Public Servant, Private Woman – Dame Alix Meynell
Reading the history of women entering the UK civil service on Martin Stanley’s excellent website civilservant.org.uk led me to looking up this book. I couldn’t get it through my library, so found a copy for £3 online, and to my delight it turned out to be signed by the author!
Along with Dame Evelyn Sharp, the author passed the civil service exams in 1925 - the first year women were allowed to sit them. Unmarried women had been allowed to work as secretaries and typists but not in the ‘officer class’ as Alix explains it. The sections in the book on how Alix, Evelyn and others campaigned for fair treatment, equal pay and more are fascinating and awful – to my mind it’s just so dire that they had to make their case before committees of men determining whether women were capable of ‘being a wife and working’ and so on. Thankfully we’ve come a long way, but a way more to go, including on fair pay.
Alix had an extraordinary life and is admirably open and reflective. She lived by ‘Bloomsbury values’ which we might call consensual non-monogamy these days, with added focus on the arts. Her openness regarding sex, difficulties seeking contraception, how having children might have affected her career and navigating social expectations regarding marriage versus the values she wanted to live by are ever so powerful.
In terms of the actual daily work, her civil service experiences in the Board of Trade, war rationing aside, didn’t sound too different from my own in the very department which now includes the Board of Trade. Though I am very glad that Saturday morning working has since been ditched!
I was left admiring someone who clearly valued public service, lived life to the full and always tried to do what they felt was right. Her social life sounds exhausting to me but it does make for a fun read.
Politics on the Edge – Rory Stewart
As a civil servant I won’t be commenting on the politics in this excellent read, except to say that Rory does not hold back in this book, so any political reconciliation with his former party seems unlikely. As with Alix Meynell’s book, the reader is all the better for his openness.
The sections on his experiences as a minister and working with the civil service are fascinating. As a former civil servant himself, it’s interesting to observe him try a variety of techniques to achieve the outcomes he seeks. It is with prisons one gets the sense he made the most progress and had the greatest satisfaction. It was also one that resonated with me, it read like the best officer-member partnerships I’d experienced in local government. There is something hard to define, but incredibly effective, when the political and official parts of a public organisation align with mutual respect and common goals.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin
A wonderfully written novel which focusses on the story of a boy and a girl who, through their own difficult experiences, bond while playing video games together. As they grow up, they drift in and out of each other’s lives while writing ever more ambitious, and sometimes successful games.
This is a story about friendship and gaming as well as growing up belonging to multiple identities. For example Sam, the lead male character is half Korean-half American; while the lead female Sadie is Jewish from a wealthy part of LA but more comfortable in the world of MIT and Harvard in Massachusetts. These tensions lead to some wonderful observations. And lots of nice gaming nostalgia, connections to Shakespeare (the title is a quote from Macbeth) and fun East coast vs West coast references.
I can’t remember why I put this book on my list, but I’m so glad I did. Brilliantly written with a really heartfelt narrative. Bravo.
My Lives – Sir Francis Meynell
My curiosity was piqued by Alix Meynell’s autobiography, so I managed to track down her late husband’s own autobiography thanks to the wonder that is inter-library loans. Thank you Buckinghamshire County Library for your copy which arrived in Tunbridge Wells still carrying its musty smell of old paper and memories.
Francis Meynell was not nearly as open in his book, published 17 years before his wife’s. He was dead by the time she wrote hers, which may have meant she felt free to be as frank and open as she was. Or it may have been his style. On divorcing his first two wives he is quite curt, while admitting failings, he really fails to offer the reader much insight into himself or those relationships let alone the other romantic entanglements he alludes to.
So one isn’t going to get huge insight into the emotional life of Francis Meynell, other than his obvious adoration for Alix Meynell. Still, my goodness there are good stories to be had. He isn’t shy of some name dropping as he regales us of his “many lives”:
A staunch pacifist and conscientious objector in the First World War, a CND supporter in later life but a strong advocate of Winston Churchill and the Allies in World War Two who played a fascinating role in food rationing and other elements of the war effort.
A radical socialist and erstwhile communist who ended up with a Knighthood. A poet and journalist who also smuggled jewellery from Denmark to Britain to support early socialist groups. Someone who helped market films for the biggest studios of the day. A key player in the creation of the left-wing Daily Record which would eventually become known as The Sun. A renown typographer and designer who created the Nonesuch Press and partied with radicals, yet helped with the design of the stationery for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.
His was a life full of stories, adventures and lucky breaks. As he tells it, there is no sense of hypocrisy or a loss of values, it’s a natural journey into the establishment as he keeps learning and finding new opportunities. He was a man of his time, not aware of all his privilege, yet passionate about women’s rights, social justice and creating a welfare state. I certainly got more out of the book having read Public Servant, Private Woman first. A reminder of how many interesting paths our lives can take.
Jason Kitcat 