David Renton

The conventional narrative of how English cricket works goes something like the following: at the pinnacle of national achievement is the (men’s) Test side, then beneath that are the 18 counties (and their men’s teams). These are the only cricketers worth knowing about, the ones who results are reported in the national press. Beneath them, there are a vast, undifferentiated, blancmange of informal matches, one-off ties, nets, street cricket, etc. There are two obvious problems with this story.

View All Book Series BOOK SERIES About the Series This book series focuses upon national, transnational and global manifestations of fascist, far right and right-wing politics primarily within a historical context but also drawing on insights and approaches from other disciplinary perspectives.

No Free Speech for Fascists explores the choice of anti-fascist protesters to demand that the opportunities for fascists to speak in public places are rescinded, as a question of history, law, and politics. It explains how the demand to no platform fascists emerged in 1970s Britain, as a limited exception to a left-wing tradition of support for free speech. The book shows how no platform was intended to be applied narrowly, only to a right-wing politics that threatened everyone else.