It won’t have escaped anyone’s attention that there’s a World Cup going on in Qatar right now.
The first World Cup I remember was Mexico ‘86 when Maradona’s ‘hand of God’ was etched into my memory forever. But, as a trade unionist and LGBTQ+ and feminist ally, this is the first World Cup since then that I actually considered not watching.

Ever since I was a kid, football has formed an important part of my weekly ritual.
When the old man was still alive, he would call every Sunday evening to talk about the football results. It’s often said that men – particularly those over a certain age – aren’t good at expressing their feelings. But through those exchanges, Dad and I would get a pretty good understanding if there was something bothering one of us, and I like to think that we always found a way to give one another the support we needed. Sometimes we find a different way to communicate:
ours was football.
For me and many other football fans, the beautiful game creates a prism through which we can project our own beliefs and values and put them to the test in a uniquely safe and public space. Perhaps that’s why some have condemned the actions of sportsmen wishing to express their own beliefs and values by shining a light on injustice. Perhaps they realise their own values are destined to fail the test when the lads on the pitch that carry the weight of their hopes on their shoulders make it abundantly clear that they stand against their bigotry and hatred and division.
In the end, I decided to watch.
I decided to support my country and the English values of solidarity and inclusion that our national team represents.
I am proud that they continue to take the knee.
I am proud of them for using their platform to shine a light on racism, sexism and homophobia and the rights of workers building stadiums.
I am proud to be English.
COME ON ENGLAND!
Pat Osborne,
for North Dorset Labour

With Putin’s warmongering having further exposed the fragility of our food supply, it is worth reflecting on another Vladimir, Lenin, who wrote over a hundred years ago that ‘Every society is three meals away from chaos’. During the COVID pandemic people fought in shops over loo rolls – imagine the reaction if we were to run short of food.

Some Tory politicians think the UK doesn’t need to worry about growing its own food, because we’re relatively wealthy and can buy what we need from other countries. North Dorset’s MP Simon Hoare recently wrote about the need to sustainably increase UK food production, but he focussed entirely on livestock farming and claimed there is no ‘argument to sustain’ a decline in the livestock sector. West Dorset MP Chris Loder has similarly written about how effective pastureland is as a carbon sink, and said that science does not support a plant-based diet. I respectfully suggest they both need to look more closely at the evidence, perhaps starting with DEFRA’s reports.
Livestock is presently the major part of Dorset’s farming industry, but we can and must change that. At present we have to import so much else of what we eat. Animal farming is a hugely inefficient way of producing food, using large areas of land to produce relatively little food. Around 71 per cent of UK land is used for agriculture, and 72 per cent of that is grassland for grazing. Most of UK-grown wheat, barley and oats is used for animal feed, while we import almost half our fresh vegetables and 84 per cent of our fruit. That cannot continue.
With the changing climate we cannot rely on other countries to be able to grow what we need.
We have to recognise that farming is the most important occupation, bar none. Farmers must be properly rewarded for their efforts, and we need to encourage younger people into the profession. We must incentivise farming that produces more of the food varieties we need, and in organic ways that regenerate the health of our depleted soils, make our waterways clean again, increase biodiversity and capture carbon. It can be done, and our healthy future depends on it.
Ken Huggins,
North Dorset Green Party