Aug 15, 2021Ken Loach and the cowardice of the left“You calling me a prick? I’m a married man with six kids!” — Chris Coleman, former Sunderland manager In October 2020, the Equality and Human Rights Commission published its investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party. Amongst the findings were “serious failings in the antisemitism complaint handling system”, “significant failings…Ken Loach4 min readKen Loach4 min read
Jul 7, 2021Why English patriotism?After the win over Ukraine the other day, a friend of mine asked, “explain to me about this patriotism thing, then, because I don’t get it.” At the time, I garbled something fairly unintelligible, because I was full of alcohol and England had just won 4–0 in a European Championship…England5 min readEngland5 min read
Apr 19, 2021Good of the game** The below is a chapter from a book I am currently writing. I am looking for representation; if you are interested I am on twitter @RobFrancis82 ** I: Accrington When mounting debts led to Accrington Stanley resigning from the Football League in March 1962, it was rare for football…Football44 min readFootball44 min read
Aug 15, 2020In defence of algorithmsThe A-Level results fiasco has been all across the news this week, and rightly so. There have been many examples of students getting completely unrealistic grades, and students from poorer backgrounds seem to have been worst affected. A lot of online chatter seems to have focused on blaming The Algorithm…A Level Results6 min readA Level Results6 min read
May 3, 2020Paradigm shiftsBored on a Sunday evening in lockdown, so I thought I’d post some random musings on here. I am sure this isn’t a particularly original thought, but I’m wondering if the key political divide of our times is disruptor vs disrupted. If I may paint in broad brush strokes for…Labour Party4 min readLabour Party4 min read
Mar 4, 2020Semantics won’t save the leftRebecca Long-Bailey’s latest salvo in her increasingly doomed leadership campaign came with an article in inews this week, entitled “The Labour Party I lead will fight for aspirational socialism”. I pricked up my ears, slightly. Aspirational socialism is something of a boo word amongst Long-Bailey’s natural supporters, given its associations…Labour Party4 min readLabour Party4 min read
Feb 24, 2020CommunitarianismKristian Niemietz, he of the IEA and the Twitter, has written a fairly condemnatory blog about communitarianism. It’s typically interesting and typically scathing, but I think there are a couple of points which pop out and are worth addressing. The main thrust of Niemietz’s piece is that communitarians are far…Communitarianism4 min readCommunitarianism4 min read
Dec 13, 2019Maybe, the problem is youI wondered if I might feel vindicated, but I don’t. Some of us had been warning since 2015 that the Corbyn Project was always going to end this way, in electoral annihilation. It gives me absolutely no comfort to be proved right. Not when the Labour Party — the greatest…Labour Party5 min readLabour Party5 min read
Nov 17, 2019KosovoThe football nearly drove me to tears today. As a Swindon Town supporter, this isn’t necessarily uncommon. But this emotion came from a completely different source. As God Save The Queen started playing in the Fadil Vokrri stadium, the local Kosovan fans all held up England flags. https://twitter.com/SimonPeach/status/1196110824743432192?s=2 Twenty…Politics2 min readPolitics2 min read
Nov 1, 2019Election 2019 and left-wing denialIncreasingly, I loathe General Elections. More and more, I notice even people I’d always seen as being fairly level-headed flip abruptly into abject tribalism once the campaign gets underway. Depressingly common right now is the notable gear shift from Labour supporters, from “the antisemitism crisis is terrible and has to…Politics2 min readPolitics2 min read
