Cycling

The politics of Cranks: a follow-up

As I said in my last blog post, after I sent an email to the Cranks mailing list we discussed the politics of Cranks in one of our bi-weekly meetings. I haven't been able to post these thoughts up sooner because I have been offline for a month building a roundhouse with Tony Wrench in South West Wales. More on that later, but for now..

The politics of Cranks

(Source)

I have been helping out in Cranks, a community bike workshop in Brighton, since last September. A few days ago I sent the email below to our mailing list about the politics of Cranks. I thought I'd put it online because it reflects some of my current thinking as well as giving an insiders view of Cranks. Yesterday we discussed some of the points in the email in a group meeting. I'll be posting in a few days some of the outcomes from the meeting and my thoughts on them.

Getting tested for STDs in Brighton

I recently went to the Wilde Clinic for gay and bisexual men to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). If you didn't know it already, I have slept with both men and women, but mostly women. I'd had no symptoms of disease but thought it was about time to get tested (it had been around 5 years) as well as my last ex-girlfriend insisting that she wouldn't give me a blowjob unless she was sure I didn't have anything infectious. Unfortunately the relationship ended, but my desire to know didn't.

I rang up on a Monday and was able to get an appointment that Wednesday for a "Sexual health MOT." I was going to get the works. After cycling to the clinic, I filled in a form at reception, which amongst other things let me decide whether my GP could access the results of the test. I ticked the 'No' box because of potential insurance, mortagage and privacy reasons.

Power in Utopia? Analysis of two UK workers’ co-operatives through Steven Lukes’ three-dimensional lens

My friend, Rebecca Napier-Moore, has written the following paper about power within workers' co-operatives in the UK. We interviewed workers together for our different papers (see mine here) and it was an absolute pleasure to work with her. In my opinion, not only is her paper extremely well-written and concise but it also intelligently draws on - and challenges - the academic literature surrounding Steven Lukes' 3 dimensions of power in relation to the workers' co-operatives that we visited. It received an A+ mark. I am putting the paper below for you to read but you can also find it online as a Word Document or as a pdf.