History

Published by The Clarion, 27 November 2018:

When history tells of mighty kings
Who's working wonders in the wings?
Fighting battles, changing things?
Disaffected Middle-Aged Women!

In 1848 they came
To Seneca Falls to stake their claim
Mature and bolshy, never tame -
Disaffected Middle-aged Women!

Published in The Clarion, issue 11

About sixteen years ago, my local Labour council was making cutsto services, attacking its workers’ pay and conditions, and closing my son’s nursery. I and others campaigned against these cuts. I got into an exchange of letters with the Labour whip in th+e pages of the local newspaper.

Today, this website joins with websites Steve Bloom Poetry, Old and New Project, Links (Australia), International Viewpoint, Ecosocialist Horizons, Lalit (Mauritius)

Janine's speech proposing this motion on the 50th Anniversary of the Abortion Act at RMT Women's Conference 2017.

This resolution was passed unanimously by RMT Women's Conference 2017.

Published in The Clarion, issue 4, January/February 2017.

Minnie Lansbury was a school teacher, suffragette, champion of the victims of war, rebel councillor and socialist martyr.

An entry to Hour of Writes 'So To Bed' theme ...

And so to bed
The diarist said
Or rather, the diarist penned
Deeds fine and sordid
Have been recorded
The day has reached its end

Text of the George Lansbury Memorial Lecture, given on 16 November 2016 at Queen Mary University, London.

A villanelle about the Aberfan coal mining disaster, in which 144 people, including 116 school children, died when a coal mining waste tip collapsed. There was a lot of anger at the National Coal Board for its neglect of safety, and at the inquest, one father insisted, "I want it recorded – "Buried alive by the National Coal Board." That is what I want to see on the record. That is the feeling of those present. Those are the words we want to go on the certificate."

The miner insisted the coroner record
The Pantglas School building a homicide scene
They were buried alive by the National Coal Board