Disabled people: Labour manifesto offers little
Labour’s general election manifesto offers little more than vague mentions to disabled people, and drops many of the party’s specific pledges.
Writing: Articles
War, Occupation and Mental Health
A personal view published in Asylum magazine, Summer 2024.
Dirty: Abuse, trauma, failure and hope
In Dirty, Holly Bars has created an extraordinary, mighty, courageous, poetic record of child sexual abuse and of the ways in which survivors are traumatised and failed.
Mental Health Care Failings
These reports were included in radical mental health magazine Asylum, Spring 2024
Court Win on Right to Strike
The UK Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday 17 April that UK law allowing employers to discipline (but not sack) workers for striking is in conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
LGBT+ Educators hold largest-ever union conference
Report from National Education Union LGBT+ Educators Conference by Janine Booth, delegate Published in Solidarity 698 Last weekend (2-4 February), 350 lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and other non-straight education workers gathered in Birmingham for the National Education Union’s largest ever … Read more
Work and menopause
Menopause at work hit the headlines on 22 February as the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued new guidance on the issue. However, the guidance only affirmed what the law has been for the last fourteen years, and the fact that news coverage trumpeted it as a breakthrough can only mean that employers have not been following the law.
Tourette’s, neurodiversity and class: the case of Madame Dampierre
In 1825, Paris physician Jean Marc Gaspard Itard assessed a French noblewoman in her twenties who, from the age of seven, had ‘ticked and blasphemed‘. She was one of ten people with similar symptoms described in an article by Itard. … Read more
Is a neurodivergent worker considered disabled under UK law?
The law judges this on a case-by-case basis. The 2010 Equality Act states that an individual is disabled under the law if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial, long-term, adverse effect on their ability to … Read more
Neurodiversity: a core bargaining issue
There is an excellent article in November 2022’s Labour Research – ‘Neurodiversity: a core bargaining issue’. I’m pleased to say that I am extensively quoted! If you would like to read the full text, ask your trade union if it … Read more
Poplar: the Borough that Fought Back and Won
… and why it matters today By Janine Booth, published in RMT News. The two biggest employers in the east London borough of Poplar one hundred years were the railways and the docks. Our forerunner unions had plenty of members … Read more
For Fox Sake, Stop Hunting! (from the archives)
A recently-unearthed article by eighteen-year-old Janine, from Jamming! issue 26 (February 1985), back in the days when fox hunting was still legal. *** Fox-hunting is part of a die-hard British tradition. As the art of sabotage becomes more cunning, the … Read more
Night Tube Needs Better Staffing
Published in Solidarity 610, 20 October 2021. The Night Tube in London will resume on two lines from 27 November, in a move promoted as ensuring safety for women. However, the reality is more complex, and women’s safety … Read more
CMS: Money Before Women’s Safety
Published in Women’s Fightback 26, Autumn/Winter 2021 In May 2017, Emma Day was stabbed to death by her ex Mark Morris, father of one of the two kids she had just dropped off at school. Morris had repeatedly threatened to … Read more
Why Does Work Not Work for Autistic People?
Assignment written for the Postgraduate Certificate in Autism and Asperger Syndrome, Sheffield Hallam University. WHY DOES WORK NOT WORK FOR US? How and why is employment hostile to autistic people? How useful are the main autism theories in explaining … Read more
Poplar arrests centenary: lessons for today
Today (1 September 2021) is the centenary of the first arrests of Poplar’s rebel councillors. More about this auspicious occasion and its relevance today in my article on Labour Hub.
Women footballers escaping the Taliban
Published in Women’s Fightback 26, Autumn/Winter 2021 Kelly Lindsey, former head coach of the Afghanistan women’s football team – and before that, US international player – spoke to supporters before Lewes FC women’s home friendly against West Ham … Read more
RMT Members Help Win Justice for Osime
Published in RMT News, July/August 2021 RMT members have helped to win justice for Osime Brown, a young, black, autistic, learning-disabled man. The union saw this as an issue that deserved our support and solidarity. Janine Booth, Secretary of RMT’s Disabled Members’ … Read more
Dinah Murray RIP
This is the obituary of Dinah that I wrote for Solidarity Workers’ Liberty is saddened to learn of the death of Dr Dinah Murray. Dinah spoke alongside me at two of our Ideas for Freedom summer schools and at an … Read more
The Reason I Fight
Janine Booth reviews ‘The Reason I Jump’ I don’t watch many documentaries about autism, and on the rare occasion when I sit down to watch one, I am overwhelmed with a sense of dread. So much rubbish is said on … Read more