Selected writings from a prominent voice of the activist left

In the space of a year, Laurie Penny has become one of the most prominent voices of the new left. This book brings together her diverse writings, showing what it is to be young, angry and progressive in the face of an increasingly violent and oppressive UK government.

Penny Red: Notes from the New Age of Dissent collects Penny's writings on youth politics, resistance, feminism and culture. Her journalism is a unique blend of persuasive analysis, captivating interviews and first-hand accounts of political direct action. She was involved in all the key protests of 2010/2011, including the anti-fees demos in 2010 and the anti-cuts protests of spring 2011, often tweeting live from the scene of kettles and baton charges. An introduction and extensive footnotes allow Penny to connect all the strands of her work, showing the links between political activism and wider social and cultural issues.

This book is essential for understanding what motivates the new generation of activists, writers and thinkers that bring creativity, energy and urgency to the fight against capitalism and exploitation.

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction
I. This is Actually Happening
Inside the Millbank Tower Riots; Talking About a Revolution; Inside the Whitehall Kettle; Protesting the Turner Prize; Inside the Parliament Square Kettle; A Right Royal Poke; No Sex, No Drugs and No Leaders; What Really Happened in Trafalgar Square; Lies in London
2. Girl Trouble
The Gulag of Desire; In Defence of Cunt; What Sun Readers Swallow With Their Cornflakes; The Sexy Way to Die; Vajazzled and Bemused; Burlesque Laid Bare; Me, the Patriarchy and my Big Red Pen; Galliano’s Fashionable Beliefs; The Princess Craze is no Fairy Tale; Skinny Porn; Violence Against Women in Tahrir Square; Zionism, Chauvinism and the Nature of Rape; A Modesty Slip for Misogyny; Charlie Sheen’s Problem with Women; The Shame is all Theirs
3. Kingdom of Rains
Undercover With the Young Conservatives; Buns, Bunting and Retro-Imperialism; This is England; Poppy Day is the Opium of the People; Michael Gove and the Imperialists; The Power of the Intern; Strictly Come Scrounging?; Poverty Pimps: Selling Out the Disabled; A Tale of Three Parties; Simon Hughes and the Cartel of British Politics; The Social Mobility Scam
4. Cultural Capital
Facebook, Capitalism and Geek Entitlement; Girls, Tattoos and Men who Hate Women; Pickling Dissent; Julie Burchill’s Imperialist Rant over Israel; Baby Boomers; Bah, Humbug; Interview with China Miéville; I Shall Wear Midnight; It’s all Over for Sex-and-Shopping Feminism; Beyond Noughtie Girls
5. Their Hallucinations, Our Desires
Insurrection on Oxford Street; This is no Conspiracy; The Revolution Will Be Civilised; Revolts Don’t Have to be Tweeted; Is that a Truncheon in Your Pocket?; One Man and His Tent; How the Disabled were Dehumanised; Hey, Dave: Our Society’s Bigger Than Yours; In Defence of Squatting; Inside the Gaddafi House
Details of Original Publication