Watch
East of Everything (youtube/free) another fantastic series from Australia. Forget Neighbours and Home and Away this is grown up television. Art Watkins is a travel writer who returns home to a neglected resort, Broken Bay, on the eastern edge of Australia, just after his Mum dies. Hoping to make it a short stay his plans go awry when he meets his son whom he hasn’t seen for 10 years, his brother whom he thinks is trying to cheat him out of his inheritance, and his first girlfriend who broke his heart. On top of that there is a crooked council that are trying to sell the resort to developers . Much of the two series concentrate on Art and the other men trying to sort out their relationships with each other particularly Art and his younger brother, Vance, who stayed in Broken Bay and looked after their Mum until she died. Unlike a lot of television today it is about real relationships between adults, challenges ideas about happiness and modern life, and shows people getting together to create communities that are supportive and joyous. Its also very funny in a typical Australian way. Not sure why we cannot make similar series in the UK?? Watch both series starting here
Support
Tameside against the Cuts on their second anniversary. Every week they stand outside Ashton JobCentre offering practical support and a shoulder to cry on to the victims of the horrendous so called “benefit system”. They get little financial support from mainstream organisation except Unite the Union Community branch and are now providing a mixture of a political group and filling in the gap of a welfare rights service. Thousands of people are turning up at Jeremy Corbyn rallies (2000 in Salford) but where are these people when it comes to defending the poorest and most vulnerable groups? Or are we living in a society where people are just clickactivists and there is little real engagement with life for the majority of people in this country? If you cannot come to the demo on 4 August from 10-12 at Ashton Jobcentre please make a donation see
Remember
The Italian partisan women who fought the Nazis in this film, “We Weren’t Given Anything for Free”. Its oral history at its best, the director Eric Esser, interviewed the women and they tell their story of not just being partisans but of breaking all the rules about the behaviour of women in Italy in the 30s and 40s. Its inspiring and sadly not had many showings in this country. Eric now wants to complete the film and is asking people to donate to his crowdfunding campaign. See here for further details see
Look
At Syd Shelton’s exhibition; Rock against Racism at Bradford Photographic Gallery. From 1977 to 1981 RAR inspired young people to oppose the blatant racism of groups such as the National Front. A group of musicians and political activists formed RAR and toured the country taking a message of “unite and fight” to towns and cities across Britain and Syd documented these events Love the photos from Leeds RAR gig, I was there, we went on a double decker bus funded by local trade unions and it took ages to get there, but the event was wonderful. Its hard to imagine today a left wing event that would bring together so many working class young people. And that was the strength of RAR. Go see it here
lipstick socialist 
Go Tameside against the cuts ! Well done