Category Archives: working class history

Fiery Women: my review of The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia by Mary M Talbot and Bryan Talbot and Petroleuse by Steph Pike

Posted on June 9, 2016 by lipstick socialist

In 2016 we need our heroes and in these new  books there is much to remind us that another, fairer world is possible.  Mary M. and Brian Talbot’s graphic novel, The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia,  is about … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, education, feminism, human rights, Ireland, labour history, Manchester, music, North of Ireland, novels, poetry, political women, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Read my weekly roundup of radical arts and politics..Measure of a Man,Manchester Histories Festival, Reveal in Bolton and Manchester music.

Posted on June 5, 2016 by lipstick socialist

Watch The Measure of a Man or the French title The Law of the Market (Home)– another stunning film from France digging deep into the realities of life for the unemployed. Thierry, played by the wonderful Vincent Lindon, is 51, … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, drama, education, feminism, films, human rights, labour history, Manchester, music, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Read my weekly roundup of radical arts and politics.. Mustang, Dare to be Free,Tom Paine and Will and Anne

Posted on May 29, 2016 by lipstick socialist

  Watch Mustang, a Turkish film that mirrors the deepening crisis of  democracy in that country and its effect on the lives of girls and young women. Five sisters live with their grandmother and, because of one innocent incident at … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, drama, feminism, films, human rights, labour history, Manchester, Middle East, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Read my weekly roundup of radical arts and politics… The Class, The Stars are made of Concrete,Spain in our Hearts

Posted on May 15, 2016 by lipstick socialist

Watch The Class ( Film 4 on 19 May)  another brilliant French film which reflects on the changing nature of French society, and the  impact of new communities from ex-colonies in Africa. Based on a book written by a French … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, Communism, drama, education, films, human rights, labour history, Manchester, Uncategorized, working class history, young people | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Read my weekly roundup of radical arts and politics..Johnny Guitar,Dare to be Free, People before Profit and John McGahern

Posted on May 8, 2016 by lipstick socialist

Watch Johnny Guitar (Home). A classic film, looks like a western but isn’t. Made in 1954 by Nicholas Ray it reflects on US society at that time, McCarthyism and the witchhunt of radicals in society. Joan Crawford, 49, plays Vienna, … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, Catholicism, drama, feminism, films, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, novels, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, women, working class history | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Celebrating women of the Easter Rising; my review of We Were There 77 Women of the Easter Rising

Posted on April 25, 2016 by lipstick socialist

Today is the actual day of the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising in Dublin when revolutionaries tried to kick the British government out of Ireland. Not an anniversary that the Irish government really wants to celebrate properly; it might … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, feminism, human rights, Ireland, Irish second generation, labour history, Manchester, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, working class history | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Stop,Look,Listen…my weekly selection of favourite films, books and events to get you out of the house

Posted on April 10, 2016 by lipstick socialist

      Watch Ladies who Do (free on this link ) a fascinating comedy set in London in 1963 about women cleaners from the east end of London who use their inside knowledge to play the stock market, well, … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, drama, education, films, human rights, labour history, Manchester, May Day, political women, Socialism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Stop,Look,Listen…my weekly selection of favourite films, books and events to get you out of the house

Posted on April 3, 2016 by lipstick socialist

Watch Marguerite (Home), a classy French film set in the 1920s about a rich woman who really wants to be an opera singer, even though she cannot sing. All is well while she entertains her friends at private concerts and … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, films, human rights, labour history, Salford, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Book review; Gone to Ground by Marie Jalowicz Simon

Posted on March 31, 2016 by lipstick socialist

Marie Jalowicz Simon was 11 years old when the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. By 1939 a whole system of laws were enacted in order to exclude Jewish people from everyday life; stopping them from  going  to … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Communism, human rights, political women, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Stop,Look,Listen…my weekly selection of favourite films, books and events to get you out of the house

Posted on March 27, 2016 by lipstick socialist

Watch The Pearl Button (Home)….another brilliant documentary by Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzman, once more looking at the brutal history of his country; this time in Chilean Patagonia. At one time the nomadic Kaweskar (or “Water People”) paddled up and down … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, biography, book review, Communism, feminism, films, labour history, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment