Tony Benn, the longest serving Labour MP in history, is also, arguably, the most popular UK politician of all time. Across the globe and in particular over the last five years his brand of socialism has struck a cord with people of all ages and social backgrounds. For the first time ever through intimate, quasi […]
Posts under ‘Film’
Pride trailer: lesbians and gays support the miners
Sep 1st, 2014 by Newsdesk.Pride is inspired by an extraordinary true story. It’s the summer of 1984, Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers is on strike, prompting a London-based group of gay and lesbian activists to raise money to support the strikers’ families. Initially rebuffed by the union, the group identifies a tiny mining […]
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Tony Benn – the spin doctor
Mar 14th, 2014 by Newsdesk.Tony Benn has been described as the Peter Mandelson of the 1950s. That is probably going too far, but a spin doctor he was, keen to enable the Labour Party to make the best possible use of the modern communications technology – the TV. This is a party political broadcast from September 1959. Note the […]
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American dream or American nightmare?
Dec 30th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Best Xmas movie ever or Communist propaganda? A thank you to 21CenturyManifesto for reminding us that It’s a Beautiful Life starring Jimmy Stewart and Lionel Barrymore, now Britain’s favourite Christmas movie according to a poll for the Radio Times, was regarded as Communist propaganda by the FBI at the time. In a reverse of the Christmas […]
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Tony Benn the movie – A sneak preview of ‘Will and Testament’
Nov 19th, 2013 by Newsdesk.This a sneak preview of the feature documentary, Will and Testament which the film-makers say will be coming to cinemas in late Spring 2014, and a very good trailer in its own right it is too. Tony Benn who is 88, is the longest serving Labour MP in history, and also, arguably, the most popular UK […]
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The coup they televised: Venezuela, Chavez and a cinematic masterpiece
Nov 14th, 2013 by Matt Willgress.An exciting new radical film festival Seeing Red: a festival of subversive cinema takes place this weekend and the organisers are to be congratulated on choosing to show the ground breaking docu-film about the temporarily successful 2002 coup against the left-wing government in Venezuela, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. This unique film came about as a […]
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The Sunday Times Rich List – the antidote
Apr 26th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.The best antidote I have seen to the annual Sunday Times Rich List! A beautiful film illustration of the realities of wealth inequality. And in order to eliminate inequality, we don’t have to change the distribution to what most people regard as the ideal. We only have to change it to what people think it […]
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Ding dong the witch is dead – Tories seek to crush power of free market
Apr 12th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Whatever you think of the good taste of celebratory Thatcher death partying, it is an interesting spectator sport watching the Tories tie themselves up in knots over a chart-topping Wizard of Oz song and whether the BBC should permit the “free market” in music downloads to determine what it plays (admission: I’ve downloaded two versions […]
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Now’s no time to ditch Labour
Apr 4th, 2013 by Conrad Landin.“Responsible capitalism.” It’s a phrase that rolls off the tongue with great ease nowadays. Claimed by Ed Miliband as he attacked “predator” energy companies, media groups and banks, it was seen as a huge Labour success when the term spread across the political spectrum. At least Labour is no longer “intensely relaxed” about people getting […]
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Exploitation, solidarity – and a tale of two films
Mar 17th, 2013 by Conrad Landin.Seeing two films dealing with exploitation in the developing world made me think of the trajectory of British documentary maker Nick Broomfield. His first film –Who Cares? – focused on the slum clearances. We never see Broomfield’s face in the feature – back then he used cinéma vérité – interspersing the comments and narratives of […]
