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Francis Beckett

@francisbeckett.bsky.social

Author, journalist, playwright, socialist

66 Posts88 Follower38 Folgt
Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 2w ago

"I cannot believe that our national productivity is so slow, that our willingness to work is so feeble or that we can submit to the world that the masses of our people must be condemned to penury." - Clem Attlee in 1946.

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 2w ago

"It really means that the sum total of the goods produced and the services rendered by the people of this country is not sufficient to provide for all our people at all times, in sickness, in health, in youth and in age, the very modest standard of life set out in this Bill."

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 3mo ago

126 years ago, the trade unions founded the Labour Party. But it looks as though they've had enough of it. The consequences could be catastrophic. My latest piece in The New World. www.thenewworld.co.uk/francis-beck...

Will Reform take the unions off Labour?

Labour and unions have been drifting apart since the 1930s, and the Green party is pushing to gain union backing. But breaking Labour’s link with the unions could have terrible unintended consequences

thenewworld.co.uk

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Be fair to Blair. He has acceptable and coherent political opinions, and he has held them consistently most of his life. They are so mainstream that there is a major political party created to advocate them. It's called the Conservative Party, and it is probably time he joined it.

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The new Peaky Blinders film, set in 1940, has a British Nazi called John Beckett. In 1940 my father, John Beckett, was a British Nazi. But the two John Becketts bear no resemblance to each other. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Peaky Blinders film is pandering to these populist times – I should know, the Nazi in it is my father | Francis Beckett

The film-makers would say they’re making drama, not history. But this is not the moment for yet another second world war film with a heroic myth, says author Francis Beckett

theguardian.com

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 6mo ago

I see Reform wants us to bomb Iran. Odd that the people keenest to bomb the homes of folk living in faraway places are always the first to slam the doors on them when they try to come here so as to escape from our bombs.

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I used to run Labour Party media relations for bye-elections, and I know what it means when the leader starts shouting scare stories like "the Greens will sell drugs in your children's playgrounds." It means they think the Greens are going to win.

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...

Stop Palantir taking over our public services!

Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir.

you.38degrees.org.uk

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Another chance to see... M.E.G.A. has transferred to the OSO Arts Centre in Barnes, 15-18 January, under a new name: It Couldn't Happen Here. Why the new name? Because at the rate we are going, the old one no longer felt ironic. That's why.

EconomicsInTen@economicsinten.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Enjoyed watching 'M.E.G.A.' at the @gatehouse.london. it does really get you thinking about our 'unwritten constitution' and how that could potentially be exploited. A warning of what's to come perhaps from @francisbeckett.bsky.social.

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 8mo ago

This is right. Peter Hennessy's good chaps have been replaced by would-be dictators and without a written constitution, we have no protection against them.

EconomicsInTen@economicsinten.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Interesting article by @georgemonbiot.bsky.social and especially relevant if you have recently seen 'Make England Great Again' by @francisbeckett.bsky.social at @gatehouse.london that showed a future vision of a PM ignoring the 'rules' of our democracy. Have a read...

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Great review by Keith Hatch for the Unite paper of my play It Couldn't Happen Here which now moves to the OSO Arts Centre, Barnes, 15-18 January.

@aldtu.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Wake up call! Play highlights the dangers of sliding towards dictatorship buff.ly/kAdI712 Could it happen here, and now? You bet it could. Our unwritten constitution makes us more vulnerable than the US @francisbeckett.bsky.social @marisharay.bsky.social @tuc.org.uk @maxwilkinson.bsky.social

Francis Beckett@francisbeckett.bsky.social · 12mo ago

British by-elections, ediuted by Iain Dale, out today - including my account of Darlington 1983, for which I was Labour Party press officer. www.politicos.co.uk/products/by-... Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/British-Elec...

British By-Elections 1769-2025 - The 88 By-Elections That Shaped our Politics edited by Iain Dale (Signed copy) COMING 18 SEPTEMBER

Biteback Hardback 18 September 2025 88 essays by 87 different politicians, historians, academics and journalists about 85 of the most important by-elections since thje John Wilkes by-election of 176...

politicos.co.uk