort of really want for anything. We weren't rich. We weren't poor in the sense of lacking food or anything like that. But my foster mother did look after me without being paid either by the council or by my parents. And I think growing up at that time as a black child in the school, I think I was the second or third black child in that school, primary school, and then again in Parliament Hill School there weren't many black girls, especially not in the upper streams, because I passed 11 plus, so there I was. So I saw a lot of injustice because I guess it was that era when things like, for example, apartheid South Africa.”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, and I'm delighted to be here, Charles, talking to you because it's a very interesting time in history, in the life of this country to be having these kinds of conversations. So it's interesting when you said London, because I always think North London. So that's really important to me. Don't ask me about my football affiliation because it might cause trouble. But seriously, very much embedded in that life as it was in the 50s. So if you think post-war rationing still on the NHS is just being formed. And we talk about the Windrush generation now. So I'm not kind of part of that. So it's a little bit of a different perspective, different milieu, especially being in foster care. My foster mother was white. She had several children living in kind of...”
undated · Off The Agenda · Baroness Lola Young: Culture, Politics & the Power of Diverse Voices | Off The Agenda | OTA Media · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source