Introduction These blog articles are not based on any in-depth research (although I think it would make a great subject for a thesis!) but on my observations on the way that the Women’s Super League (WSL) has changed in its first decade. Before commencing there is an explanation to be made and an objection to …
Circling the Wagons Before proceeding to the thorniest of topics - comparison of Women’s and Men’s football - I want to take a moment to consider the tendency to ‘circle the wagons’. This is not by any means restricted to Women’s Football! I have been and still am associated with many causes and struggles which …
Notes The case of Liverpool is fascinating and instructive. As mentioned they finished bottom of the WSL in 2011 and 2012 but a large investment by the Men’s Club led to them becoming Champions in 2013, a position they maintained in 2014. Thereafter there was a steady reduction in investment, and consequently results, which culminated …
Continue reading Ten Years of the Blues – Notes and Afterthought
(originally written June 2012) Shostakovich 10 A wonderful performance of Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony by the CBSO under the mesmerising Andris Nelsons. Shostakovich is a site of ideological battle, his music fiercely contested and debated, with every sort of hidden meaning detected which might make it acceptable to anti-communist listeners. At the root of this is …
Kicking against the chauvinists Women’s Football is finally gaining status in Britain reports Joanne Early (from Socialist June 1991*) “WOMEN'S football is purely a novelty. That's how it started and that's how it's going to finish in the near future.” This Stockport County supporter, speaking on World In Action last year, could not have been …
(I wrote this for the October 1989 issue of Nalgo Action ) Birmingham City Council - Model Managers? With Labour leading in the opinion polls it's worth having a good look at how a Kinnock government would treat public services. The ‘new model’ Labour Party's view that its job is to ‘manage’ capitalism is already …
Source Nalgo Action Issue 3 23/10/89 ‘Caring' council closes children's centres Workers, parents and vocal children lobby Islington Council by Jo Thwaites a parent and Nik Barstow With chants of “Margaret Thatcher, Margaret Hodge, what's the difference? Not a lot!” Islington Council's 'caring' leader was given a rough ride by 180 angry parents who lobbied …
The Great Lockdown of 2020 Being forced to stay at home for weeks on end allows the energetic and self-directed to invent new ways of filling their time with productive and satisfying activity. This would be an interesting topic for Marxist thinkers to develops in terms of alienated labour. However, for someone as basically idle …
Sarah Helm's If This is A Woman: Inside Ravensbruck: Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women is the most important and best history book I have read in a long while. It is a gruelling read full of horror and evil, redeemed in part by extraordinary acts of courage, compassion, heroism, solidarity and generosity. But it would be foolish …
This short essay is an attempt to answer the question ‘what can be done to make it easier for people with mental distress to get involved in left-wing politics?’. As such it needs to be stated at the start that the essay is a complete failure; it raises a lot of questions and issues but …
Moving Toyshop 