Ben Sellers
“It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”
- 🧵 This was great to see from Bodo/Glimt - marking Sámi National Day by changing the colours in their club badge & tributes to the Sápmi national team. Obviously, these are gestures, but an important nevertheless. (1/5)
- If this sounds like Trump’s baby talk to you … … remember the adults are back in the room! Goo goo ga ga.
- Tony Benn on Peter Mandelson (1987): “Today we had a meeting of the NEC & the Shadow Cabinet. Kinnock introduced the meeting & spoke for about twenty minutes. We went on to Peter Mandelson who said a few words. I find Mandelson a threatening figure for the future of the Party.”
- The exposure of Mandelson tells a story much bigger than the rancid personal details. It’s about playing the game. Now that game has been revealed as vile, seedy, depraved, corrupt, violent, genocidal & illegal, I wonder if the penny will finally drop? substack.com/@mrbenseller...
- Was made late to the footy today by this beautiful otter on the River Wear. Having a great time. I do love an otter.
- 🧵 Four years ago, John Hendy (an incredibly well respected labour movement barrister, & chair of The Institute of Employment Rights) handed over his Status of Workers Bill to Andy McDonald MP in the House of Commons. 1/8
- Apparently Burnham is being blocked because ‘it would be a distraction to have him in the House in the lead up to the May elections’; ‘Reform might win the Manchester Mayor by-election’; ‘Andy’s just doing too good a job where he is’. (1/3)
- Happy Birthday, Antonio Gramsci. Alongside Tony Benn, my politics have been most shaped by Antonio Gramsci, who was born on this day in 1891. Here’s why: open.substack.com/pub/mrbensel...
- Since my kids left school, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about education. I recognise that I need to do more reading, but there are some more instinctive principles that have hardened - opposition to academisation being at the top of that list. Here’s why: open.substack.com/pub/mrbensel...
- Another example of how to talk about the “Globalise the Intifada” chant, for those who seem to find it difficult: www.icjpalestine.com/2025/12/18/j...
- I’ve had a novel experience over the last couple of days. I don’t think I’ve ever had a ‘pile on’ before - at least not on Facebook & not on this scale. open.substack.com/pub/mrbensel...
- I sometimes wonder why the far right are so upset with Starmer. In many ways, he’s one of them - from his advocacy of war crimes against the Palestinians to letting hunger strikers fade away in jail - he’s an odious, small minded pub bore. At least give him some credit for trying.
- It’s being reported tonight that Heba Muraisi, Kamran Ahmed, and Lewie Chiaramello have ended their hunger strike, after the news that Elbit Systems UK was denied a vital £2 billion army training contract with the Ministry of Defence - one of their key demands. (1/2)
- As it’s unravelled & a fuller picture of the murder of Renee Nicole Good has come to light, via video clips & eye witness statements, what it shows is that Good wasn’t scared of ICE officer Jonathan Ross, but laughed at him, alongside her wife, Becca. 1/
- What does the video of the killing of Renee Nicole Good tell us, in reality? It tells us that the ICE officer, now identified as Jonathan Ross, shot her two or three times, at point blank range, in the face, because he was angry. open.substack.com/pub/mrbensel...
- I wonder what other potential invasions our state broadcaster would describe as “options to acquire”. Mind boggling & embarrassing from the BBC.
- 🧵 Several years ago, I spoke at a joint fringe meeting with Liam Young - organised as part of the Durham Miners’ Gala weekend. (1/7)
- This is both obvious to anyone who has been paying attention & vital when looking at the renewal of the trade union movement. It’s way over time this culture was challenged. Good that Andrea Egan is being so clear about it: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- Excellent piece by @rogermckenzie.bsky.social on the corruption destroying the ‘beautiful game’. And he’s right - we need a revolution in football. morningstaronline.co.uk/article/fifa...
- Please watch & share this powerful & moving documentary about UK Spy Planes operating out of Cyprus by @declassifieduk.org. It is damning of @Keir_Starmer, his government & the MoD & their direct role in aiding the genocide in #Gaza. youtu.be/0fk3t28TiAc?...
- Watering down the Employment Rights Bill is a massive own goal in the fight against Reform. Me on The World Turned Upside Down blog: theworldturnedupsidedownne.wordpress.com/2025/12/11/w...
- Quite seriously, it requires some honesty about where we are with the Employment Rights Bill & how we got here. Long before the Lords got their hands on it, much that was transformative had been stripped out. I wrote this earlier in the year: theworldturnedupsidedownne.wordpress.com/2025/03/13/t...
- I’m not sure the concession worked guys. What can we concede next?
