Watch…97% Owned at the Manchester Film Coop on Tuesday 11th December, doors open at 7:30pm. Admission : £3 waged, £2 unwaged/student. Location: Kraak Gallery, Stevenson Square, Manchester.   In just 60 minutes this film provides evidence and research explaining what the money system is all about. It tells the story from the viewpoint of the UK economy and asks important questions such as where does money come from? Who creates it? Who decides how it gets used? And what does this mean for the millions of ordinary people who suffer when the monetary  and financial system  breaks down? Further info see

Join the debate…as the ConDem  government  announce more cuts and Labour Councils shed more staff why is it the trade unions have failed to build a movement against the austerity agenda? Greater Manchester Unite the Resistance have organised a meeting to launch their new pamphlet The Trade Unions and the Fight Against Austerity. Maybe it will answer some of the questions about the lack of trade union leadership. It takes place on Tuesday 11 December at 7.30pm at Friends Meeting House, Manchester. Further info see

Boycott…those firms who dodge paying tax and maybe will make even bigger profits at xmas..see 38 Degrees’  guide to spotting tax dodgers when Christmas shopping. See

Find out about…..The war novel in Africa.  Go to the lecture on Monday  10 December 2012 , NATURALISM, HUMANITARIANISM AND THE FICTION OF WAR given by Professor Eleni Coundouriotis (Connecticut) at Manchester Metropolitan University,Geoffrey Manton Theatre 5  Lecture 6.00pm. She argues that this genre,  from the 1960s through the 1990s,  is in fact a people’s history, an attempt to write outside the frame of the Bildungsroman, the genre which dominated the literature of an educated, assimilated class, and imagine history from below.

Listen to…music that suits the cold weather and winter, Vaughan Williams’  Sinfonia Antartica, the Antarctic Symphony. He wrote the music for the film Scott of the Antarctic in 1947 and he was so inspired by the subject that he went on to write a symphony, his seventh. The music reflects the tragedy of Scott’s expedition using vast orchestral forces, including an organ, a wind-machine,  a soprano and a women’s chorus which represent the wordless voices of the Antarctic blizzards. Epic and haunting…

Get Involved…….‘Inspire’ Festival Nicola from What’s On North West is looking to start up a community festival in Glossop: “It will involve many areas such as Arts, Culture, Charities, Green & Environmental Issues, Fair Trade, Local Shops/Traders, Sustainability, Human & Animal Rights, Wellbeing, Protecting Public Services…. Anyone wishing to be involved and offer support, or just wanting more information, please look at Inspire Festival Facebook page.

Avoid shopping…go to Salford Art Gallery and see A Tourist in Your Own City: the paintings of  Nigel Walker. Born in Ordsall , Salford, Nigel’s paintings are colourful, natural, meditative and respectful of people and places.  For three years he toured Manchester and Salford presenting his view and not the usual tourist information view of the cities. His pictures show the diversity of the community; from orthodox Jews to women in Burkhas, to the youth and the poor who disappear from most mainstream pictures of our cities. Looking at the pictures made me feel I was watching a usual scene in Piccadilly Gardens or  Salford Precinct.Nigel says; “I do not copy a scene, I create a canvass.”  Nigel has created a magical mystery tour of our cities and I would highly recommend you to take the trip. See for more details.

And finally…….don’t forget to send me your nominations for the Lipstick Socialist Awards 2012   Mail to lipsticksocialist636@gmail.com