I’VE heard the sad though not unexpected news that Janey Godley passed away peacefully surrounded by family and friends. Quite apart from being funny, she was a compassionate and thoughtful person who cared about all of Glasgow’s people.

It is so sad that this second run-in with cancer, which has ultimately taken her life, came just at the point she was gaining wider recognition.

In time we will realise just how important she was as a repository for Glasgow’s comedic self-image in much the same way as Billy Connolly is. Whereas his voice represented and introduced our people across the world, her voice (and indeed her voiceovers!) literally saved people’s lives as well as raising their spirits during the most difficult Covid-19 days. She spoke for Scotland. She voiced Scotland’s defiance in the face of the pandemic. She had us all saying “Frank, get the door!” for months afterwards.

READ MORE: Scottish stand-up comedian Janey Godley dies aged 63 after cancer battle

I only got to know Janey personally in the last five years but I became a friend of hers just before a controversy over racism in her old tweets exploded. You might well ask why I mention this so soon after her death. But having had the honour of knowing her, my very strong sense of Janey from our conversations about this was that she wanted to face up to things. She wouldn’t want to airbrush important things from her past. She was just too honest and honourable a person for it not to be mentioned and so if you read on, what I am telling you is a really positive story about this woman. So here goes…

For a wee while Janey fell from favour after she was outed for some pretty awful remarks about refugees she had made on social media from 10 years earlier – long before she started doing solidarity gigs for refugee rights and anti-racist causes. But when some of her fans weighed in to defend her against “political correctness”, to her great credit Janey faced them down and told them not to defend her previous racist remarks.

She was stalwart in owning up to her foibles and in not allowing sections of her audience to come to her defence on it. She was prepared to take the short-term hit on her career prospects and to have those difficult uncomfortable conversations as a white person with herself and with others about racism. She went out of her way to reach out (to people like me) to make sure that she did. I wish most people would react the same way she did – using it as a way for learning and growth and to provide healing. That was the mark of this extraordinarily giving and humane woman.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon shares emotional Janey Godley tribute

And finally her gift that keeps on giving – “Trump is a c***”. On a previous visit to New York myself and my partner Anne saw that someone (clearly someone Scottish) had written “Trump still a c***” on a beach on Staten Island, undoubtedly in Janey’s honour. We took a picture of it and sent it to her because that’s the kind of mischief she encouraged in others. It is rather poignant that we’ve learned of her passing just as we’ve arrived in Washington DC as we face another globally critical US election. I do have a lingering hope that her message somehow gets across to enough people out here and hopefully gets through to enough American voters to make a difference.

Janey was the epitome of Scottish indefatigably and sense of humour in difficult times. Her life has been cut short so cruelly as she was about to become huge. I know that most in Scotland will really miss her, So will I, but hopefully we will also be inspired by her to be truly fearless in calling out the powerful who just need to get telt.

Cllr Graham Campbell
Project Leader, Flag Up Scotland Jamaica