Like Ed Miliband I am a
geek. I always have been and always will be. I also I went to a
comprehensive school where I spent my free time socialising, with
other geeks. We sat in the geek corner of the common room at sixth
form. We were definitely not the cool kids. One of coolest things we
ever did in geek corner was sleeping, The Head of sixth form did not
like this and used to wake us up; not cool. Another thing we did was
hiding under the desks from our Biology teacher, who then assumed we
were in geek corner and went to look for us there. When she returned
we had our pens poised ready for the lesson; that was cool.
What are the residents
of Geek corner doing now? One is a consultant obstetrician, one is an
information security expert, one does something with radar, one got a
PhD in some unpronounceable aspect of cell biology and does niche
consultancy work (He is also a 'Twitter famous' football pundit @IWantCurlyHair2). One is primary teacher. The geekiest of all the
geeks went to Oxford to read biochemistry then realised he was a cool
kid at heart and now is a mountain biking instructor. Worryingly
despite being well qualified and with specialist experience a few
geeks are out of work at the moment. This reluctant geek is a biology
lecturer and part time politics geek. Many of the cool kids did OK
too but I would say that the geeks have ended up in the more
interesting jobs.
A lot has been made of
Ed Milibands geeky persona and there is talk of him getting rid of
his 'policy wonk' image after the recent Labour Party Conference.
Commentators are talking about him becoming less geeky and more
Prime Ministerial. The two are not mutually exclusive. I now must
apologise in advance to the cool kids reading this; but I would
rather have a geek as a Prime Minister. The nerdy analytical skills
will come in handy when big decisions have to be made quickly, as will the
ability to grasp detail and come up with a big picture conclusion.
There are still massive jobs in politics for cool dudes. It is useful
if the foreign secretary for example is more than a little bit cool.
The choice for the next
general election is clear. Do the public want a Prime Minister plays
at being cool and thinks he was born to rule. Or is the public ready
for a Leader might not look as airbrushed but whose values are more
than skin deep. I hope that Ed ignores the sort of advice that a spin
doctor might give to 'shake off his nerdy image'. My message would be
in complete contrast; the electorate prefer authenticity to fakery
every time. Say it loud. Geek and proud
3 comments:
Great post :) I think Attlee would definitely have been in the Geek corner too.
From one geek to another, love this! Play the media at their own game!
You wont agree with his politics, but there's one other geek who's been media trained out of all recognition. William Hague. He's a qualified systems engineer. Now who doesn't want someone who is trained to take complex problems apart and solve them as a Prime Minister? Shame about his taste in T-shirts though.
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