ABSTRACT
Retrospective introduction In 1979 I completed my social work training at the University of Kent in Canterbury, where I had been very influenced by radical social work theory and practice and specifically by my contact with Mike Brake (and, specifically, with regard to sociology), Janet Sayers (psychology), and Vic George (social policy). At the end of the course I moved to London where I quickly became involved in Left politics both locally, as a part of which I joined a collective of activists who produced Bush News, a local socialist community newspaper, and nationally, through my membership (1979-1985) of Big Flame, a revolutionary socialist organisation (see https:// bigflameuk.wordpress.com/ ). My involvement in Bush News was a great training, not only in politics and collective action, but also in how to write to a specific word length, to edit, to layout, to print, and, of course, to sell a newspaper.
