I’m pleased to share the publication of my new article in Leisure Studies: From Cosmopolis to Claustropolis: Accelerated culture and the case for a claustropolitan sociology of leisure 📄 Open access article: lnkd.in/eE8u_SpD #LeisureStudies #DigitalCulture #Claustropolitanism

"No money left”, so let’s continue to undermine one of the few genuinely world-class sectors we still have? Pitting kids in poverty against aspirational, working-class students isn’t progressive — it’s unserious, cowardly, lazy austerity. Maybe Starmerism can be defined after all. #politcslive

FIFA's World Cup ticket prices are a betrayal to the most dedicated fans. At least $6900 to support your team from the first match to the final - nearly 5 times more than in Qatar. FSE calls for the immediate halt to ticket sales. 🔗 Statement: bit.ly/44Sqx9G

Emile Heskey: ‘Gone are the times when you just ignore abuse. No. Why should we?’

Wow. If #LauraK actually paused and listened to the Chancellor, she might hear what’s being said. I’m no fan of this Labour government, but compare this interview with the soft-focus, meek and mild treatment she gave Nigel Farage on this show a few months ago the difference is night and day.

This single performance by Labour’s Rosie Wrighting is enough to make anyone on the left vote Green. Wow she was out of her depth.

This single performance by Labour’s Rosie Wrighting is enough to make anyone on the left vote Green. Wow she was out of her depth.

This single performance alone by Labour’s Rosie Wrighting is enough to make anyone of the left vote Green. Wow she was out of her depth.

Infantino is the integral accident of Blatterism: not the clean-up job, but the logical end-point that makes the whole claustropolitan edifice visible. The system didn’t break — it fulfilled itself.

No disrespect to Celtic but Tierney has still got so many more years in a top European league. Great strike.

Game’s gone if that’s a second yellow

Why isn’t Rebecca Long-Bailey pushing back on the claim asylum seekers are living in “four-star luxury”? Hotels used for contingency accommodation offer the bare minimum, and people receive around £9 a week for essentials. They aren’t eating a full English every morning! #PoliticsLive

British.

I wrote a reflection after meeting Sandra - a woman from Sheffield - on a tram, about why she's voting Reform, Nigel Farage and why (we) the left has failed her. 🔗 stefanlawrence.wordpress.com/2025/09/21/v...

I wrote a reflection after meeting Sandra — a woman from Sheffield - I met on a tram, about why she's voting Reform and why the left has failed her. 🔗 stefanlawrence.wordpress.com/2025/09/21/v...

“… a minority with entrenched beliefs is surfing wider social discontent and importing older styles of football fandom to make itself louder.” Some of my reflections on the weekend: stefanlawrence.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/f...

The British right once championed law, order, and civility—but now cheers for criminal damage, vigilante violence, and racist misinformation. Twitter, supercharged by Elon Musk, is fuelling this shift—amplifying hate, glorifying weaponised children, and spreading far-right narratives at scale.

England has rarely needed to wave flags — its power was historically inferred. The current flood of St George’s Crosses signals less national pride than cultural insecurity: a performative attempt to reassert symbolic ownership and redraw boundaries of belonging.

Research shows owners consistently recruit in their own likeness — homophily is the norm. The difference is when white owners appoint white managers, it passes without comment.

The many issues with the current Labour government laid out clearly by @graceblakeley.substack.com

That Everton has a policy to prohibit the wearing of Palestine football jerseys—a nation that participates in FIFA events under its own flag—is the most blatant example of discrimination possible, not to mention complicity in genocide.

“people are fundamentally egalitarian but are led to collapses by enriched, status-obsessed elites”

It's really not that deep. The reason for the rebellion in the Party is quite simply because Starmer is pulling Labour too far to the right. MPs will have been getting pelters from their constituents. The progressives have had enough. Govern as Labour or this is sure to be a one term government.

I don’t like the way PIP is framed as a “benefit”. It’s not a favour — it’s an Independence Payment, a recognition that society is not designed for disabled people. To remove or drastically reform it is to deny a historical truth: that exclusion is built into the world we’ve made.

Vietnamese iced coffee hits different.

More than half of top 100 mental health TikToks contain misinformation, study finds

I hate football.

Honoured to join FA South Asians in Football Working Group as part of its new #EDI strategy. Looking forward to working with some fantastic colleagues in this space. 🔗 thefa.com/inclusion-and-anti-discrimination/south-asians-in-football/working-group

£312bn is more than the GDP of 140 countries. This isn’t the politics of envy. It’s the politics of sensible people who want millions off food banks and our public services repaired. #TaxTheRich #SocialJustice uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-bill...

Rupert Lowe denying bullying while bullying Emily Maitlis throughout the entire interview is pure theatre — and proof enough of the kind of man he is. I didn't think it was possible for some to be even worse than Farage. Vile. www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/epi...

Listened to BBC Newscast after Starmer’s “island of strangers” comment. They trotted out Yvette Cooper who wasn't even able to clearly reject comparisons with Enoch Powell. This is the moment, we'll look back at, where Labour completely lost the left, the centre and any goodwill that was remaining.

Maybe FIFA should just move the entire @fifaworldcup26.bsky.social to Mexico & Canada?

New Reform mayor Andrea Jenkyns vows to sack county council’s diversity officers - except there aren’t any. Farage and Reform are importing Trumpism and US style closures, leaving unfair practices to flourish. Join a union and local citizens groups to resist.

Somebody please tell this Zia Yusuf Reform UK extremist it’s EDI not DEI #bbclaurak

The left and progressive institutions must confront a difficult truth: while EDI has achieved real progress for many, it has too often failed to speak meaningfully to white working-class communities. And in that failure, it has left a dangerous vacuum—one being eagerly filled by reactionary forces.

A reflection on leisure studies’ past more so than future? What about digital forms of leisure? Leisure has moved on from parks and tourism to platforms. Shouldn’t the field evolve with it? #LeisureStudies #DigitalLeisure #AcademicTwitter www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Thursday and Friday were a bit of a write-off with travel to Vietnam, but if you’ve got to catch up on a Sunday, this isn’t a bad spot to do it. Really looking forward to meeting the Digital Marketing students at the National Economics University, Hanoi 🇻🇳

Rachel Reeves had options. Instead of taxing the super-rich, she slashed benefits – leaving 3.2 million families £1,700 worse off. Charities are scathing. Read what the Resolution Foundation has to say about the Spring Statement. @eastangliabylines.co.uk

Overall then, although the Green Paper includes some sensible reforms, it is hard to escape the conclusion that many of the proposals have been driven by the need for short-term savings to meet the Chancellor's fiscal rules, rather than improving the system in the long-term.

The 4 points in one PIP component rule is a calculated tactic to reduce mental health and neurodivergent claimants. I see so many with high needs who don’t hit 4 in one area—so they get nothing. This must be challenged under the Equality Act, and it absolutely will be.

A depressing day. You only have to read what so many charities representing so many different vulnerable people say to know this was a grim day. Shameful stuff. www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...

The government’s benefit reform plans hinge on the idea that disabled people should be working—which, on the surface, sounds great. Work is independence, empowerment, purpose. But only if the workplaces themselves are fit for purpose. Workplaces largely remain built by and for non-disabled people.

Summary of the proposed welfare changes by the government today

I have communicated with people today who feel suicidal and pushed to self-harm or addiction relapse due to this bloody #DWP announcement. I’ve also spoke to people convinced they are the problem and that they should immediately come off benefits. Please do none of the above 1/2

For anyone struggling tonight x

“Too many” Black players 🤯 youtu.be/lij-xEFQsl4?...

There’s talk of a ‘right to try’ for disabled benefit claimants—letting people test out work But what about the businesses that still won’t hire them? What about the cultural barriers? It’s all very well saying ‘try’, but if every door is shut, where exactly are people meant to go?

Deloitte predicts global revenues in women’s sport will reach $2.35bn in 2025

Dressing room racism. Still very much a thing. vm.tiktok.com/ZNddknHCU/