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...

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.

The 1986 battle between the unions and News International, turned into a fairy tale for a new generation: my review of In The Print for London Pub Theatres Magazine: www.londonpubtheatres.com/in-the-print...

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...

There are still a few seats for the third run of Tom Lehrer is Teaching Math and Doesn't Want to Talk to You. It's at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate Village, 25 March to 12 April. Tickets from www.upstairsatthegatehouse.com.

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.

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.

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...

Gerry Gable, and what the fascists did next: my piece in The New World. www.thenewworld.co.uk/francis-beck...

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.

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 Peter Hennessy's good chaps have been replaced by would-be dictators and without a written constitution, we have no protection against them.

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.

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

How will British democracy die? My new play It Couldn't Happen Here is at OSO Arts Centre, Barnes, 15-18 January. Tickets here: osoarts.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/...

This week Make England Great Again - my comedy about the election victory of the Britons First Party - returns to Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate Village, from Tuesday 14th to Sunday 19th. Tickets from www.upstairsatthegatehouse.com , phone 020 8340 3488, or in person at the box office.

I'm not a fan of Owen Jones, but preventing a journalist from covering the governing party's conference because you don't like his questions is a very slippery slope indeed.

Yes, I do not think anyone has summed up more clearly what has happened. It is a great tragedy.

What a right wing authoritarian government could look like...my piece in the Morning Star. morningstaronline.co.uk/article/maki...

After the first performance of my new play Make England Great Again, Neil Kinnock will discuss the issues raised with the first night audience. It's at 7.30 pm on 30 September at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate Village. Tickets from upstairsatthegatehouse.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/...

Lovely interview with me about my new play in the Barnet Post: barnetpost.co.uk/2025/09/18/m...

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...

How dictatorship is coming to Britain: my piece in the Camden New Journal, introducing my new play. www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/slid...

London Pub Theatres magazine interviewed me about my new play, Make England Great Again, which opens at Upstairs at the Gatehouse on 30 September. Here's what they wrote. www.londonpubtheatres.com/interview--p...

I shivered with horror, fear and anger when I read this, even though I saw it coming. How can anyone be so cruel and complacent as to support Israel now? www.msn.com/en-gb/news/w...

In my new play, Make Britain Great Again, Max Moore, charismatic leader of the Britons First Party, has become Prime Minister. It's at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate Village from 30 September to 5 October, and 14-19 October. Tickets from www.upstairsatthegatehouse.com, phone 020 8340 3488.

RIP the great Tom Lehrer. My Guardian obituary is at www.theguardian.com/music/2025/j...

I have read some horrible things, but Sarah Vine's memoir is the grubbiest: my piece in the New European. www.thenewworld.co.uk/francis-beck...

Labour's own Trotskyist: my Guardian obituary for Peter Taaffe. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

A theatrical gem: my review of The Inseparables. www.londonpubtheatres.com/review-the-i...

Drama or history? My review of The Gang of Three: www.londonpubtheatres.com/review-the-g...

The joy of Gilbert and Sullivan in small spaces: my review of the Tabard's Mikado. www.londonpubtheatres.com/review-the-m...

I have tried not to use the word "genocide" about Israel. But when you have killed someone's friends and family, the hatred they develop for you will come back to hurt you one day. Either Israel wants a world of hate for its children, or it wants to ensure no Palestinian remains alive.

Here's a fun video from Reform UK - they have knifed their local candidate for the Runcorn bye-election, and here's the spin they put on it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJZU...

I have put my eight plays onto one website, for the convenience of companies that might want to produce them. It's here: ruby-cube-bds7.squarespace.com

TRUMPERY IS THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION OF US FOREIGN POLICY SINCE 1945: MY PIECE IN THE NEW EUROPEAN. www.theneweuropean.co.uk/francis-beck...

What we did to the miners when we decided we could do without coal: my piece in the Literary Review: literaryreview.co.uk/cutters-pick...

What we did to the miners when we didn't need them anymore: my review of Mining Men. literaryreview.co.uk/cutters-pick...

Lest we forget Thatcherism: my review of Boys from the Blackstuff. www.londonpubtheatres.com/review-boys-...

Lest we forget the cruelty of Thatcherism: my review of Boys from the Blackstuff. www.londonpubtheatres.com/review-boys-...

yoinked this image from Twitter, then ordered my copy join me

My biological father is a political dissident, who fled a war-torn country. If he ever returns, even now, they'll kill him. As a former lifelong Labour voter, I find this keepyuppy with Reform utterly sickening. Especially from a leader with all the backbone of a sodden toilet roll. A terrible week.

Prince Harry has just done more good in the world than the whole of the rest of his family has done since the Second World War.

Interesting piece in the Spectator. I'm looking for the similarly dismissive piece they must have published when Arthur Scargill was pictured in a similar pose under the headline Mine Fuhrer. I can't find it. www.spectator.co.uk/article/no-e...

@alicatterall.bsky.social Hallo Ali. Glad to see you here and not THERE. Assume you've lost interest in Tom Lehrer? A few former friends and students got in touch with me to offer new anecdotes.

The lessons of the Rose Cohen story - my piece in Jewish News, www.jewishnews.co.uk/new-play-tel...

At the runthrough last night of Vodka with Stalin: David Malcolm as Harry Pollitt and Jonathan Hansler as Joseph Stalin. Show opens at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate Village this Wednesday, runs until 27 October.

The illusion that we can tame Russia - which the left fell for in 1917, and the right in 1991. My piece in the Camden New Journal. www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/bear...

Vodka with Stalin - the story of Rose Cohen (Miranda Colmans, seen here) who went to Russia in the 1920s to help build a better world, and became a victim of Stalin's purges.