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The promise of Jocelyn Simms
If you’re in the book trade, you receive a lot of books for review, but there are certain names that, like those first signs of approaching summer, bring a sparkle of anticipation. I was looking forward to The Promise of Thaw by Jocelyn Simms, and the promise was fulfilled. The back-jacket reviewers are Elaine Briggs,…
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The beginning of a lifetime’s work?
A guest post by Philippa Tudor I first encountered Holst’s music through singing his beautiful 8-part Ave Maria as a teenager, and knew that he had taught at James Allen’s Girls’ School in Dulwich – where I live – but I never got round to discovering more until 2012, when I ordered a secondhand copy…
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Is party politics beyond redemption?
When even the best Labour councillors are hamstrung by a dysfunctional Party and Yellow is yet another shade of Blue — then you find Greens are not necessarily good for you… I joined a proudly socialist CLP in 2016, when we all saw the Party moving to the left. I was Vice-Chair in the 2017…
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Ithaka: the disaster that slipped past you
I watched Ithaka last night. I hardly ever watch telly, and like many people these days, when I watch a film, I’m generally doing at least two other things at the same time. Himself watched it too. We sat side-by-side, and watched in silence, and in the two interruptions for adverts (it was on ITV)…
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It’s worse than oppressive – it’s embarrassing!
Who on earth are we going to vote for? The Conservative Party is now so far down the rabbit hole that the leader of the Labour Party has decided to take over as a new incarnation of the Tories. Unfortunately, team Starmer are behaving more like the new Tories that everyone hates than the mythical…
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The biggest lie of all
Like many former Labour Party people, I went to see The Big Lie last weekend. It had already had two public showings in my town, and this was the third. I didn’t go to the first one because – well, I was a CLP officer when all this happened. I knew all too well what…
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It’s not party time yet
I had mixed feelings at the thought of going to hear Jeremy Corbyn speak during the May weekend. I was a committed, unconflicted Labour Party officer in 2017 and was delighted to be working for the election of a Labour Party that intended to answer to the nation’s most urgent needs. We were battling to…
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I hereby swear allegiance…
This is not a game. Do not do it, do not, DO NOT do it. It’s tricky stuff, allegiance. There are people who have allies, people who have friends and people who have comrades. Allegiance is the very worst of these. That bastard child of identity politics has brought “allyship” into politics where we used…
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Full on no-holds barred rant: THIS IS AN EMERGENCY
I didn’t think I had much shockability left at the way our current shameful crop of politicians have not just let our NHS slip away, but colluded in every stage of the ‘slash, trash and privatize’ project. As someone said last night, “we need to stop talking about how to save the NHS and start…
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The little-known story of being an immigrant
There aren’t many issues you don’t need to cover at a women’s conference. Most people know that women make up over half the population of our world, but surprisingly few realize the significance of being a woman trying to get along in a world designed by and for men. Few people realize how sex impacts…
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It shouldn’t take courage to say so
Juemin Xu and Louise Irvine are standing for the Labour Women’s Committee this year. They are supported by the Labour Women’s Declaration, because their manifesto includes standing up for women’s right to speak about women’s legal rights. Go back a few years and say that, and I simply would not have believed you. Nevertheless here…
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Kay Green 