A message to us all from Freddie Mercury?

Having undertaken several days of fairly intense efficiency identifying workshops with a local government client, I was pretty tired as I boarded a train towards Edinburgh.  I had left the enthusiastic clients with equally enthusiastic colleagues to finish the remaining workshops. I don’t have to remind you of the extent of efficiency and austerity within the public sector so the enthusiasm I had experienced gave me hope for the future. But I was also feeling a little guilty as I was going off on holiday.

After all the political turmoil over the previous weeks, (and the prospect of months or years of more), the nature of what we had been discussing with the client left me uncharacteristically dark. Maybe it was the new PM's first Cabinet appointments on Wednesday evening when Boris was identified as the new Foreign Secretary. The morning after, people were still asking if the world and the seemingly sensible new PM gone mad?

Settling myself onto the train and having invested in some fancy new wire free headphones and a recent subscription to Apple Music (other music streaming services are available), I thought to pass the journey with some random music. I found a playlist of Queen songs those nice Apple people had put together for me so I popped that on. Within an hour, my dark mood of foreboding was lifted and I was buzzing with enthusiasm, hope, and energy. Why and what happened?

Well first, I must confess to being a big Queen fan. And the sun was out. In July. And the magnificence  of the hills the West Coast line goes through are second to none. But what had me grinning was the tracks on the playlist - they seemed to be sending us all a message. Kicking off with “Tie Your Mother Down” and “Killer Queen”, the playlist seemed to portray perfectly Teresa May's storming of Number 10 the previous day. And I read “You're My Best Friend” two ways – either “thanks but no thanks George” or some reference to the last person I had heard on Radio 4 before I had left the hotel - Jeremy Corbyn. Was Freddie sending a message to me via Apple Music?

The final lines of “Bicycle Race” screaming "I want to ride my bike where I like" seemed to portray our upcoming EU discussions perfectly. And the opening lines of “Bohemian Rhapsody” forever asking "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality" had me nearly falling off my seat. Had I missed the “Apple moves into the subliminal messaging” newsflash. Or perhaps there is a playlist-master somewhere with a great sense of the now?

Now “Flash” was always a track I had skipped for obvious reasons but when I heard the line "There is no reason for these extraordinary intergalactic episodes” as well as Brian Blessed saying in a puzzled manner "Gordon’s alive?" I was glad I had stuck with it. I always thought Boris a little flash and that zip wire thing was just a bit too much. And then what. For goodness sake, the playlist only then gave me “I Want to Break Free” followed by “Stone Cold Crazy” the “Keep Yourself Alive” and then “Radio Ga Ga”. Whilst the Cabinet reshuffle was going on. Come on, what’s going on here I thought whilst grinning insanely. The American tourist next to me looked at tad concerned but decided I looked must have been listening to something amusing. If only he knew.

“Body Language” was in Queen’s difficult period but the constant shouting of the words “talk, don’t talk” resonated nicely, only to be followed by “Another One Bites the Dust” and “I Want It All” as the news Michael Gove was no longer in the Cabinet popped up on BBC’s Breaking News. And then what?

At this point, I was feeling very positive about our future, despite the obvious perils ahead. Thinking that the clients I had just left were pragmatically preparing for this fight, thinking that the sun was shinning on us and thinking Freddie was having a right laugh. “We Will Rock You”, “We Are Champions” and “Play the Game” followed each other. And really, I’m not making this up. Look up the playlist yourself. And once you have you will spot the wonderful sequence of songs that culminate in “The Show Must Go On”, made at the end of Freddie Mercury’s life but still inspirational.

Music has that impact on us and can make us think outside the immediate box. And of course some sun. The EU banned that as soon as we opted out but its come back now despite that.

So by the time I got to Edinburgh, my zest was renewed and my spirits raised. Yes it’s all a bit grim and hard and complex at the moment. Yes, the government and political thing is a bit mixed up. But despite that, there’s a genuine spirit of “can do” and survival we often forget about. In ten years time, we’ll all be laughing at this period in our history. Hopefully. Remembering where we were when we heard Michael Gove was going for it and Boris Johnson was not. Where we were when we heard we’d voted to leave the EU. And hopefully looking for inspiration from strange sources.

Find out more about Libre Advisory and our partners here.