Jess Phillips is the Labour M.P for Birmingham Yardley and is a fairly well-known advocate for women generally and especially female representation in politics. Phillips is also a 2-time author, with her first book ‘Everywoman’ being published in 2017.
Her second book, Truth to Power: 7 ways to call time on BS, is for those of us who feel like we want to do something and those who want to make a positive change and speak out about the issues we feel passionate, or in my case, often very angry about. In the book, Phillips gives us her advice for those change-seeking people.
In her no-nonsense and chatty tone, Jess introduces us to key examples of inspirational people who have used their voice to speak out about the issues they see in our society, or even issues that have directly impacted them and their loved ones. For instance, the experience of Zelda Parkins is included, a previous assistant to Harvey Weinstein who took action to call him out for harassment against her colleague years before the MeToo movement.
Encouraging us to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ (which often in my case, comes after an-anxiety fuelled in-depth risk assessment), Jess discusses both practical methods for action, and more reflective thinking on our motivations for standing up to a person or problem. Many of these are things I believe are absolutely key in ensuring we are acting as best we can in our own circumstances.
She seeks to encourage us to be the change-makers and reassures us that we are capable in her attempt to normalise the ‘exceptional courage’ it takes to make a stand.
My favourite part of the book is when Phillips recognised that most heroes are just people who found themselves in a difficult situation and decided not to let fear instead of hope for change be their driver.
‘Your cause has a way of picking you: it is rarely the other way round’
If you need inspiration, if you want to make a change but you’re not quite sure how, or if you need some positive change stories to show you that people aren’t all bad in this currently crazy climate, then I encourage you to get your hands on this book.
Whether your passion for change lies in making your place of work or study a better place, raising issues that impact you, your community or an even wider-reaching topic, Jess, and I encourage you to do what you can with the resources you have and reach out to others to support you and your cause.
Words by Amy Randles.
Edited by Alice Colton.