Category Archives: Uncategorized

My review of Malgorzata Mirga-Tas; Romani textile artist and activist exhibition and book

Posted on May 11, 2025 by lipstick socialist

What is your image of a Romani woman? A woman selling the Big Issue? A group of young women wearing brightly coloured long dresses with babies begging on the street? Artist and activist Malgorzata Mirga-Tas in this exhibition at the … 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 , , , , , | Leave a comment

My review of “Reasons to Rebel My Memories of the 1980s” by Sheila Rowbotham

Posted on October 29, 2024 by lipstick socialist

    Reading Sheila Rowbotham’s latest memoir, I feel I am inside  her  head as we spin through the 1980s  on a rollercoaster of emotions, feelings, and activities.   Sheila is a socialist feminist, historian, activist, mother, partner,  lover, comrade, friend… … Continue reading →

Posted in biography, book review, feminism, labour history, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, Women Against Pit Closures, working class history | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

My review of “Mistress of Montmartre A Life of Suzanne Valadon” by June Rose

Posted on October 13, 2024 by lipstick socialist

Suzanne Valadon, (1865-1938) born  Marie-Clémentine Valadon, was unique: as a woman and an artist. She was the illegitimate daughter of a seamstress who earned her living as an acrobat and model.  Her natural talent as an artist was spotted when … Continue reading →

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“It’s to work for this new world that these women have joined the Communist Party.”: the story of Alice Bates (1920-2010).

Posted on September 8, 2024 by lipstick socialist

In 1953 the Communist Party published a booklet called “Five Women tell their story” which told the story of five working class women who joined the party to change the world. But one of them was not new to the … Continue reading →

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My review of “No Going Back” 40 years of the  North Staffordshire Miners’ Wives Action Group.

Posted on August 29, 2024 by lipstick socialist

In May 1993 as part of the Kate Magee Support Group I headed over to Stoke to meet up with the North Staffordshire Miners Wives Action Group. I arrived at Trentham colliery as Bridget Bell, Brenda Proctor and Gina Earle … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Catholicism, Communism, drama, education, films, human rights, Ireland, labour history, Lorenza Mazzetti, North of Ireland, novels, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Leave a comment

My review of “Eleanor Marx” BBC Television Drama 1977

Posted on July 25, 2024 by lipstick socialist

In 1977 the BBC commissioned Andrew Davies to write a three-part drama about the life of Eleanor Marx. Eleanor was the daughter of Karl Marx, philosopher,  political economist (and much more) and lived an intense, hot house life with her … Continue reading →

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My review of “THE WOMEN WHO WOULDN’T WHEESHT. Voices from the frontline of Scotland’s battle for women’s rights.” Edited by Susan Dalgety and Lucy Hunter Blackburn.

Posted on July 20, 2024 by lipstick socialist

Wheesht (Scots) (wi:ft): a plea or demand for silence(exclamation);to silence(a person,etc.) or to be silent (verb)   On 21 March 2015 the Mary Quaile Club (of which I was a co-founder) organised what we called a “real International Women’s Day … Continue reading →

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Joe Mullarkey; archive of an Irish working class activist

Posted on July 13, 2024 by lipstick socialist

Joe Mullarkey,  (1942-2022) co-founder of the Irish in Britain Representation Group and  trade unionist, made an important contribution to the  radical history of working- class  people in this country. Joe  was  Chair of Bolton IBRG as well as national Vice … Continue reading →

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My review of “Sisters and Sisterhood The Kenney Family, Class, and Suffrage, 1890-1965” by Lyndsey Jenkins.

Posted on June 24, 2024 by lipstick socialist

  Just up the road from where I live  there is a statue of Annie Kenney in Oldham town centre. . She stands looking out across the town with a handbell in one hand and a sheaf of papers in … Continue reading →

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“there was a belief, I could do things” .Women in the Irish in Britain Representation Group; genuine grassroots activism.

Posted on May 10, 2024 by lipstick socialist

This is the text of a talk I gave for the Women’s Grassroots Activism Conference. I am  an activist, not an academic. I am Mancunian and  second generation Irish. From 1985-2000 I was a member and a National Officer of … Continue reading →

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