Author Archives: lipstick socialist

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About lipstick socialist

I am an activist and writer. My interests include women, class, culture and history. From an Irish in Britain background I am a republican and socialist. All my life I have been involved in community and trade union politics and I believe it is only through grass roots politics that we will get a better society. This is reflected in my writing, in my book Northern ReSisters Conversations with Radical Women and my involvement in the Mary Quaile Club. .If you want to contact me please use my gmail which is lipsticksocialist636

My review of “Class of ’37 Voices from working-class girlhood” Hester Barron & Claire Langhamer

Posted on January 4, 2022 by lipstick socialist

    The authors of this wonderful book,  which  gives a voice to working class children in 1937, said that “they stumbled across an entry in the online catalogue (of the Mass Observation archive)  entitled ‘Children’s essays; observations in schools’” … Continue reading →

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My review of “Littlewoods Pools Girls” by Joan Boyce

Posted on December 20, 2021 by lipstick socialist

    Every Saturday around 4pm silence would descend on our noisy living room in East Manchester  as Dad took up his Littlewoods Pools coupon and checked it against the football results read out on Grandstand. Every family we knew … Continue reading →

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Enough is Enough: The Tameside Care Workers Dispute 1998-99

Posted on November 28, 2021 by lipstick socialist

  In April 1999 Unison asked the Centre for Public Services to  report on what had gone wrong in the privatisation of Tameside Labour Council’s elderly care services. They summed it up: ““This report shows a catalogue of mismanagement of … Continue reading →

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40th Anniversary of radical Irish community organisation the Irish in Britain Representation Group.

Posted on October 6, 2021 by lipstick socialist

 ON 10th October 1981 the Irish in Britain Representation Group (IBRG) was founded at the New Inn Public House, Newhall,  Burton on Trent in Derbyshire with John Martin as convenor of the meeting. Twenty three people attended. The name IBRG … Continue reading →

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My Review of “A Radical Practice in Liverpool: the rise, fall and rise of Princes Park Health Centre” Katy Gardner Susan Graham -Jones

Posted on August 22, 2021 by lipstick socialist

Cyril Taylor (1921-2001) was a communist and a General Practitioner. He took his politics into his work and this new book celebrates his life and his  influence on  generations of patients, health workers and the way in which health care … Continue reading →

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“You are Your Child’s First Teacher”: the Story of Manchester Parents Centre and Education Shop

Posted on July 14, 2021 by lipstick socialist

“I feel I was born to do the job of Education Social  Worker  at Manchester  Parents Centre. It was an extension of everything I believed in my life. It was about addressing justice, giving back to people some control over … Continue reading →

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My review of “Daring to Hope My Life in the 1970s” Sheila Rowbotham

Posted on July 4, 2021 by lipstick socialist

Sheila  is the country’s foremost socialist feminist thinker  and historian. This is the second part of her autobiography, following on from “ Promise of a Dream”  and takes us through the 1970s – all in 291 pages! We watch as … Continue reading →

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My review of “The White Bird Passes” (1958) Jessie Kesson

Posted on June 29, 2021 by lipstick socialist

On a recent train trip around Scotland I visited Inverness, a pretty little town, but was not aware that one of Scotland’s most famous working class novelists, Jessie Kesson (1916-1994) was born there. At the end of my trip  by … Continue reading →

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My review of “Stranger in a borrowed land: Lotte Moos and her writing” David Perman (2012)

Posted on April 26, 2021 by lipstick socialist

Thank goodness lockdown is easing and once again I can browse the shelves of City Library in Manchester. And this book is the kind of gem that you can only find in public libraries. The name “Moos” stopped me as … Continue reading →

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Jodie Clark: Proud Cork woman and Irish Community Activist

Posted on April 12, 2021 by lipstick socialist

Jodie at the Irish Womens Conference  (second from the left)  Jodie Clark’s involvement in the Irish in Britain Representation Group reflected the way in which the organisation drew in Irish working class people who were prepared to get stuck into … Continue reading →

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