About Anders

The main facts are these:

• 33 years old
• Born in Göteborg (Gothenburg) in Sweden, brought up in Sheffield, and have also lived in Stoke-on-Trent, Derby, Aberystwyth and Chandler’s Ford. I currently live in Sheffield city centre.
• Employed as Senior Political Officer for the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors, having previously worked in various campaign roles for the party and before that as Marketing Executive for Midland Mainline train company. I have also been a postman and worked for WHSmith.
• Active Liberal Democrat campaigner and councillor, general election candidate and vice-chair of the Liberal Democrat Youth and Students, and a current member of the English Liberal Democrat executive.
• A Geography graduate from Staffordshire University with A-Levels and GCSEs from Tapton School in Sheffield.

As well as spending a lot of time with friends, my biggest passions in life are:

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

I am an active member of the Liberal Democrats. Some of my core beliefs are that everyone should have the opportunity to make of their life what they want and that they should have the power to be able to make that happen.  I also believe in standing up against the vested interests that stop people from having control over their own future and that of their communities.  I share all these beliefs with the Liberal Democrats.

I got involved in the Liberal Democrats when I was a student, but my involvement took off to such an extent that I became a councillor, a general election candidate and active nationally within the Liberal Democrat Youth & Students.

I now work for the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors, but I have also held a number of party campaign roles in Sheffield, Eastleigh and Mid & West Wales, including stints working for both Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne. I am also a member of the executive of the English Liberal Democrats.

My page on the Liberal Democrats
My postings on: liberal democrats, politics

MUSIC

Music is the thing that inspires me, relaxes me and takes me off to another world. My taste in music is fairly mixed, ranging from indy to pop and from dance to traditional. It all depends on the mood I am in when I am listening to it.

It is difficult to say what are my favourite artists, but they are probably Delays, Keane, Yeasayer, Kosheen, Starsailor, Reverend & the Makers, Sigur Ros, Róisín Murphy and Alanis Morissette. But my music collection extends far beyond this and there are many one-off songs that I enjoy listening to. My musical taste has been described as eclectic and I suppose the main criteria is a strong tune.

I’m proud of Sheffield’s music scene and I regularly go to see bands (both well known and unsigned) play live in local pubs, bars and at places like Plug, The Harley and the Leadmill.

My postings on: music

PHOTOGRAPHY

I’ve loved taking photos ever since I was little. As a child it was always pictures of places I visited with my Mum and Dad, with the occasional pictures of family or friends thrown in.

I have had a renewed interest in photography over the last few years. Not only taking my own but also going to exhibitions of photographs as well. My own photography is taken with a fairly ordinary camera, and varies in style. My photography is a mixture of things that I have noticed and find interesting, recording places that are going to change soon or scenes that I think are beautiful.

I now have a Flickr site that includes a mix of my favourite photos and ones that have been taken to record different parts of Sheffield.

My photographs on Flickr
My postings on: photography

FAMILY HISTORY

I’m fascinated by my family history and discovering where my family used to live, where they lived and what they were like. I am fortunate to have had a help from relatives who started off the research, but I have managed to trace the family much further back. On one side as far as the English Civil War.

Although I am interested in all of my ancestors the majority of my research has been in to the Wakefield family of Warwickshire – that of my maternal grandfather.

My page on my family history
My postings on: family history

UK TRAVEL

I’ve always been interested in other places.  I suppose that is why I did a geography degree and have always enjoyed looking at maps.  But although I would love to do more travelling overseas – I particularly love the little I’ve seen of Italy – I’ve never had the opportunity to do it.  Instead I try and see as much of the UK as I can.

We are fortunate that our country is hugely diverse and interesting, and even though we are a busy island it’s still possible to get away from it.  Not only that, but our cities are also fascinating.

My travel mainly involves exploring more of my own city of Sheffield and getting to know the many different parts of London.  I also have a passion for Wales from having lived there a while and travelled to all parts of the country in my job.  I also enjoy visiting Derbyshire, the Lincolnshire coast, Cornwall, the Pennines and Scotland.

My postings on: favourite places, Sheffield, London, Wales, travel