Standing for Something: A New Book by Big Thinker Mark Seddon

It’s always exciting news for us at Big Think when one of our own has published a new book. Today we are excited to spread the word about Mark Seddon’s book Standing for Something: Life in the Awkward Squad, which details Mark’s role as a leading member of the so-called Awkward Squad, “a thorn in the flesh of New Labour.”

For over a decade Mark served as editor of Tribune, the house magazine of the Left, and also as a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee. Seddon describes how he “scurried around the corridors of power, gaining a unique perspective on the activities of Blair, Brown and Mandelson – and of less familiar figures who played their part in the story of New Labour.”

As fans of Mark’s blog As I Please are aware, Mark’s career has also taken him far from the U.K. In 2005 Mark set up the New York Bureau for Al Jazeera English TV, and became the network’s first United Nations correspondent, filing from New York, Washington DC and from far beyond. Standing for Something features Mark’s account of those experiences, and his publisher has kindly made two chapters that cover that period of his career available for Big Thinkers to download here.