Marxist. Trade Unionist. Socialist-feminist. Author. Poet. Speaker. Tutor. RMT ex-Exec. Workers' Liberty. Autie. Bi. PUFC fan.
Stuff about the city where I (used to) live and (still occasionally) work!
Badly kept, back swept Cracks crept along the paving and the window panes Split plastic seats hung from rusted chains in the playground we found next to the car park with the gate on its hinges where tyres were punctured … Read more
Isn’t this a heartland too? We have poundshops, pawnshops, boarded-up shops and industries replaced by social services We too have schools with leaking roofs and youth in gigs and gangs and anguish Isn’t this a heartland too? We have hearts … Read more
A villanelle about the deaths of workers at the Crossrail Bond Street site. Don’t go down to level five A killer’s prowling in the deep Stay away and stay alive Worker bees construct a hive of industry, where toxins seep … Read more
Venue: New Cross Learning, 283-285 New Cross Rd, New Cross, London SE14 6AS Janine will be giving an illustrated talk about Minnie Lansbury. Copies of her biography of Minnie will be on sale at the reduced price of £10 per copy.
In the latest East London History Society newsletter, Rosemary Tayor has written a very postive review of ‘Minnie Lansbury: suffragette, socialist, rebel councillor’. She writes: This book is a long overdue acknowledgement of the crucial role played by a woman, once revered in … Read more
Edward lived in Hoxton boxed in Stitching boots digging roots Labouring his load on the neighbouring road to new arrivals migrated for survival from Poland, from Russia to the holy crush of London Under the same sky came together, made … Read more
While workers were angry and willing to fight, too often their anger was aimed at fellow workers of a different colour rather than at the employers and authorities responsible for their exploitation and poverty. Sometimes this occurred in the absence … Read more
This site was a nursery next to the municipal mortuary Council care from the cradle to the grave with alphabets and sing-alongs and rhymes Once upon a time Then they closed it. Next it became a unit where the students … Read more
Lansbury’s parents were impoverished Jews from Poland, then part of the Russian Empire, and had fled to the East End of London to escape antisemitic pogroms and persecution. Some in the labour movement welcomed the Jewish refugees, but others … Read more
In July, I spoke at an event organised by Islington Labour Party women’s forum, called ‘Keeping women and girls safe in Islington’. There were various speakers from community organisations, the council and the police, plus workshops on domestic abuse, sexual … Read more
Those who fought it or those who caused it? Those who saved sixty-five or those who cost seventy-two? Those who did not know the tower was clad in torchwood or those who chose that cladding because it was cheaper? Those … Read more
published in The Clarion issue 17 POETIC JUSTICE? by Janine Booth A wise person once said that when there is a tragedy, a lot of poetry is written. The Grenfell Tower fire is no exception, as the new anthology, ‘Poems … Read more
Filmed on location at Grenfell Tower by Adrianne McKenzie.
Janine speaks at a fringe meeting at the National Education Union (NEU) conference. All welcome, whether you are attending the conference or not. Venue: The Victory, 6 Duke Street, Brighton, BN1 1AH Details and map here.
Disaffected youth have long been the folk devils of society: feral, angry and disobedient; and simultaneously neglected, mistreated and alienated. The conservative establishment fears their rebelliousness crashing into its comfortable political world. But is there another demographic which that same … Read more
Ever wondered what Squeeze’s Up The Junction might look like from the woman’s point of view? I never knew it was Gordon The guy who came from Morden His face was cute and handsome So that’s when we began some … Read more
North London supporters of The Clarion magazine are hosting a meeting with RMT and Hackney Labour activist Janine Booth, author of Guilty and Proud of it! Poplar’s Rebel Councillors and Guardians 1919-1925 (Merlin Press, 2009) Janine’s book, with a foreword … Read more
A public meeting/discussion, organised by Lewisham Workers’ Liberty Minnie Lansbury was only 32 when she died in 1922, but she had a full and inspiring life. The daughter of Jewish immigrants, she was one of the Poplar Labour councillors who … Read more