Political Football

A striking chart that we’ve included in November’s newsletter shows how the FSU has surged from just under 14,000 members at the beginning of July, to 20,100 members at the end of October – a percentage increase of 43%. As our graph highlights, it won’t be long before we’re bigger than Aslef and the National Union of Journalists. There’s good news to pass on in relation to the Judicial Review of Bridget Phillipson’s decision to pause the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act. It was reported by the Telegraph over the weekend that the FSU has now been granted permission to appeal the move, with a judicial hearing set to take place in the High Court on January 23rd. In a legal document confirming permission to appeal the move, a High Court judge said it was in the “public interest” for the issue to be resolved promptly. Worryingly, though, Sir Keir Starmer has now resurrected the Football Governance Bill, which fell by the wayside during the last Parliament. Among the reams of red tape it will impose on football clubs is a requirement that they submit a “corporate governance statement” to the newly created Independent Football Regulator saying what action they’re taking on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). Our concern is that this requirement will normalise what happened to our member, Linzi Smith, with tens of thousands of fans banned from attending games simply because their political views put them at odds with their club’s EDI policy. Finally, we briefly discuss our response to the latest consultation issued by the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries on the inclusion of EDI requirements in the Actuaries Code before deciding definitively not to speculate on who might win the imminent presidential election in the USA. ‘That's Debatable!’  is edited by Jason Clift.