MARK PERRYMAN of Philosophy Football rounds up the socialist’s stocking-fillers of choice Cheer up, it could be worse. Well, under this hapless government, probably not, but a bit of seasonal present-giving might at least keep the temptations of miserabilism at bay. 2014 will mark the start of the 1914 centenary hoopla: the centenary to end […]
“Rising every time we fall” – Nelson Mandela
Dec 13th, 2013 by Mark Perryman.Mark Perryman of Philosophy Football explains the initiative they have launched in memory of Mandela to raise funds for social justice in South Africa today. Nelson Mandela’s unique achievement lies in dreaming of a free society, fighting for that dream in the face of the most vicious oppression, never surrendering that dream during the long […]
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Books for a season of rain and grey skies
Nov 25th, 2013 by Mark Perryman.Mark Perryman of Philosophy Football reviews an autumn of sports books. It was three decades ago, in 1983, that Garry Whannel wrote the pioneering book Blowing the Whistle: The Politics of Sport. The book was part of a series ‘Arguments for Socialism’, created by The Socialist Society, an alliance of Left-wing thinkers writers and campaigners, […]
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Armistice day launch for Philosophy Football’s remembering 1914 t-shirt
Nov 11th, 2013 by Mark Perryman.Today, on Armistice Day 2013, Philosophy Football launch offer a Special Edition T-shirt for next year’s 1914 Centenary. Designed by renowned illustrator and Philosophy Football collaborator Dan Murrell, a hauntingly simple yet incredibly powerful image to commemorate the sacrifice, appalling waste and destruction of the ‘Great War’. A silhouette of an unknown soldier, with a […]
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Books for an autumn of inspiration
Nov 1st, 2013 by Mark Perryman.Looking out across the grey expanse of centre ground politics Mark Perryman of Philosophy Football finds some books to provide dreams of a better tomorrow. As the almost instantly forgettable party conference season disappears over the horizon the Westminster bubble political landscape would be hard pushed to inspire anybody much at all. For hope of […]
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We’re all Ralph Miliband now
Oct 5th, 2013 by Mark Perryman.The treatment of Ralph Miliband by the Daily Mail has appalled the right-thinking all and sundry – even the likes of Michael Heseltine and Zac Goldsmith. Yet it is reassuringly pleasing to read reports that sales of Ralph’s books have soared since the Mail published that fateful essay last Saturday. And as a tribute to […]
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Common-sense socialism – the way forward?
Sep 29th, 2013 by Mark Perryman.As the Party Conference season draws to a close, the disconnect between the politics of the Westminster bubble and the rest of us couldn’t be more obvious. Besuited figures, mostly men, addressing other besuited figures, mostly men, given huge chunks of airtime. All while party membership figures plummet and the great unsayable for the political […]
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Books for a second summer of sport
Aug 21st, 2013 by Mark Perryman.After Wiggo, London 2012, Murray in New York, The Ryder Cup and Chelsea winning the Champions League it looked like last summer could never be bettered. And then this summer began… Mark Perryman of Philosophy Football reviews a selection of books that explain sporting success, and failure. The Lions series victory in Australia, Murray’s triumph […]
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Red hot summer reading
Aug 12th, 2013 by Mark Perryman.Mark Perryman of Philosophy Football provides a beach reading round up for those who take their politics on holiday with them The silly season? For the Westminster bubble it would be hard to identify a month in the year when ‘silly’ isn’t too soft an epithet to describe what most MPs get up to, supposedly […]
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Va-va Froome
Jul 22nd, 2013 by Mark Perryman.A summer of sport is unfolding that reveals Britain as a nation of winners. Mark Perryman, editor of a new book on last year’s London 2012 asks what this means for our national identity ? A British encore in the Tour de France. Not even a sniff of winning the yellow jersey for 99 years, […]
