Blog - Chris Creegan

Pits and Perverts: the magic of LGSM

04/10/2013

Last night a new play opened at the Derry Playhouse. Pits and Perverts is written by Micheal Kerrigan and is about an extraordinary moment in British labour history. It tells the story of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). I wrote about LGSM earlier this year in my blog about Margaret Thatcher’s legacy for […]

One of them or one of us?

22/09/2013

During her premiership in the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher famously asked of anyone outside her political circle, ‘is he one of us?’ At my secondary school during the previous decade, an often heard refrain from those who wanted to assert their heterosexuality was ‘are you one of them?’ ‘One of them’ was a ‘homo’, a ‘puff’ […]

Cardinal sins and Catholic futures

05/05/2013

The Catholic church is back in the news again this weekend with the story of Cardinal O’Brien’s ‘exile’. It’s been a tough time for Scottish Catholics. And wherever they stand on the issues that divide opinion within and outwith the church, the Cardinal’s fate is one story many would surely like to see the back […]

In praise of Running

26/04/2013

Ever since I started this blog I knew I’d eventually get round to writing about running. It’s been one my life’s enduring passions. On the things that matter to me scale it’s up near the top. And the experience of running in last Sunday’s London marathon finally propelled me to blog. Reflecting on the day […]

How true blue Thatcherism helped paint society pink

13/04/2013

There are occasions when the blogosphere becomes consumed with one event. The passing of Margaret Thatcher was inevitably just such an occasion. Within no time she was trending on Twitter. And then an avalanche of blogs and comment appeared from every part of the political spectrum. For many who lived through her premiership and were […]

One Moment in Time: the other 9/11 and how I fell in love with Berlin

09/11/2012

On the evening of 9th November 1989, I was at a trade union lesbian and gay conference at the Swallow Hotel in Peterborough. It was long before gay marriage was anywhere near the political agenda and the only other guests at the hotel were people attending a big straight wedding with all the trimmings. The […]