James Ford-Bannister

34y/o Lighting Project Manager at ETC, BAFRA Director of Training & ELF American Football Official, and Riverside Arts Centre Trustee.

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

One of the best things I've listened to on the whole Mandelson saga. Raw, honest, and sharing in the same despair as many of us.

Politics needs an accountability renaissance.

[The Rest Is Politics @RestIsPolitics]

🚨LIVESTREAM ALERT🚨

@campbellclaret reflects on the Epstein scandal, Peter Mandelson’s betrayal, and the turmoil now engulfing the Labour Party.

Live from 16:30 GMT 🇬🇧

Link in the replies 👇

[Craig Scarborough @ScarbsTech]

What a shot !
By Victor Eleutério - DPPI
@victimva

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

@tjmcaulay Love to see this. Official calling it as instructed and ex-official explaining it nice and clearly.

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

An interesting take thar highlights the importance of getting away from the tribalism and polarised state fo modern local, national, and international politics.

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.

We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.

I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers:
1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.”
2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”

He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.

He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.

He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.

Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?

I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.

Some were. But not all.

This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together.

Karl Polanyi, writing in The Great Transformation, argued that when markets are “disembodied” from society, when land, labour, and life itself are treated as commodities
society pushes back. He called this the “double movement”: people seeking to protect themselves, to reclaim dignity and meaning when everything solid seems to melt into air.

That’s what I saw in my friend’s photos. Not just anger, but a demand for belonging.

We’ve replaced collective experience with atomisation. Without getting too nostalgic, programmes like the BBC’s Generation Game once pulled in millions every Saturday night, giving us something we could all talk about on Monday morning. Now we watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime, or Paramount, alone, in algorithmic silos.

Football used to be affordable and rooted in community; now it’s millionaires playing for the profitability of billionaires. The NHS, the post office, the railways - all chipped away, run down, sold off or centralised, leaving people feeling powerless and disconnected.

And don’t get me wrong: some kind of “Hovis Labour” nostalgia for the 1950s isn’t the answer. The country back then was often intolerant, grey, and deeply unequal. But what we’ve built since is a society that gives people little to hold in common, no collective story about who we are or what we’re for.

I reckon that’s partly why my mate marched. Not because he wants to turn back the clock. But because he wants to feel pride again. Pride in a country that is inclusive, fair, and offers a role for everyone. Pride in a nation that has a respected place in the world, tackles grotesque inequality, and gives people something real to believe in.

Polanyi warned that when democracies fail to provide a humane alternative, the backlash can turn authoritarian. This is how fascism grew in the 1930s, not because everyone became a true believer, but because millions felt abandoned and looked for strength, identity, and meaning wherever they could find it.

If Labour and progressives don’t offer that story of renewal, if we don’t rebuild our national institutions, restore collective pride, and re-embed markets within society, the far right will do it for us, in their own image.

And by then, it will be too late.

[mount bellyache @mountbellyache]

this is what morrissey was yapping about

[Matthew McConaughey @McConaughey]

whats the spread?… 02.09.25 @ubereats #ad

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

As true now as it has been for 15 years. Never stop @timminchin - you are a treasure!

[Edinburgh Reporter @EdinReporter]

Fun and games in Edinburgh City centre in the snow this morning

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

@holy_schnitt Spoke to a US colleague today and he said his 13 year old daughter asked him to teach her how to handle a gun for protection. My heart goes out to women across America.

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

@AJFeldmanTV Answers the question James Cook is, in fact, not human but is dancer.

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

@Yoda4ever Neighbourhood Woof

[Lessie 🪐 @YouAreMyBezoar]

la delegacion de Madagascar

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

@bbctms @AlexHartley93 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

Not every day you appear in an RGIII tweet

[Robert Griffin III @RGIII]

Video evidence of Austria beating the American National Team in American football. Their first win over America since World War II.

[NO CONTEXT HUMANS @HumansNoContext]

that has me screaming

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

Didn't know anyone needed a break from @bbctm, it's a high quality national institution! Love tuning in!

[Telegraph Cricket @TeleCricket]

'Talksport’s cricket coverage is basic, but it offers a break from TMS wokery'

#TelegraphCricket | #INDvENG

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

@brgadsby @jadeparkhill I'm with you on the black one

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

This is incredible - great work Team Bolts

[Los Angeles Chargers @chargers]

don't be a d*ck, repost to #probowlvote for cameron dicker

[James Ford-Bannister @TheatreFord]

I'm grateful for road funding, don't get me wrong, but surely this funding was meant for underfunded northern transit? Like the logo in the bottom left says 😶

[Rory Stewart @RoryStewartUK]

An astonishing and terrifying glimpse of “post-truth” at the heart of democracies