Reasons to Be Cheerful: from Punk to New Labour Through the Eyes of a Dedicated Troublemaker [Paperback]

Fans of Mark Steel's acerbic stand up and Independent columns, and idealists everywhere will enjoy this emotional romp through 25 years of (rude) political awakening. From promisingly early signs of insubordination (chastised by his headmaster for publicly consuming a banana), the young Steel finds himself drawn into the thrillingly twilit world of far-leftist politics and punk rock. The quest for a socialist Utopia takes him from depressingly ill-attended worker meetings in dingy South London pubs into the shambolic lifestyle resistance of the squatting scene. This is the alternative landscape of 80s subculture, populated by slothful hippies and hopelessly inept junkies who forget which friends they've robbed and try to sell them back their own possessions. From his pivotal Lambeth overview, Steel's ideological exodus from callow youth to electoral candidate takes us through the miners' strike, the nuclear threat, the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the dawning of the pale eerie sun of the Third Way. The filter of his "extraordinarily minor role" in politics works in a similar fashion to the beautiful game in Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch but the humour is more staccato here, the self-deprecation jauntier. Reasons to be Cheerful reads like a confessional rant: both a travel guide for the political ingénue and a nostalgic trip down memory lane for all those who helped fight the good fight and wondered if it was all worth it. --Rebecca Johnson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Bolshy, belligerent and bloody hilarious'

'Polemical, passionate and consistently funny'

'Mark Steel is hilariously funny'

'A unique political chronicle of the last twenty-five years - both intellectually rewarding and hilariously funny'

'Mark Steel makes intelligent people laugh hopefully, a job of extraordinary value'

The memoirs of 25 years of political activism, albeit minor and mostly unsuccessful! Deciding to dedicated his life to eradicating injustice Mark Steel has: tried to persuade his mates to change their sexist attitudes - only to be called a poof; innocently wandered into the heat of battle during the Brixton riots in 1981 - to be wrongfully arrested for stealing shoes; hidden striking steel workers to defeat Thatcher's union laws; and in the GLA elections of May 2000 he received 1823 votes for the London Socialist Alliance.

Mark Steel is the writer and presenter of THE MARK STEEL SOLUTION (3 series on Radio 4) and the MARK STEEL REVOLUTION (3rd series on Radio 4 March 2001). He writes a weekly column for the INDEPENDENT and is a highly popular stand-up comedian. He is a regular on Radio 4's LOOSE ENDS and NEWSQUIZ and the author of IT'S NOT A RUNNER BEAN. He is a member of Kent County Cricket Club. He lives in South London with his wife Bindy and son.