Young mums should go for it just like Labour MP Angela Rayner who is living proof that hard work can turn dreams into reality
SOME might say it’s almost laughable that the Shadow Minister for Education, Angela Rayner, has no educational qualifications because she left school at 16 to have a baby.
Indeed, watch The Jeremy Kyle Show and you’ll be invited to vilify teenage mothers like her as all that’s wrong with society.
But Angela Rayner, who has just become a grandmother at the age of 37 and announced the news with at tweet calling herself Grangela, is an incredibly inspiring person.
She grew up on a council estate with parents who were on benefits. Her mother, one of 12 children, could not read or write.
Rayner often went to school hungry. All in all, life was not easy. Then she got pregnant.
Most of us would assume if you have a baby at 16 your life will go nowhere.
But Angela has said being a teenage mum “saved” her. “Because I had a little person that I had to look after and I wanted to prove to everybody that I wasn’t the scumbag that they thought I was going to be, and I could be a good mum,” she said at this year’s Labour conference in Brighton.
But to have overcome all the obstacles that must have stood in her way and go on to become an MP is seriously impressive.
All the more so when you consider politics is an environment dominated by privately-educated men.
So I hope Rayner’s story gives heart to anyone who has left school without the qualifications they wanted. Our lives have been very different but I’ve got more in common with Angela Rayner than may meet the eye.
I chose to leave school at 18. I craved independence and knew the only way to achieve that was to have money, so I chose to start work as soon as I could.
In particular I think Angela and I share one thing: Solid core values — the things that make us who we are, the core of what leads us to make our decisions in a certain way. By 18 I’d worked out what my core values were. I was determined, ambitious and irrepressible.
And as a result I believed in myself when, at least at the beginning, no one else did.
But I have always known I could and would do something in life. As it turned out, that stood me in much better stead than any qualifications.
She is ballsy, determined and outspoken — living proof that hard work can turn dreams into reality
Karren Brady
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating a flagrant disregard for formal education.
But don’t assume the end of the world is nigh if you haven’t achieved what you’d hoped you might on the qualifications front.
The bottom line is, particularly if you aren’t as well qualified as you’d like, you need relentless energy to champion your career. Because no one else will do it for you.
I know some people lack self-confidence or belief. And I don’t believe in “Fake it ’til you make it” as some people do.
I suggest if you don’t have confidence, find a way to get it.
You have to push yourself. And you have to trust yourself.
Start building self-confidence, look at all the things you’ve achieved so far rather than dwelling on those that you haven’t.
Then build on that.
You have to be brave and ask yourself, “What is the worst that can happen?”. I started at the bottom and worked my way up.
No one gave me anything. My dad didn’t own a football team or have access to a small fortune so that he could give me a head start.
What I’m saying is, I’ve really put the hours in. And so has Angela.
I’m pretty sure most people would have written her off a couple of decades ago.
But, clearly she is ballsy, determined and outspoken — living proof that hard work can turn dreams into reality.
So let’s take this chance to banish the stereotype that young motherhood is the end of someone’s future when that’s not always the case.
Life may not turn out as you want or expect. But hang on to your core values and you’ll be OK.
Coleen's dodging misery
WAYNE and Coleen Rooney are allegedly renewing their vows.
But it seems more unlikely given Coleen’s frank Facebook message on Friday, explaining what a rocky patch they’ve had and how the couple are getting through it.
No doubt a lot of people think she’s mad to give him “one more chance” after his, ahem, indiscretions. But with three kids and one more on the way, can you blame her?
Clearly, she has forgiven him – because she loves him.
And if you can forgive and move on, there’s a good chance things will work out.
It’s when you stay with someone and can’t forgive them that the misery really starts. Good luck to them.
Robot sex man auto get real
I FOUND it rather depressing reading about James, the 58-year-old man in Atlanta who augments his relationship with his wife by having sex four times a week with an android.
I thought sex robots were the province of TV sci-fi series Westworld, but no.
He says he “wines and dines her” – all the while controlling the robot’s movement and reactions with his remote control.
He claims the sex is just like sleeping with a real woman.
Oh dear. Whatever happened to having someone to talk to and to laugh with?
I guess this man just can’t deal with reality and prefers to reside in the realm of fantasy.
Apparently his long-suffering wife has given her blessing to this state of affairs so maybe it suits her on one level.
But if she wants my advice, she should divorce him. Immediately.
West Ham awash with colour
ON Friday night, West Ham’s London Stadium was awash with colour as we kicked off Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces Week.
The LGBT equality charity’s annual event sees the world of sport unite to send out a powerful message.
Viewers on TV and those at Friday’s draw with Leicester City may have spotted four rainbow corner flags, the rainbow ball plinth, two rainbow captain’s armbands and, of course, a multitude of rainbow shoelaces worn by stewards, staff and supporters.
Sport is for everyone and LGBT people should never feel uncomfortable, unwelcome or out of place when playing or watching sports.
Promoting equality and diversity is very important to us at West Ham United. We work closely with our inspirational LGBT supporters group Pride of Irons to ensure the London Stadium is a welcome environment for everyone.
As a Premier League football club, it is so important that we use our profile to tackle these barriers and take a stand against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in sport and in society – and on Friday night we were incredibly proud to play our part.
— “FINALLY!” I thought to myself when I read that The Savile Club, London’s exclusive all-male membership club founded in 1868, was letting in a woman.
But it turns out that woman used to be a man.
So it’s all right to join if you are a woman – but only if you used to be a man?
Hardly enlightened, modern-day thinking, is it?
But then again, this is a club whose up-and-coming events include a talk on Stiff Upper Lip (a book exploring the secrets, crimes and schooling of the ruling class) and a screening of Gremlins.
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Sarah has his & hers biz sorted
ACTRESS Sarah Michelle Gellar revealed the key to her 15-year marriage to Freddie Prinze Jr.
Apparently separate bathrooms and credit cards are the way forward.
I’m not sure I share her view about the finances, as I believe in the “what’s mine is yours” aspect of marriage.
But separate bathrooms? I really couldn’t agree more.
— A THIRD of women expect to be demoted after a career break, such as maternity leave, a new survey reveals.
And you know what? As far as I am concerned, therein lies the problem. When we go back to work after a career break we don’t just need to expect the best, rather than the worst – we have to demand it.
Ladies, it’s time we adjusted our expectations.