Spokesman Books

 Comrades in Conscience An evening commemorating the courage of Britain's First World War conscientious objectors through drama, song, and talks. [Click to enlarge promotional images] Tickets available from Conway Hall's event page at: http://conwayhall.org.uk/event/comrades-in-conscience  

A new UN report mentions our colleague Dexter Whitfield, from his 2010 work Global Auction of Public Assets . The report, entitled Public-Private Partnerships and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Fit for purpose? , references Dexter on page 1: 'Whitfield (2010) provided a survey of PPPs around the world, showing how the model has been adapted to the economic, political and legal environments of different countries in Europe, North America, Australia, Russia, China, India and Brazil. It also examined the growing secondary market in PPP investments, “buying and selling schools and hospitals like commodities in a global supermarket” (p. 183) as well as the increasing number of PPP failures, usually as a result of investors’ “miscalculations; states pick up the tab when they walk away”. It found cases of deceptive techniques of assessing value for money (VfM) and manipulations of risk transfer so that PPPs appear to out-perform traditional public provision...

ZABELLIANA Life & Art of the Magnificent Polymath  ZABELLE BOYAJIAN Painter, Poet, Playwright, Translator, Multi-Linguist (b. 1872, Diyarbakir, d.1957, London) Speaker: Khatchatur I. Pilikian Joint public meeting, Wednesday 6th April 2016: 7.30pm-9.00pm Talk and slide show  Free to attend (retiring collection) Marx Memorial Library 37a Clerkenwell Green London EC1 _______________ Residing in London in early 1900, Zabelle studied at Slade School of Fine Art. She becmae the author of the first play in the English language, Gilgamesh, a Dream of the Eternal Quest , published in 1924, based on the Sumerian epic poem, Gilgamesh , of the second millennium BC. Zabelle's mother, Catherine, was a kinswoman of the poet Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), and of the Egyptologist Samuel Sharp (1794-1881). Zabelle's father was Thomas Boyajian, the British Vice Consul in Turkey (victim of the Hamidian genocidal massacres of 1894-1896). After the world was engu...

During 2016, the debate about Trident has great salience as the British government seeks parliamentary approval for its intention to build four new 'Successor' submarines to replace the ageing and increasingly decrepit Vanguard Class (see Substandard , Spokesman 129 ). This is a hugely expensive and technically challenging programme, vulnerable to cost overruns in a similar way to the programme to build the smaller Astute attack submarines at Barrow-in-Furness in northern England. Have such lessons about costs really been learned? Contents Editorial Vintage Trident - Ton y Simpson Force for good? - Cdr Robert Green Downwinders and other Casualties - Lawrence S. Wittner New Cold War? - Johnathan Steele China, Bri tain and Labour - Jenny C legg Labour Movement - Jeremy Corbyn MP 'So far as ma y be lawful' - Len McCluskey Architect or Bee? - Frances O'Grad y Suffragette - Jo Vellacott 'Economy' no more? ...

We reblog this open letter from TFF Associates and Themes Blog. Prefatory Note   What follows here is An Open Letter to the American People: Political Responsibility in the Nuclear Age . It was jointly written by Richard Falk in collaboration with David Krieger and Robert Laney. The three of us have been long connected with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, NAPF. The NAPF focuses its effort on the menace posed by nuclear weaponry and the urgency of seeking nuclear disarmament. The nuclear agreement with Iran and the North Korean nuclear test explosion are reminders of the gravity of the issue, and should serve as warnings against the persistence of complacency, which seems to be the prevailing political mood judging from the policy debates that have taken place during the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign.  This complacency is encouraged by the media that seems to have forgotten about nuclear dangers since the end of the Cold War, except for thos...

What better way to start the new year than to revisit an old battle? As part of the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Wapping dispute a public meeting will be taking place on Thursday 14 January at the Tower Hamlets Local History Library (see PDF ). If you arrive early you will be able to take a look around the exhibition about the dispute which is currently on display at the library. In 2011, Spokesman Books published Bad News: The Wapping Dispute by John Lang and Graham Dodkins with a foreword by Tony Benn.  The book details the industrial dispute by some 5,000 workers sacked by four of Britain's national newspapers, The Sun , News of the World , The Times and The Sunday Times , all of which were owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International Limited.  More information about the title can be found on our website .

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum is set to host a free conference on the theme of the changing narratives around seeking asylum. The conference will take place at the Forum on Friday 8th January 2016, from 9.45am to 5pm, situated at: The Sycamore Centre 33a Hungerhill Road Nottingham  NG3 4NB Keynote speakers attending are Aidan White (Director of Ethical Journalism Network) and Dr. Helen O'Nions (Nottingham Law School, NTU). Tickets are free but limited. Those wishing to participate should register their interest at registration@nottsrefugeeforum.org.uk Further information on the event can be accessed on the Forum's website here . They can also be found on Facebook here .