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Reposted by Alison Inman

Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

I had my consciousness raised by reading the Women’s Guardian from the late Sixties. Good to see this in yesterday’s @theguardian.com @alisoninman.bsky.social @profpankhurst.bsky.social

Feminism
The Women's Library is
100. Its history tells us to look ahead as well as back
When the Women's Library opened a century ago, the movement it documented appeared triumphant.
Most British women had gained the vote in 1918, and in 1928 suffragist campaigners would ensure that they held it on the same basis as men. The London Society for Women's Service, led by Millicent Fawcett, intended the library to become a home for the suffrage movement's archives. But even as they continued their fight for the vote, they were looking beyond the ballot box to other issues. The library was to hold material relating to women's work, too.
This year's centenary is an opportunity to celebrate the institution's unique holdings. It is also a reminder of a pivotal moment in women's political history, as a new commemorative display at the London School of Economics (LSE), where the library is housed, shows. Among the organisations it features is the Six Point group headed by a former suffragette, Lady Rhondda. Equal pay for female teachers and equality in the civil service were two of its initial "six points" or aims. Such battles would continue long after the fight for equal suffrage had been won.
The library has since acquired much more material related to employment, including the archives of Helena Normanton, one of the first women to qualify as a barrister, and the Women's Liberation Movement activists who fought for the equal pay and sex discrimination acts. But its collections encompass a huge range of other themes. It holds papers from the writer Barbara Cartland, the former Guardian

women's editor Mary Stott, and the social reformer Eglantyne Jebb, who founded Save the Children.
The centenary exhibition and zine showcase original artwork from Sheba press. In 1984 this small publisher was behind a groundbreaking anthology of poems by black British women, including Jackie Kay and Grace Nichols, and the first UK edition of work by the American writer Audre Lorde. The curators also highlight campaigns fought on behalf of children, and the work of peace activists and internationalist feminists who opposed imperialism and championed women's rights around the world.
Centenaries are celebrations, but it is sobering that such an important resource has had to battle to survive. The library's Westminster premises were bombed in 1940, and it moved for a time to Oxford. Back in London, the historian Jill Liddington described a visit in 1976 as "tiptoeing into a forgotten feminist world of dowdiness and neglect". As recently as 2012 it ran out of money, and was forced to quit a purpose-built, lottery-funded space in the East End after just 10 years. The LSE came to the rescue, and while the library - unlike the exhibition - is not open to the public on a walk-in basis, anyone doing research can request access to its precious boxes of letters, diaries, objects, pamphlets, posters, committee minutes and documents.
The library's 100th birthday is a fine opportunity to remember the decade of its birth and its founders, who are less celebrated than the militant suffragettes known for their spectacular direct action campaign (Fawcett did not get her statue in London until 88 years after Emmeline Pankhurst).
But it is also a reminder to face the future as they did. At a time when the rights and freedoms of women are under attack in many countries, the Women's Library remains a symbol of struggle as well as strength.

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Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Hmm, I’m old enough to remember when this council house was the poster child for the 2016 Housing and Planning Act. @martinhwheatley.bsky.social @tomemurtha.bsky.social @simplicitly.bsky.social @alisoninman.bsky.social @cihhousing.bsky.social @lucyferman.bsky.social @stevehilditch.bsky.social

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Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

The legislation passed all its stages in Commons and Lords in one calendar month in 1915. It remained on the Statute book until 1989! Led to decline if private rent and expansion of council housing commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

Rent control and WWI
Rent control in the UK was first prompted by housing shortages during WWl. The Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (War Restrictions) Act 1915 introduced rent control whereby rents were restricted to their August 1914 level. The Act was designed to prevent landlords from profiteering during the war years when demand for housing exceeded supply.
Though originally intended as a temporary measure, rent controls continued to apply to certain dwellings until January 1989.

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Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Six social rent bungalows with adaptions for disabled people on a patch of tarmac. Who could object to that? Well apparently it has been “the centre of the community for generations.” And the Green Party don’t like it either. www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

manchestereveningnews.co.uk

It's far more than a patch of Tarmac, but soon it will be gone forever

Kids have played here ‘for generations’

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Liz Truss says UK will fail unless British media outlets are ‘fixed’ Not sure that she is totally well and certainly not well-advised. Increasingly odd pronouncements but I particularly enjoy the ‘save free speech as long as I agree with it’ vibe. Bewildering.

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Really haven’t got my head around this place yet. But here’s Essex in the freezing sun yesterday afternoon. Have a good day.

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Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Some of us were making that very point at the time #CapitalEconomics described the Treasury position as #FiscalMyopia @alisoninman.bsky.social @martinhwheatley.bsky.social @simplicitly.bsky.social @tomemurtha.bsky.social @stevehilditch.bsky.social www.almos.org.uk/wp-content/u...

SHOUT
SOCIAL HOUSING UNDER THREAT
• National Federation of ALMOs

Championing better homes and communities
BUILDING
NEW SOCIAL
RENT HOMES
AN ECONOMIC APPRAISAL
Evaluating the economic case for building 100,000 new social rent homes each year

A report by Capital Economics for SHOUT and the National Federation of ALMOs | June 2015
Justin Chaloner
Alexandra Dreisin
Mark Pragnell

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Why is this in my local paper?

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

So deeply dispiriting that over in the other place poor Gregg is being oppressed by the wokerati.

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

All I can say is thank god for women of a certain age #proudtobeone #proudtoknowthem

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Hey @timmorton2.bsky.social do you listen to ‘the rest is entertainment’? Codeword: Bookshelves

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Blimey, I used to make Christmas cakes, puddings,mincemeat then mince pies all on the same day. Just made Christmas puddings and I’m bloody knackered. One of the unexpected manifestations of ageing…

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WayneJ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇩🇪🇪🇺 @glandwrwj.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Both in the news today for differing reasons. Michael Sheen who remortgaged his house to fund the Homeless World Cup, Jeremy Clarkson who bought a farm to evade tax.

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

I rang someone today. Out of the blue. Without an appointment, or messaging beforehand. Think I got away with it.

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𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖 𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕝 @sundaedivine.lol · 19/11/2024

I’m trying to re-home a small poodle that barks a LOT. If interested let me know and I'II hop over my neighbor's fence and get it for you.

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Martin Wheatley @martinhwheatley.bsky.social · 06/11/2024

Another normal day at the Telegraph, the National Trust is communist and has declared war on its members because, wait, its membership voted to support a slightly changed policy on contents of its catering.

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 06/11/2024

A wise man once said that all we can do is sweep our corner of the room, keep it as clean as we can. Sounds a decent strategy for now.

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 06/11/2024

Thought I’d give it a bit of a go over here. Turned all news notifications off on my phone etc, guessing there’s no need to go looking for trouble…

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Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 07/09/2024

"Many of the results of Gavron’s policies for London are to be found in the streets, playgrounds and arts venues of the city. One is particularly tangible: the circular Overground line, which she called “Orbirail”. What a wonderful woman @alisoninman.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

theguardian.com

Nicky Gavron obituary

First deputy mayor of London whose concern for environmental issues shaped many aspects of the capital’s development

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 16/08/2024

Am so disconnected from popular culture that I can no longer distinguish Masterchef from the celebrity version

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 15/08/2024

So. Bit sad about having to start again over here. I loved early Twitter, made so many good friends, learned loads,laughed a lot. More innocent times.

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Alison Inman @alisoninman.bsky.social · 17/01/2024

Am declaring a marmalade emergency. My gorgeous, gem-coloured mixture failed to set. Pectin ordered, reboil booked for Saturday 😳

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Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 17/01/2024

I'm going to be facilitating these events in Sheffield, London and Chester. Fancy joining us, or perhaps just reblooting? Thanks Book via www.traffordhall.com @alisoninman.bsky.social @tomemurtha.bsky.social

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Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 16/01/2024

"Both scandals exploded into public consciousness unexpectedly, triggering sudden and startlingly effusive declarations of contrition from politicians and officials who, just days earlier, had exhibited zero interest in either matter." Thank you #AmeliaGentleman www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

Post Office victims are promised justice. But as Windrush families know, you can’t trust these pol...

Lives destroyed, injustices ignored: parallels between the two scandals are stark, says the Guardian reporter Amelia Gentleman

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