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!
Get this! Hopelessly unthinking about the barbarity and injustice of state executions, we have a “pop-up restaurant” themed as “death row dinners”. Pass the sick bag. May I invite you to my cell to dine? Is this the final meal … Read more
(Swearing appropriate to the tone of the verse) Why the fuck did you nick my bike? What have I ever done to you? Did it cross your mind how much it would upset me? Or that I might not be … Read more
From the TUC handbook, Autism in the Workplace “We know that LAs [local authorities] have had their budgets slashed and are making cuts which are impacting on adults with autism and families living with autism. Families are being told that they will … Read more
On 17 December 2009, the PPP Arbiter published an important document, which may turn out to be a staging post in the collapse of Tube Lines and – following 2007’s similar collapse of Metronet – of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) … Read more
From ‘Solidarity’ newspaper, January 2010: A decision by the PPP Arbiter in December may prove to be a fatal punch to private infrastructure company Tube Lines and the whole ‘Public-Private Partnership’ set-up on London Underground. The New Labour government imposed … Read more
March 2010: Both London Underground and Tube Lines – and, no doubt, many other companies – will tell us that they “have to” cut jobs because of the economic crisis. But a look at London Underground’s history shows that this … Read more
April 2010: In 1998, the recently-elected New Labour government announced a ‘public-private partnership’ for London Underground. Operations would remain in the public sector, but the infrastructure would transfer to private consortia on 30-year leases. The unions fought this proposal for … Read more
I wrote this article for my local anti-cuts campaign newsletter in Hackney in August 2010: We may not have London Underground here in Hackney (except at our very edges!), but the loss of 800 Tube staff posts would still affect … Read more
September 2013 The underground railway (Metro) in Finland’s capital city Helsinki is due to go ‘driverless’ in 2016. I discussed this with Finnish trade unionists Jussi and Satu, and heard a story that has important lessons for London Underground workers … Read more
Since Eighteen Ninety In all of its finery Stood Gibbons the furniture sellers London’s last such attraction With cash-only transaction Until plastic caught up with the fellas They eventually gave in To modernity’s whim With a sign saying ‘We accept … Read more
from the pamphlet Radical Chains: Sexuality and Class Politics, published in 1999. On 30 April 1999, a nail-bomb killed three people and injured dozens more. It exploded in the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street, the heart of gay … Read more
This is the speech I gave to TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference on 28 May 2014. Many of you will have your own experiences of both the freedom provided by public transport and the difficulty using it – be that the … Read more
Click here to read the review of the book in the Camden Review!
from Solidarity 156, 30 July 2009, origianlly posted here Janine Booth’s recently published book “Guilty and Proud Of It!” is a story about how a group of socialist Labour councillors in Poplar, East London, refused to bow to the “norms” … Read more
To the tune of Good King Wenceslas: Boris Johnson once looked out Across the River Tha-ames In one direction poverty The other gold and ge-ems People slept on streets that night Though the frost was cru-el And pensioners in freezing … Read more
Throughout 2013, RMT members fought a struggle for the reinstatement of 33 agency workers who lost their jobs when their agency was (rightly) kicked off the Underground. I wrote this poem in support of that campaign. Eventually some, but not … Read more