Tina talks to... Today's Britons

In this episode I’m talking to retired secretary, Sooty Javeri. For nearly 20 years of her working life, she worked at Associated Newspapers. First in the editor’s office at the Daily Mail, as the junior secretary to David English, and for 15 years as PA to Stewart Steven whilst he was editor of the Mail on Sunday and then editor of the Evening Standard. She shares her views on the way the media has changed which she believes is for the worse, with journalists wanting to argue with politicians and interviewees instead of helping people understand and make them think. Sooty also explains why she voted Leave in the EU Referendum and gives her reaction to the way that Parliament and the House of Lords in particular behaved in the years that followed and until we finally left the EU in 2020. By talking to someone who held a junior role at work - and hear Sooty describe when her important contribution was recognised by her bosses and when it wasn’t - this conversation is essentially about the power dynamic and what it looks like from the smaller side of the equation. Because the same dynamic is in play when we go on to discuss Sooty’s perspective – as a Leave Voter who respectfully engaged in the democratic process – when the world of politics and other powerful forces responded so negatively and obstructively to the Brexit referendum result.