Chris Downs

"The Man with the Plan" is a new film from @sandsfilms.bsky.social about the radical Beveridge plan featuring Simon Callow as William Beveridge. There are screenings, workshops, Q&As across the UK from September 2026. If you want one where there isn't one planned yet, this is what to do ⏬️

Could centuries of secrecy about who owns our land soon end? A new government consultation proposes revealing who owns up to 95% of England and Wales. To stop this being blocked by big landowners, I need your help to send in supportive evidence. Here’s how: whoownsengland.org/2026/10/27/c...

Last week, we donated another £500 to the GUCU fighting fund. All our solidarity to our brilliant comrades!

Members at GCU were on strike today alongside our colleagues in UCU with further support from GCU Student Solidarity. We will have further strikes this Wednesday and Thursday with a rally at Thursday's picket! More info on Thursday's action to follow🛟📣

The vibes today? Immaculate. Thank you all for showing up and standing in solidarity with YOUR university.

@freespeechforpeace.bsky.social @peaceandjustice.bsky.social @cjpme.org

UCU at GCU begin another nine days of strike action to save jobs #SaveHE #StopTheCuts news.stv.tv/west-central...

The scandal of an overpaid Principal at Edinburgh University setting in motion a "vampiric" programme of job cuts gets even worse. Investigative reporting from the journalists of The Ferret highlights Principal Peter Mathieson's murky second job: www.theferret.scot/peter-mathie...

🖊️ Sign the petition to Keep The Archers in Birmingham 🔽 www.change.org/p/keep-the-a...

It's publication day! An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class is published today, 27 October 2026, by @versobooks.bsky.social. My book is a new history how Britain's formerly powerful working class was pushed to the political margins. Order🔽 www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...

It's Day 22 of the UCU workers' strike against massive job cuts and deteriorating conditions at Edinburgh University. The Principal refuses to talk while earning almost half a million pounds. His successor is being prepared with similar pro-corporate anti-worker views. We organise and we fight on.

No fire & rehire at @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social!! ⏬️ ⏬️ ⏬️

⏬️ The graphic novel adaptation of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is beautiful to look at & compelling to read. And the story is brought to life on stage by @townsendprod.bsky.social - see the show this week & next month! Dates here ⏬️ www.townsendproductions.org.uk

⏬️ Written more thsn 100 years ago by Robert Tressell, and re-presented to the world in graphic novel form for the 21st century by @rickardsisters.com📚 rickardsisters.com/product/the-...

Solidarity with @unison.org.uk, @andreaegangs.bsky.social and the care worker concerned... ⤵️

📢UNIVERSITY WIDE STRIKE TOMORROW Join us on the picket line as we stand united in solidarity against the attacks our management has taken against the university. Let's show them what strength looks like!

🎬 "The Man with the Plan" is a new film from @sandsfilms.bsky.social about the radical Beveridge plan, featuring Simon Callow as William Beveridge. The good people of Bristol can see it this week. ⏬️ www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/the...

🎬 "The Man with the Plan" is a new film from @sandsfilms.bsky.social about the radical Beveridge plan, featuring Simon Callow as William Beveridge. The good people of Shrewsbury can see it this week. ⏬️ www.oldmarkethall.co.uk/whats-on/the...

🎭 The classic political novel "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" is being brought to life onstage in Lancaster this week by @townsendprod.bsky.social ⏬️ gregson.co.uk/event/the-ra...

🎭 Classic political novel "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" is being brought to life onstage in Faversham, Kent next week by @townsendprod.bsky.social ⏬️ thealex.org.uk/event/the-ra...

🎭 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists brought to life onstage at @wedgewoodrooms.bsky.social next week by @townsendprod.bsky.social ⏬️ www.wedgewood-rooms.co.uk/events/2026-...

“Women do not want the vote!” was a line the establishment tried during the struggle for equality of civil rights in the UK. Like with any form of democratic suppression, a good way to discover what marginalised groups DO want is to make sure they CAN vote

In action today at Slindon Church, West Sussex, where the “founding father of English racism” Edward Long is commemorated. My keynote linking Long, the enslaved Roque Ferdinand and the current backlash against the Church of England’s Project Spire available here: alanlester.co.uk/blog/edward-...

Debate here from about 7.30: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Going on strike isn't easy. It's a last resort when you feel you've got no other option. Michelle's been telling the picket line at Leeds General Infirmary why this is so important 👏 @unison.org.uk

Whenever we get together with @myfanwytristram.bsky.social the conversation quickly descends into a) everything is political and b) let’s make comics about it. Myf’s book NOISY VALLEY is an inspirational collection of real life activism stories, we think you’ll like it

Not a record we wanted, but we hold it with pride and gratitude to our members, students and supporters. Still waiting for Goldsmiths management to come to the table with a reasonable offer. (& thank you @novaramedia.com for covering our action.) novaramedia.com/2026/10/12/g...

⏬️ Important advice: "Don't give up" ⏬️

We have a new article on our website: bdtuc.co.uk/2026/10/19/o...

'The Striker' is our weekly email on all things strike action 📧 Written by active trade union reps for activists across our movement. 🔗 Subscribe: https://strikemap.org/forms/support-strike-map #StrikeMap #TheStriker #StrikeAction #IndustrialAction

A statement from @uculincolnbranch.bsky.social expressing concern at the University of Lincoln's participation in the forthcoming Great Exhibition of Lincolnshire.

Orgreave Inquiry Community Listening Events The first one is at the NUM Barnsley Wed 28 Oct 10am-5pm. The Orgreave Inquiry is asking people to register by Thurs 22 Oct. Email here for more information: info@orgreave.public-inquiry.uk Register here: www.orgreave.public-inquiry.uk/community-li...

The last weekend in November will be the very first Otley Book Festival If you put it in your diary now, you’re less likely to forget or get double-booked We’re coming to talk about our books, but we’re a tiny part of an awesome lineup

Sign the open letter from our students to the incoming Prinicipal, Angela Scott. They are calling for the end of cuts and the investment in crucial services. Share with friends, family and your network. Let’s get this going around the world. forms.gle/dZX3BDHxETLRhysf8

Workers from 4 unions standing together against university cuts. Solidarity to the striking workers of Glasgow Caledonian University.

📍 ANTI-FASCIST ECONOMICS is going on tour in the US and Canada. 📕 We'll be in NYC, DC, Ottawa, Chicago, Amherst, Boston and Baltimore between 16 Oct and 19 Nov. The goal of the book is to start a conversation. I hope you’ll join! Details below.

They want you to believe there is no alternative to Neoliberalism.

Join us on the picket line this morning for some traditional Scottish music. . #NoCompulsoryRedundancies

Day 12 of the workers' strike against worsening staff conditions at the University of Edinburgh, with the resulting deterioration of educational conditions for students. On the picket lines, staff & students share spaces, determined to resist this decline ... (1) Teach-out poetry ...

Imagining a world in which the kinds of action that get you immediately dismissed from a university are naked bigotry, or bullying people into breakdowns, or trying to sleep with students, rather than sharing documents management don't want to be shared.

Our members at Goldsmiths are months into strike action. They are fighting to save vital jobs. Share this picket like speech from our GS and send your solidarity.

This Slavery has been out for nearly a year, have you read it yet? If you like Lancashire, mills, industrial relations, the politics of gender, matriarchal families, burning everything to the ground, and dogs - you’ll probably enjoy this story

We have two more screenings in the North West this week, at the Working Class Movement Library! @wcmlibrary.bsky.social #themanwiththeplanfilm #beveridgereport #workingclassmovementslibrary #fivegiants #filmtour

Day 6 of the UCU workers' strike against senior management and their extraction of ever-higher wages for senior management. Thousands lose their jobs, thousands more must carry the extra workload, and terms & conditions deteriorate. All these things connect, founded on the logic of inequality.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the Battle of Cable Street was a key moment in history that halted Britain turning fascist and aligning with Nazi Germany. That was certainly Moseley's ambition. History could have been very very different. hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026...

Ninety years ago today, Oswald Mosley tried to march his Blackshirts through the Jewish East End. 🧵 He had thousands of uniformed fascists behind him and 6,000 police clearing the way. But the people of the East End got there first.

Our strike action yesterday wasn't the first step in this fight and it for sure won't be our last. Our members, our students, and our community members know what is at stake. And we will all keep going toe to toe with management until they listen to reason.

I joined a military charity this summer. A few weeks later, I was watching a sunset near the front line through anti-drone nets. I'm Ann from Dzyga's Paw, and this is what my first trip east felt like 🧵

UCEA confirmed the 2% pay uplift will now be imposed on staff this month. UCEA themselves say "it clearly does not reflect the true value employers place on staff" which we would agree with but it is cold comfort to our member struggling after nearly two decades of below inflation pay offers!

OCTOBER BOOK EVENTS Also speaking at the following: Rich Mix, London 6th Oct Four Corners, East London 7th Oct Newcastle, One Strawberry Lane, 18 Oct Warwick University 27th Oct Glasgow University 29th Oct

With the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street on Sunday @artukdotorg.bsky.social have published a “story” I wrote about the Cable Street Mural for @unitetheunion.bsky.social’s 90th anniversary book. Photos by Paul Trevor and David Hoffman.... Read all about it!: artuk.org/discover/sto...