I have heard journalists are reaching out to friends to suggest that I changed my surname to adopt a ‘stage name’. I thought I best I clear this up, as well as explaining why I think the left-wing journalistic interest in me is steeped in sneering, anti-working class sentiment.

As soon as I was old enough to make my own mind up about my dad, my mam told me the raw truth about her relationship with him. The drunken abuse and uncertainty that he would unleash on her, with two baby boys. As soon as I was old enough, I was desperate to lose his surname.

I adopted my grandmother’s surname, a woman I am incredibly close to, who I would credit for, at one point in my teenage years, saving my life by offering her grandson the simple kindness of ensuring I did not feel alone during a desperately dark period in my life.

I had suffered years of virulently homophobic bullying at both home and at school, this really did take its toll on my mental health. Changing my surname was letting go of that past and embracing the part of my family that had been a source of light throughout my life.

These journalists mock the fact that I was an apprentice hairdresser who liked pop music & culture. As a young gay man that wasn’t, at that time, political. They seem to imply that I can’t possibly have formed my own political views and opinions as a meek and humble hairdresser.

They’re wrong. My political awakening came whilst I was completing an Art Foundation. I read, I watched and realised how important this all is. How politics could ensure what my family and I went through need not happen again. How much I belong to those values of family and home.

I did not, as they suggest, adopt a stage name.

I am not, as they suggest, a thick working class patsy devoid of agency and the ability to adopt critical thinking and form my views.

I am a young lad that had a rocky start in life – and I will not apologise for that.

Cheers.

Darren Grimes shared a post on Ko-fi. https://ko-fi.com/post/Darren-Grimes-is-not-a-%E2%80%98stage-name-G2G21V3QI

Cheers for your support today!

Our sneering, elitist and arrogant political class would love nowt more than for me to fear their smears and intrusion into my family life, but I'm not going anywhere.