News came through around 12.30am this morning, that the stronger candidate Marvin Rees has won the election to be Bristol’s first mayor to secure a second term. Although he faced competition from the Green Party where they gave him a good running opposition. Also neither of the candidates Sandy or Marvin secured 50% of the first vote. So even though it seems like a secure win, it was decided by back up votes alongside main votes.

Wherever we find ourselves, I am confident we can find our own place in society where we can make a difference, and use our individual strengths to make a impact to the whole.

I’m a Christian and I definitely don’t believe that God just works through one person i.e. the elected mayor. Although I feel positive that Marvin has shown he’s got the strength to lead the city during the most difficult circumstances. I’m sure that if Marvin was saying something on this site, he’d want all people, who have the motivation or inclination to do something to make the best of their talents and opportunities to help us recover from the covid setback.

I believe in the unique strengths of my peer age generation

We were born in the eighties, saw the impact of the 9/11 attacks and the following counter aggression of armed forces, followed by a global financial recession in 2008.

Those of us aged around 33/34-39/40 years old have had to accept a world which is both disappointing, but also worth working for and healing where we can.

I definitely have a strong feeling that in the next five years the millennials which I am part of will have a bigger part to play in showing what we learned about resilience and coping with the challenges. I certainly feel that we have had great input from our parents generation, and given the secure foundations we had, that millennials will want to become more involved in geo-politics to secure the future of the next generations.

There’s lots of worries about being diverse enough. My university experience gave me the opportunity to work with many Europeans particularly German and Norwegian overseas students.