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Ralph Leonard

@buffsoldier96.bsky.social
427 followers 90 following 89 posts

Promethean with Dionysian proclivities. Conservative Marxist. Red Devil. Bylines: Unherd, New Statesman, Sublation Magazine, Quillette and The Freethinker "I drink your milkshake!"

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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
"It is a fact that for more and more players, which national team they will play for is not a given, but a conscious choice." My latest for Compact Magazine on the World Cup & how international football has been become transnational, so to speak. www.compactmag.com/article/the-...
compactmag.com
The Deterritorialization of the World Cup
Since 1930, the premise of the World Cup has been this: Every four years, the nations of the world bring their best players to compete with each other for the most coveted trophy in association footba...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
I've written an essay on juries as a "civic shield against the Damoclean sword of state power" via @quillette.bsky.social quillette.com/2025/12/23/t...
quillette.com
The Strange Death of English Justice
The proposed abolition of jury trials for most crimes undermines an ancient English liberty that has protected the people against state tyranny for centuries.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
I've written an essay on juries as a "civic shield against the Damoclean sword of state power" via @quillette.bsky.social quillette.com/2025/12/23/t...
quillette.com
The Strange Death of English Justice
The proposed abolition of jury trials for most crimes undermines an ancient English liberty that has protected the people against state tyranny for centuries.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
I wrote an essay for @unherd.com on the roadman archetype unherd.com/2025/12/cons...
unherd.com
Consider the roadman
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
I wrote an essay for @unherd.com on the roadman archetype unherd.com/2025/12/cons...
unherd.com
Consider the roadman
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
"The liberal idealist ethos based on the earnestness of ordinary people that ran through all his best films will endure." I've written a tribute to the late Rob Reiner for @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/rob...
unherd.com
Rob Reiner’s liberal optimism shaped a generation of cinema
With the notable exception of the US president, liberals and conservatives came together to express their condolences at the tragic death of Rob Reiner. No matter what they thought about his politics,...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
"The liberal idealist ethos based on the earnestness of ordinary people that ran through all his best films will endure." I've written a tribute to the late Rob Reiner for @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/rob...
unherd.com
Rob Reiner’s liberal optimism shaped a generation of cinema
With the notable exception of the US president, liberals and conservatives came together to express their condolences at the tragic death of Rob Reiner. No matter what they thought about his politics,...
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Spencer Sunshine @transform6789.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Christopher Hitchens on Noam Chomsky: "He forgets he's an anarchist just when it might do him some good." (via @buffsoldier96.bsky.social on the other site)
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
One can get very addicted to Ghost of Yotei's photo mode.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
One can get very addicted to Ghost of Yotei's photo mode.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
My latest piece for @unherd.com on the tensions between 'Christian nationalism' & the universalism of Christianity (supposedly being revived) vis-à-vis immigration. unherd.com/newsroom/is-...
unherd.com
Is Christian revivalism at odds with nationalism?
This week Reform UK’s only black branch chair, Neville Watson, quit. While he said he hadn’t faced any racism, he said the tenor of Britain’s migration debate is “doing more harm than good”, citing fe...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Thank you.
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Serdar Güneş @serdarguenes.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Is Christian revivalism at odds with nationalism? By Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social unherd.com/newsroom/is-...
unherd.com
Is Christian revivalism at odds with nationalism?
This week Reform UK’s only black branch chair, Neville Watson, quit. While he said he hadn’t faced any racism, he said the tenor of Britain’s migration debate is “doing more harm than good”, citing fe...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Playing Ghost of Yotei
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Playing Ghost of Yotei
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
I recently wrote an essay on Denis Villeneuve's Sicario & it's relevance a decade on, especially in Trump 2.0 for @thelastdvd, a new online journal about world cinema set up by Indian cinephiles thelastdvd.com/land-of-wolv...
thelastdvd.com
Land of Wolves – The Last DVD
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
I recently wrote an essay on Denis Villeneuve's Sicario & it's relevance a decade on, especially in Trump 2.0 for @thelastdvd, a new online journal about world cinema set up by Indian cinephiles thelastdvd.com/land-of-wolv...
thelastdvd.com
Land of Wolves – The Last DVD
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UnHerd @unherd.com · 09/10/2025
‘Being Anglo-Nigerian myself, I'm just about old enough to remember when British blackness was Caribbean in character’ | Ralph Leonard unherd.com/2025/10/why-the-right-mythologises-windrush/
unherd.com
Why the Right mythologises Windrush
A fading historical moment? / Babylon
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James @northamptonian.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
By @buffsoldier96.bsky.social who ought to cross post on here. I don’t read enough right wing stuff to know if it’s true or not, but when someone of Caribbean heritage is in the local paper for some crime, the comments are still poisonous. unherd.com/2025/10/why-...
unherd.com
Why the Right mythologises Windrush
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
"It is crucial for human freedom, indeed for a civilised society, to acknowledge that human beings aren’t simply political or communal animals." I reviewed Tiffany Jenkins' illuminating history of privacy/private life via @quillette.bsky.social quillette.com/2025/08/29/s...
quillette.com
Setting Man Free from Men
Tiffany Jenkins’ new book is a passionate defence of the value of privacy. The ability to keep some things private is at the heart of human creativity, freedom, and happiness, she argues. Perhaps even...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Portrait of a Young Spanish Woman by Anton Ebert (1880)
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Truth & Justice League @trujusticeleague.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
www.compactmag.com/article/the-... The Right Doesn’t Deserve the West | Compact @buffsoldier96.bsky.social
compactmag.com
The Right Doesn’t Deserve the West
One of the great lines from Goethe’s Faust states: “What you inherit from your forbears, must be earned before it is owned.” Today’s anti-woke culture warriors would do well to heed this lesson.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
"Jubilee’s Surrounded is a warped caricature of modern debate. It’s more of a game show than a forum for political dialogue." I've written about Mehdi Hasan going at it with semi-literate fascists on Jubilee's "Surrounded" via @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/the...
unherd.com
The Mehdi Hasan Jubilee debate was made for outrage
If you want to lose any remaining faith in the idea of lively, good-faith civil discourse, just watch the latest episode of Jubilee’s YouTube series Surrounded. This time, it was former MSNBC host Meh...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
That time when the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann was followed by a policeman in Genoa because they thought he was Lenin (he got that comparison a lot). Source: his autobiography
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
I wrote something on the argument over whether Britain should ban the Muslim face veil via @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/bur...
unherd.com
Burkas are regressive and misogynistic — but they shouldn't be banned
Last week at Prime Minister’s Questions, Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin asked Keir Starmer whether he would consider banning the Muslim face veil “in the interests of public safety”. It brought to mind Fran...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
I wrote something on the argument over whether Britain should ban the Muslim face veil via @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/bur...
unherd.com
Burkas are regressive and misogynistic — but they shouldn't be banned
Last week at Prime Minister’s Questions, Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin asked Keir Starmer whether he would consider banning the Muslim face veil “in the interests of public safety”. It brought to mind Fran...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
"the BBC permitted Lineker to criticise the human rights record of Qatar when the World Cup was held there; why should the line be drawn when he publicly takes issue with Israel’s human rights abuses?" My take on the Gary Lineker situation via @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/gar...
unherd.com
Gary Lineker exit has exposed BBC’s double standards
The BBC has long found itself in a tough spot regarding the question of Israel and Palestine. Supporters of Israel have alleged that the corporation’s coverage of the war in Gaza is biased against the...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
I've written for @unherd.com on Trump's proposed tariffs for "films produced in foreign lands" and how if it actually happened it would backfire, and, if it led to counter-tariffs, create a big problem for Hollywood. unherd.com/newsroom/tru...
unherd.com
Trump's film tariffs will backfire on Hollywood
“WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” was how Trump concluded — with all caps — a vague and grandstanding post announcing that his administration wishes to impose tariffs of 100% on films “coming i...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
And that bitchiness is perhaps what will make America not just politically, but culturally isolated.
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elle hardy @ellehardy.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
He really is a just bitchy showbiz guy at heart — and his populism stems from being rejected by pop culture elites
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
cc: @sharonk.bsky.social
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
I think @ellehardy.bsky.social you might be interested in this.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
I've written for @unherd.com on Trump's proposed tariffs for "films produced in foreign lands" and how if it actually happened it would backfire, and, if it led to counter-tariffs, create a big problem for Hollywood. unherd.com/newsroom/tru...
unherd.com
Trump's film tariffs will backfire on Hollywood
“WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” was how Trump concluded — with all caps — a vague and grandstanding post announcing that his administration wishes to impose tariffs of 100% on films “coming i...
295
Reposted by Ralph Leonard
Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
I wrote about the Dave Smith-Douglas Murray debate on Joe Rogan's podcast via @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/dav...
unherd.com
Dave Smith-Douglas Murray debate highlights Right-wing fault lines
Yesterday’s much-discussed debate between Douglas Murray and Dave Smith, hosted by Joe Rogan, almost perfectly epitomises the divide on the political Right. Murray is a neoconservative intellectual an...
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Serdar Güneş @serdarguenes.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Israel – ein siedlerkolonialer Staat? Der Zionismus basiert auf dem ethnischen Nationalismus Europas. Doch auch die linke »Dekolonisierungsthese« ist problematisch Ralph Leonhard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social , 07.04.2025 www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1190...
nd-aktuell.de
Israel – ein siedlerkolonialer Staat?
Der Zionismus basiert auf dem ethnischen Nationalismus Europas. Doch auch die linke »Dekolonisierungsthese« ist problematisch
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
I wrote about the Dave Smith-Douglas Murray debate on Joe Rogan's podcast via @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/dav...
unherd.com
Dave Smith-Douglas Murray debate highlights Right-wing fault lines
Yesterday’s much-discussed debate between Douglas Murray and Dave Smith, hosted by Joe Rogan, almost perfectly epitomises the divide on the political Right. Murray is a neoconservative intellectual an...
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Raul Zelik @raulzelik.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Der britisch-nigerianische Autor Ralph Leonhard hat ein großartiges und differenziertes Stück über "Israel - ein siedlerkolonialer Staat?" geschrieben. Unbedingt lesenswert. Auf Deutsch heute im ND. www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1190...
nd-aktuell.de
Israel – ein siedlerkolonialer Staat?
Der Zionismus basiert auf dem ethnischen Nationalismus Europas. Doch auch die linke »Dekolonisierungsthese« ist problematisch
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
I've written my thoughts on Slavoj Zizek's Christian Atheism for @thefreethinkermag.bsky.social freethinker.co.uk/2025/03/can-...
freethinker.co.uk
Can Christianity Save Atheism? On Žižek's Christian Atheism Cringe  - The Freethinker
A review of Slavoj Žižek's 'Christian Atheism: How to Be a Real Materialist'
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
I sometimes think I left school at just the right time. Like I was part of the last generation to still have had a somewhat 'normal' education just before smartphone dominance, teachers turned into glorified day care workers, & then ChatGPT being a cheat code.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
I sometimes think I left school at just the right time. Like I was part of the last generation to still have had a somewhat 'normal' education just before smartphone dominance, teachers turned into glorified day care workers, & then ChatGPT being a cheat code.
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wellesch @tobei123.eurosky.social · 29/03/2025
Fastenzeit Lektüre
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
I've written my thoughts on Slavoj Zizek's Christian Atheism for @thefreethinkermag.bsky.social freethinker.co.uk/2025/03/can-...
freethinker.co.uk
Can Christianity Save Atheism? On Žižek's Christian Atheism Cringe  - The Freethinker
A review of Slavoj Žižek's 'Christian Atheism: How to Be a Real Materialist'
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The Freethinker @thefreethinkermag.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Today in the Freethinker, Ralph Leonard reviews Slavoj Žižek’s recent book on 'Christian Atheism'. @buffsoldier96.bsky.social freethinker.co.uk/2025/03/can-...
freethinker.co.uk
Can Christianity Save Atheism? On Žižek's Christian Atheism Cringe  - The Freethinker
A review of Slavoj Žižek's 'Christian Atheism: How to Be a Real Materialist'
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Here is my review of Steven Soderbergh's Black Bag. A film I rather enjoyed and in its own way is a very pro-marriage film. Black Bag; Suave, Sexy and Smart blackjacobin.substack.com/p/black-bag-...
blackjacobin.substack.com
Black Bag; Suave, Sexy and Smart
Steven Soderbergh has the prolific productivity of a one-man b-movie horror-trash studio.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
I would recommend it.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Here is my review of Steven Soderbergh's Black Bag. A film I rather enjoyed and in its own way is a very pro-marriage film. Black Bag; Suave, Sexy and Smart blackjacobin.substack.com/p/black-bag-...
blackjacobin.substack.com
Black Bag; Suave, Sexy and Smart
Steven Soderbergh has the prolific productivity of a one-man b-movie horror-trash studio.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
I have written about the recent US-Israeli plans to try to 'transfer' Gazan refugees to various African countries for permanent resettlement & the neocolonialism behind it. Via @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/wil...
unherd.com
Will Palestinian refugees be moved to Africa?
It is evident that Israel, with the help of the United States, wishes to shunt its Palestinian refugee problem onto other states. American and Israeli officials this week leaked to the Associated Pres...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
I rather liked the Spanish black and white silent adaptation Blancanieves from 2012.
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
I have written about the recent US-Israeli plans to try to 'transfer' Gazan refugees to various African countries for permanent resettlement & the neocolonialism behind it. Via @unherd.com unherd.com/newsroom/wil...
unherd.com
Will Palestinian refugees be moved to Africa?
It is evident that Israel, with the help of the United States, wishes to shunt its Palestinian refugee problem onto other states. American and Israeli officials this week leaked to the Associated Pres...
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Ralph Leonard @buffsoldier96.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
"All are cruel whose power is so newly won." Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound
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