Category Archives: human rights

Letter from Another America……

Posted on August 31, 2017 by lipstick socialist

  Jane Latour is a freelance writer and author of Sisters in the Brotherhoods Working Women Organizing for Equality in New York City. I asked her to give an activist’s view, both personal and political, on the impact of the … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, education, human rights, labour history, political women, Socialism, trade unions, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

My review of Lovers & Strangers An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain Clair Wills

Posted on August 27, 2017 by lipstick socialist

      Clair Wills has written a fascinating and insightful book  about the role of immigrants in Britain between 1940s and 1960s. Popular history and culture frames post war migration  around the images of the West Indian community and … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, education, feminism, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, NHS, North of Ireland, political women, trade unions, Uncategorized, women | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

My review of “Why We March: Signs of Protest and Hope”.

Posted on August 6, 2017 by lipstick socialist

    On 21 January 2017 several hundred women (and  some men) gathered in Albert Square in Manchester in support of women’s rights,  and in solidarity with similar events taking place in Washington DC on Trump’s first full day as … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, Manchester, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

My review of Milosz: A Biography by Andrzej Franaszek. (Edited and Translated by Aleksandra Parker Michael Parker)

Posted on August 2, 2017 by lipstick socialist

  Andrzej Franaszek’s biography of  the great Polish poet Czeslaw  Milosz is more than the story of one man’s life: it is a compelling history of Eastern Europe in the  twentieth century.  Milosz was born in 1911 in Lithuania but … Continue reading →

Posted in biography, book review, Catholicism, Communism, human rights, labour history, poetry, trade unions, Uncategorized, working class history | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Political Women: Sandy Rose, Socialist, Feminist, Trade Unionist

Posted on July 2, 2017 by lipstick socialist

  In this occasional series I ask the question; why do some women become political activists?  Sandy Rose was part of the post war generation that lived at a time of great hope, this is her story……….. “I was born … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, biography, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, Manchester, NHS, political women, Salford, Socialism, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

My review of “Struggle or Starve, Working Class Unity in Belfast’s 1932 Outdoor Relief Riots” by Sean Mitchell

Posted on May 31, 2017 by lipstick socialist

“Struggle or Starve” could be an epithet for  UK in 2017  as the government pursues its policy of persecuting the poor. In this new book Sean Mitchell, socialist and founder of Ireland’s People before Profit Party,   reminds us  of an … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, Communism, human rights, Ireland, labour history, North of Ireland, Uncategorized, working class history | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Remembering Eddie Frow: Communist, Trade Union Activist, Historian…

Posted on May 14, 2017 by lipstick socialist

Today it is twenty years since Eddie Frow died.  In his long life Eddie embodied the way in which Communism shaped the life of a man who was an activist in his trade union, a historian, a writer, a rambler, … Continue reading →

Posted in Communism, education, human rights, labour history, Manchester, political women, Socialism, trade unions, Uncategorized, working class history, young people | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Political Women; Lisa Turnbull: Single Mum, Durham Teaching Assistant, campaigner

Posted on April 26, 2017 by lipstick socialist

Lisa Turnbull did not want to be a political campaigner but in 2015  her employer Labour-controlled Durham County Council told her and  2,700 of her fellow  Teaching Assistants  that their highly skilled work  would be downgraded  and  their  pay  cut … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , | 2 Comments

From factory workers to care workers…

Posted on April 13, 2017 by lipstick socialist

I wrote this article in 2014 and very little has changed for the poor women of east Manchester; whether elderly or working in the care sector. My mother is Irish but all the women I interviewed for this article were … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, feminism, human rights, Ireland, labour history, Manchester, Socialism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Book review; Bob Crow Socialist, Leader, Fighter by Gregor Gall

Posted on March 12, 2017 by lipstick socialist

Bob Crow grew up on a council estate in the East End of London: his father was a docker and his mother was  a cleaner. He left school at 16 without any qualifications with dreams of becoming a professional footballer, … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, biography, book review, Communism, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, Socialism, trade unions, Uncategorized, working class history | Tagged , , | 4 Comments