20 October
'I put my feet up on the desk and start reading. If I get an erection, we prosecute.'
Mervyn Griffiths was the prosecuting counsel in the 1960 trial of Penguin Books under the Obscene Publications Act for publishing the unexpurgated version of D H Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The trial began on 20 October with Griffiths’ opening speech, in which he famously asked the jury:
‘Would you approve your young sons, young daughters – because girls can read as well as boys – reading this book? Is it a book you would have lying around in your own house? Is it a book you would wish even your wife or your servants to read?’
See also 2 November: The jury’s verdict
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Lyn Caballero describes her experiences as a migrant domestic worker and explains why domestic workers are campaigning for immigration policy change
Political blackness and Palestinian solidarity
The question of Palestine has become a black political litmus test, argues Annie Olaloku-Teriba, defining the very nature of black identity and politics
After the virus: no return to the old economy
As the Covid recession hits, Adam Peggs lays out alternative economic proposals the Labour left should be demanding
In and against, and outside, the party
Following major defeats, the left on both sides of the Atlantic must urgently get stuck into community organising, movement building and political education, argues Joe Guinan
A tribute to Mike Cooley
Co-creator of the Lucas Plan, Mike showed how the immense talent of workers could be deployed for social use rather than private profit, writes Phil Asquith
Build small, think big
Phillip O’Sullivan looks at the role of community energy groups in disrupting the energy status quo
