Fifty Shades of French Reaction

THERE is something distinctly Anglo-Saxon about the E.L. James' book 'Fifty Shades of Grey', the French critics last October, when it was first published in France, did their best to dismiss it as 'too consensual' and hygienic in its approach to sex. It is the story of the sexual encounters of a green-horn girl, Anastasia Steele, and a worldly billionaire, Christian Grey, in Settle; the man is into bondage and domination, and the lass is a virgin. The French critics condemned it as typically lightweight, sanitised Anglo-Saxon tripe and hypocrisy, falling well short of the hard-core authentic sadomasochistic style of the Gallic folk across the Channel.

It has nothing of the lyrical style of Anais Nin – the great pioneer of female erotica; none of the intellect of Georges Bataille and no dark Gothic pretensions such as in Marquis de Sade, with his tales of torture, fantasies of sexual abuse and murder. None-the-less, last week, I saw a report in the newspaper about an English bloke, influenced by 'Fifty Shades', who had been so carried away following the script in the book that the lass who'd consented to the sex play took him to court for assault. The case failed because the girl had agreed to take part, presumably expecting a little light spanking.     When I read 'Fifty Shades of Grey', last August, I had just had to help a Safety Representative at Bury MBC to fight a case brought under the Dignity at Work policy, which he was accused of breaching. Avoiding breaching the Dignity at Work policy involves watching your 'ps' and 'qs' while  your at work; that means being careful what you say and being aware that the casual language of jokes and banter can be very risky indeed. Now it seems to me that the significant thing about Christian Grey is his essentially Health and Safety, contractual approach to the business of bondage and domination. There is page after page of contractual terms and negotiations between the parties, with amendments being forced through to rule out certain activities, which the 'Submissive', Anastasia, in her wisdom, feels unacceptable. It's sadomasochistic sex on a contract.

How very Anglo-Saxon! How very English! And yet, recent reported sales of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' give it estimated sales of 900,000 print copies and 40,000 e-books in France, since last October.  It is all about Christian Grey's passion for the torture chamber, while at the same time applying the contemporary moral side constraints of health and safety, dignity at work and the law of contract:  For example 'Does the Submissive concent to accept the following forms of pain/punishment/discipline':  Spanking; Whipping; Biting; Genital clamps, and so on.  I suppose this is what passes for post-post-moden erotica.

Northern Voices 12 - Out now

Spying in the North & beyond:
Northern Voices 12 kicks-off with a topical story on state sponsored snooping. Derek Pattison looks at the well-paid agencies that spend their time infiltrating peaceful protest groups and compiling data on innocent folk. Recent reports in The Guardian newspaper say this includes joining the Clown Army, collecting data on innocent folk, as well as leading Climate Camp demos; these seemingly stop-at-nothing spies even sleep with the enemy in the cause of surveillance. According to this report protesters were held overnight at Oldham Police Station and a member of the Manchester Anarchist Federation was ‘quizzed’ by the police in 2009: yet despite repeated requests by NV this robust anarchist has relentlessly refused to talk to us about this.

Kiddie fiddling in Rochdale:
NV12 features a survey of the political life of the controversial northern politician from Rochdale, Cyril Smith, in which a former editor of RAP (Rochdale Alternative Paper) disputes a report in the Rochdale Observer last September, quoting Cyril’s brother saying that the allegations of Cyril's improper treatment of boys in his care in the 1960s had been ‘disproved'. NV12 also covers Sir Cyril Smith's relations with the local asbestos trade and contacts a solicitor involved in the notorious Stefan Kiszko case. Sir Cyril Smith died on the 3rd, September 2010; there were many tributes but some criticisms.

Manchester Matador Interview:
Former butcher’s boy Frank Evans went from a Salford slum to make his name in the bullrings of Spain and Latin America. Now in his late 60’s, he talks to Northern Voices about the place of bullfighting in Spanish life and the attitude of Spaniards to him as a northern English lad; he considers his future and that of bullfighting in the current credit crisis in Spain.

Reports on Council finances in Salford; Tesco’s corporate connivance in Tameside – is this more shades of Pathfinder & ‘renewal of the North’ with Tesco Towns; plus Salford Spy and Tameside Eye.

A Bit on the Side:
Art reports with an exclusive interview with Burnley artist, Liam Spencer, about the work of the Lancashire impressionist - 'winkling out gems from unlikely sources' - now showing at Rochdale’s Touchstone Gallery, and a retrospective review of last year's Picasso Peace & Freedom Exhibition at the Liverpool Tate. Chris Draper – NV’s lad in the back row - gives us his ‘Six o’the Best’ Northern films and he offers a controversial review of Howard Brenton’s newly adapted play of Robert Tressell’s book ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ at the Liverpool Everyman. Also a review of the latest volume of Geordie pitman Dave Douglass’s autobiography.

Price £1.50 [£2.00 post included] cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' obtainable from c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.

And on sale at a large number of newsagents in Greater Manchester, Rochdale, Tameside, Salford, Swinton, Eccles, Burnley and bookshops in other areas such as News From Nowhere in Liverpool, Bob's Bookshop in Oldham and Bookcase in Hebden Bridge, as well as The Cornerhouse and People's History Museum in Manchester. Northern Voices is also on sale in Glossop at Bay Tree Books, George Street Books and The Oakwood public house.

Northern Voices 11 - now available

The long awaited 11th issue of Northern Voices is now available. Contents include:

'Villains & Victims' - the contrasting fortunes of villainous Northern MPs (including James Purnell, Hazel Blears, Tom Levitt & Phil Woolas) and their victims such as 'regenerated' communities in Derker and Toxteth, Blacklisted workers Keaveney & Anderson & agency binmen in Bury.

'On the banks of the River Roch, Jacky Brook, Healey Dell in Rochdale & the Cheonggyecheon in Seoul' by Brian Bamford

'Leeds: Royal Park School - More Municipal Vandalism by Stealth' by John Lawrence

'Six o' Best: Northern Tea Time Treats' by Chris Draper - featuring Eccles Cakes from Salford or maybe, Hebden Bridge; Fat Rascals from Harrogate; Sad Cakes from Burnley; Chorley Cakes from North Lancs.; Bakewell Tarts from Derbyshire; Curd Tarts from the West Riding of Yorkshire; Singing Hinnies from Newcastle and Yorkshire Parkin.

'Glossop North End go to Wembley on a shoestring' by Richard Holland

'Can tha' keep a secret?: An old Yorkshire tale of class war, conspiracy, murder' by Christopher Draper; a history of Ned Ludd in the West Riding of Yorkshire (which can be read in full here).

'The Golden Days of Municipal Motoring' by Chris the Clippy on the disappearance of the North's regional buses and their unique colour schemes.

...plus much more. Also included are the usual local columns (Salford Spy, Tameside Eye), plus restaurant reviews (Sam's Chop House in Manchester and The Plate @ Backridge in the Forest of Bowland), exhibition reviews, the lively letters page, plus an obituary for Pedro Cuadrado, a Bolton local of Spanish origin, involved in the Spanish Civil War and imprisoned by the Nazis, Americans and the British in turn.

Price £1.50 [£2.00 post included] cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' obtainable from c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.

And on sale at a large number of newsagents in Greater Manchester, Rochdale, Tameside, Salford, Swinton, Eccles, Burnley and bookshops in other areas such as News From Nowhere in Liverpool, Bob's Bookshop in Oldham and Bookcase in Hebden Bridge, as well as The Cornerhouse and People's History Museum in Manchester. Northern Voices is also on sale in Glossop at Bay Tree Books, George Street Books and Bestsellers in the Market Arcade.

Booklet on Spanish Civil War and its Aftermath: The Snobbery & Elitism of Professional Historians

In 2006, Tameside Trade Union Council and other North West trade unionists brought out a booklet to commemorate the kick-off of the Spanish Civil War: now in its 3rd edition [Oct. 2009] the book has been extended from 20 to 28 A4-size pages and has a Preface that uses Noam Chomsky's essay 'Objectivity & Liberal Scholarship' to challenge Professor Paul Preston's work 'The Spanish Civil War'.  This 3rd edition booklet by trade unionists defends Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia' and the value of primary sources, and eye-witness accounts, against the glossing interpretations of professional historians like Preston.  It draws upon the observations, in interviews, letters and journal-form of the foot-soldiers, such as Ralph Cantor, Pedro Cuadrado and Orwell, mocked by Professor Preston.  Preston in the 2006 edition of his own book 'The Spanish Civil War' belittles other historians for being partisan, but makes it clear that he himself has an axe to grind.  This trade unionist 3rd edition booklet of 'The Spanish Civil War - The Aftermath', also includes an interview by Richard Porton with Ken Loach, the director of the film 'Land & Freedom' and a 1995 interview with Jim Allen, the screenwriter on the film.

Further reading - Manchester's Radical History has interviews with Spanish Civil war veterans Sam Wild and Bessie Berry & Bernard McKenna (all Communists)

Spanish Civil War booklet 3rd edition:  Price £4.60/€5.00 post included, cheques payable to 'Tameside Trade Union Council' from c/o 46, Kingsland Road, Rochdale, Lancs.  OL11 3HQ.

To read comments received about this publication, please click through the 'Read more' link below:

New Year 2010 - Northern Voices 11 preview

Contents include:

'Six o' Best: Northern Tea Time Treats' by Chris Draper:
Eccles Cakes from Salford or maybe, Hebden Bridge; Fat Rascals from Harrogate; Sad Cakes from Burnley;  Chorley Cakes from North Lancs.; Bakewell Tarts from Derbyshire; Turd Tarts from the West Riding of Yorkshire; Singing Hinnies from Newcastle and Yorkshire Parkin.  Which is going to be the best that the North has to offer?

Municipal Motoring by Chris the Clippy on the disappearance of the North's regional buses and their unique colour schemes.

'Can tha' keep a secret?: An old Yorkshire tale of class war, conspiracy, murder' by Christopher Draper;  a history of Ned Ludd in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

'On the banks of the River Roach, Jacky Brook, Healey Dell in Rochdale & the Cheonggyecheon in Seoul' by Brian Bamford.

Price £1.50 [£2.00 post included] cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' obtainable from c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10  4AH.

And on sale at a large number of newsagents in Greater Manchester, Rochdale, Tameside, Salford, Swinton, Eccles, Burnley and bookshops in other areas such as News From Nowhere in Liverpool, Bob's Bookshop in Oldham and Bookcase in Hebden Bridge. Northern Voices is also on sale in Glossop at Bay Tree Books, George Street Books and Bestsellers in the Market Arcade.

The Workers' Next Step

Shock! Horror! Lucien Freud's portrait of 'Big Sue' Tilley: 'Benefits Supervisor Sleeping' graces the cover of a new discussion booklet for the National Shop Stewards' Network published by The Workers' Next Step group. Featuring an attack on New Labour's managerialism & the 'New Workers' Party' idea, it is based on the 'Miners' Next Step' and the critique of Geoffrey Ostergaard 'The Tradition of Workers' Control'. It features essays on the New Deal & an interview with a former inmate at a Government training camp down south; Asbestos, contaminated land, and Health & Safety issues treated by Jason Addy, researcher in occupational and environment diseases at Manchester Metropolitan University; Rachel Whittaker attacks the 'carbon footprint' & the 'prole-cult' in the Vestas dispute.

Direct sales price £1.99 or £2.49 (post paid); Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices'. Available c/o 46, Kingsland Road, Rochdale, Lancs. OL11 3HQ


To read comments received about this publication, please click through the 'read More' link below:

Northern Voices #10 still available.

The 10th issue of Northern Voices (Summer/Autumn 2009) is still available.

Inside you'll find articles on Bolton art-forger Shaun Greenhalgh, Blacklisting in the building trade, the hunt for the grave of Ashton lad James Keogh murdered by Fascists in the Spanish Civil War, as well as local gossip in Burnley, Bury, Tameside and Salford. We also look at Liverpool in the 'Capital of Culture' year and you may have already read the article on 'welfare to work' that we've posted here.

The reviews section has features on the 'six of the best' top Northern towns, a review of 'Gangs of Manchester', a new book by Andrew Davies, plus restaurant reviews of Mitton Hall in Clitheroe and Ramsons of Ramsbottoms, and the letters page is livelier than ever.

Sending us a cheque for £4.00 (made payable to 'Northern Voices') will get you a two-issue subscription. Send cheques c/o 52 Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire, BB10 4AH.