‘Steve Rayson’s depiction of British politics in the 70s and 80s is pitch perfect but this book is much more than that. It’s a tender reflection on father/son relationships in working class communities and the fault line that can develop between them through a university education. The best memoir I’ve read in years.’ -- Alan Johnson, Former Health Secretary'

Steve recalls with warmth, insight and wry humour a time when for many of us everything seemed possible'

Lord Paul Boateng

'Funny but poignant, brutally honest yet endearing'

'One man’s personal journey, … delivered with a warmth and affection that has the reader yearning for the place and time that Rayson describes'

"This is for anyone who grew up in Thatcher's Britain and wonders where it all went wrong."

"A captivating memoir of growing up as a socialist in the 80's."

"Full of warm witty anecdotes, a must read for anyone interested in the social history of the 1980s." 

"A beautifully written account of growing up in the 70s and 80s."

"Funny, charming, well observed and a joy to read'

Badgeland

Steve Rayson believed working-class people had everything to gain from socialism. The only problem was they didn't agree with him.

In 1979 Margaret Thatcher was threatening to change Britain forever, and not in a good way. Determined to defeat her, Steve joined the Swindon Labour Party, pinned protest badges to his chest and marched against mass unemployment, apartheid and nuclear weapons. His radical generation was going to change the world but he would learn the hard way that the popularity of the Clash and the Jam was not a good predictor of General Election results.

Bewildered by Conservative election victories he had to reassess what he had been taught by his badgeland comrades. What do you do as a young socialist when your dad’s mates in the working men’s club buy their council houses, drive Austin Metros (a British car to beat the world), read The Sun, and vote Tory? He would come to realise that politics isn’t all it seems at seventeen.

Badgeland is an insightful, warm and frequently hilarious story about coming of age, politics, class and social mobility in the 1970s and 1980s. It is a deeply personal account of loss and renewal that will resonate with political activists of all parties.