I am withdrawing from X in 2025 and can be contacted through LinkedIn and my email, which is marsha.smith@coventry.ac.uk

When I was a socialist in the USA, everyone was in discreet isolated book-clubs with revolutionary names, devoid of praxis. Most claimed grand plans to create a new world, but did little more than argue with other socialists about which theory they preferred. When I came to China to study China's socialism, I saw a world in which theory was just that, and what mattered were the material conditions of reality. Mao once wrote "Of course we should study Marxist books, but this study must be integrated with our country's actual conditions. We need books, but we must overcome book worship, which is divorced from the actual situation. How can we overcome book worship? The only way is to investigate the actual situation." – Oppose Book Worship, 1930 Western socialist of merit must put away their inane infighting and join the ranks of regular American workers. We should speak the language of the common American, and not speak in a language which evades them. We need to stop using linguistically isolating discursive semantics and embrace the language of the people. Most Americans know the richest people are exploiting them and their families and all of society too. If we are to pool these fragmented shards of metal together to form a hammer, we must do so using their language. We must appeal to the frame of their ears. Lest all western socialists just become nothing more than high-nosed book-clubs of no material merit. #Socialism Source: marxists.org/reference/archi…

Superb post on how to actually help towns (without having to believe anything outlandish about economic geography).

It’s time for the government and local councils to do the following: 🚜 Schools & hospitals to be supplied by local farms providing fresh food rather than contracts going to corporations (who have no link to local communities) and who supply ultra processed food. 🚜 £2.4 billion of food contracts are supplied to the public sector. Local farmers should be receiving this first. 🚜 Add into the schools curriculum to educate children about farming, how to grow your own food & the benefits of healthy eating & home cooking classes. 🚜 School visits to local farm suppliers. It’s time for a local food revolution. This will make local communities in Britain healthier, more sustainable and strengthen the relationship between the local food suppliers (farming and fishing) and the public at large.

how it started, how it's goin #Musk

It took the last government about five minutes to legislate to stop foreigners buying a national newspaper. How long will it take for this government to close a loophole that allows a foreigner to influence the next UK election by sloshing millions the way of one party?

For shame…

Subsidised community restaurants could help tackle the UK’s broken food system – here’s how theconversation.com/subsidis… via @ConversationUK

BREAKING 🚨🚨: New footage has emerged from the Battle of The Somme showing Lee Anderson MP providing brave soldiers with 30p meals.

🎄Delighted to be in Civil Eats’ Holiday Gift Guide! ‘Barnett’s detailed storytelling makes food waste fascinating … From medieval England to Brexit and the pandemic, Barnett expertly rolls out the dough of U.K. history’ ➡️civileats.com/2024/12/03/our… 🎅

Jokes aside, sitting around a table for a #FamilyDinner is key to: ❤️ foster connection 🍏 encourage healthier eating habits 🤝 model positive behaviours 🧘🏽‍♀️ making time for wellbeing through connection

The #SumacCentre provides space to many autonomous projects (incl us). Notts Dining Co-op is a food project providing free/cheap meals to the Nottingham community on 1st & 3rd Tuesdays monthly #xposted from social.coop/@Veggies/1135715…

Hey @BBCNews, just as you always refer to Hamas being designated a terrorist organisation in UK, please now always refer to Netanyahu being wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the ICC, the world’s top criminal court

'A vast complex of derelict greenhouses have been brought back into use by a social food enterprise' Read the full article about us 👇 bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k0…

Clive is bang on. This is very basic stuff Labour are getting so completely wrong. People who are struggling are not benefiting from hawks like Blackrock being given partnerships. Not only are they not benefiting - they're a huge part of the reason that inequality is so huge.

This post is problematic for a number of reasons. A thread…🧵 1. For those attempting to make sense of Trump’s victory and the rise of the far-right across Europe - look no further than the PMs statement below. Whether you like it or not, the far-right has a set of common narratives. We can probably all recite them…

The Anglo world has lived through decades of prices going up and salaries staying low (unless you’re a CEO), while their supposedly “left” or “labour” alternatives have abandoned the working/middle classes in favour of austerity to gain the favour big campaign-contributing businesses - *and there’s no organised movement to protest it on the streets every weekend*. It sort of blows my mind

The Labour Party just got a 4.5 year warning of what awaits them if they can’t make enough of an impact on people’s lives to build a genuinely enthusiastic coalition of support.

“The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.” ― David Graeber

Everything the Royal Family has was stolen. Every single thing.