Getting to know you: Danielle Rowley

What is your earliest memory?

My grandparents used to live in Newbattle in Midlothian and I had this little Batman bike. My grandad used to take me down to the college that’s there, Newbattle Abbey College, to cycle down the big driveway.

Did you imagine you were Batman then?

Yes, I’ve always really loved Batman. Actually, I was wearing my Batman t-shirt when I found out I’d won on election night. 

In either of these two circumstances were you playing the theme tune in your head?

Yes. The whole of election day was like ‘dana, dana, dana, dana, Rowley!’

What did your school report cards say?

They said I was really, really chatty. I was always getting told off for chatting and giggling in class. They said I had a ‘wild imagination’.

Do you still have it?

Yeah. I’ve always wanted to write. To be a novelist. I make up fun stories and things. 

Dream dinner date?

Jon Snow. From Channel 4, not Game of Thrones. I love him. He’d have so many interesting stories to tell. He’s also really funny. I just think he’s cool. 

Just the two of you then?

Well, if it was a magical dinner and you could summon anyone, he could summon famous figures he’d interviewed and we could interview them together.

That would make an awkward dinner though…

Yeah, it would be a bit weird.

Biggest fear?

I am quite jumpy. I was scared of the dark when I was younger, but I’m getting over that one now. I really don’t like spiders.

It’s a common one in these things.

I’ve come on a little bit now. I can manage to get a glass over them but then I can’t quite get to putting a bit of paper over it and putting them outside. I worry that somehow they’ll get through the paper and crawl all over me. I have to gee myself up to get the glass over it in the first place. Especially if they are running. I hate it when they run.

What’s the worst thing anyone’s said to you?

You know, in the world of social media people are really mean. They say things they wouldn’t say to your face. The classic kind of ‘you’re a politician and you’re in it for the wrong reasons’ stuff. I got here by being an activist and being really passionate about it, and it hurts when people say it. It’s not me at all. 

Have you developed a thicker skin in the last year?

Definitely. I had quite a thick skin anyway, but I’ve had to read a lot of things that are just not true at all and it is hard not to take it personally, and it’s hard not to reply to every one, but now I just laugh at it. Recently I read that I’d never had a real job outside of being a politician, which is funny because the people writing it, I think I served them all down the pub when I worked in Wetherspoons in Dalkeith. 

What was the funniest thing that happened there?

I once served this big big dinner party, it was someone’s birthday, and there were lots and lots of plates, and I accidentally dropped soup down this old lady. I felt so bad because she had this really nice outfit on. I was trying to dab it off her. She was nice about it, but her family found it so funny they were laughing their head off and taking photos. 

I wonder if those photos will ever emerge… What’s the best advice you’ve had?

When I was first elected someone said the demands on your time will always outstrip the actual time you have, so you don’t feel bad for sometimes saying no. The role becomes far too many things you want to do. You can’t do them all. 

Guilty pleasure?

EastEnders. I love EastEnders. I think they do some really great storylines like the recent one about knife crime, and the rape storylines they’ve done. They’re really sensitively handled and really powerful.

by Liam Kirkaldy

Getting to know you - Alex Cole-Hamilton

What’s the worst pain you’ve ever experienced?

Definitely period pain. I get such bad periods. One year I had to cancel my birthday party because I couldn’t move. I had taken lots of painkillers, but it was still really, really painful. I was just lying in bed screaming for the day.

If you could go back in time to any time, where would you go?

This will sound dead cheesy, but I would go back to the ‘45 government and the creation of the welfare state. The ambition they must have had, the ambition and drive to carry it out must have been amazing to be around. 

You’re right, that is quite cheesy. Last book you read?

Swing Time by Zadie Smith. I read it over summer recess. I really like Zadie Smith. I hadn’t really been to London before I was elected. I didn’t know much about it, and her books are set in London and made me want to explore a bit more.

Are you loving it now?

I don’t love it. People always say, ‘How’s London?’ and I know the route between the flat and parliament, basically. For me, growing up in Dalkeith, Edinburgh was the big city. I was always like gosh, it’s really busy, so going to London, which was so massive and full of people, was a bit overwhelming at first.

What’s your most treasured possession?

Probably my dissertation. I know that sounds absolutely mad, but I was so proud of it because I was rubbish at school. I left with no qualifications and just thought I can never do anything academic. My degree was fairly practical, and I was good at it, but I was terrified of the dissertation because it was a huge academic work, and I thought I would be rubbish, but I got a first in it. I’m so proud of it, it is on my bookshelf.

What was it on? 

You were my mentor – you know! It was on how working-class women are portrayed in the British media. 

Do you whip it out at parties?

No, I have not whipped it out. I have talked about it a bit though. Whenever I think I can’t do this, or this is not the kind of job I can be good at, I have that dissertation to remind me