LETS SEE WHAT HAPPENS

A brutally honest account of power politics race and class written by a politician with a remarkable backstory and destined for bigger things David Olusoga author of Black and British In 2016 Marvin Rees was elected as mayor of Bristol the first time a major European city had elected a mayor of Black African heritage Re elected in 2021 his eight year tenure has taken the city through everything from Brexit to Covid the cost of living crisis to the fall of the Colston statue With the eyes of the world on Bristol Rees navigated a high stakes balancing act to keep the city together all the while dealing with racist abuse and personal threats His rise to political leadership was anything but straightforward The mixed race son of a Jamaican father and white single mother he grew up in a household where money was tight and opportunity lacking He first found purpose in the boxing ring then while at university studying history and politics he passed the interview board for the Royal Marines but failed the medical Instead of the armed forces he joined an international development agency before becoming a broadcast journalist at the BBC However politics beckoned and after winning a place at Yale s prestigious World Fellows Program for rising global