Sacha Hilhorst
@sachahilhorst.bsky.social
Researcher at Common Wealth & post-doctoral fellow at LSE Sociology. Ajax fan. She/her.
Gosh, thank you for the kind words! I happen to have a vivid memory from my earliest fieldwork of listening to your Who Holds the Welding Rod essay while clearing weeds at the allotment with locals. Bad ethnographic practice for me to have had my headphones on, but I remember hugely enjoying it.
November 11, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Gosh, thank you for the kind words! I happen to have a vivid memory from my earliest fieldwork of listening to your Who Holds the Welding Rod essay while clearing weeds at the allotment with locals. Bad ethnographic practice for me to have had my headphones on, but I remember hugely enjoying it.
I genuinely bring up your sociological work on pubs quite often when I'm in the pub with friends, and I don't know whether it's a reflection of me or my friends, but it always goes down a storm.
October 27, 2025 at 3:18 PM
I genuinely bring up your sociological work on pubs quite often when I'm in the pub with friends, and I don't know whether it's a reflection of me or my friends, but it always goes down a storm.
Ah I'm so glad you got something out of it! Especially cause I've been such a fan of your work
October 27, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Ah I'm so glad you got something out of it! Especially cause I've been such a fan of your work
Disagree on point a. If all this leads to a conversation on how the West Midlands Police needs to reform to be able to keep our jewish friends and neighbours safe, then great, but why hitch it to a demand that racist, violent Israeli hooligans be allowed to misbehave with impunity?
October 20, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Disagree on point a. If all this leads to a conversation on how the West Midlands Police needs to reform to be able to keep our jewish friends and neighbours safe, then great, but why hitch it to a demand that racist, violent Israeli hooligans be allowed to misbehave with impunity?
Yes, it was. Read the verdict. When other ultras misbehave we don’t see calls to ‘kill all …’, but that’s what was said about jewish people - in those words - by people orchestrating attacks on MTA fans. Alongside holocaust ‘jokes’ etc. Pretending that’s not antisemitism helps no one and no cause.
October 20, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Yes, it was. Read the verdict. When other ultras misbehave we don’t see calls to ‘kill all …’, but that’s what was said about jewish people - in those words - by people orchestrating attacks on MTA fans. Alongside holocaust ‘jokes’ etc. Pretending that’s not antisemitism helps no one and no cause.
This is not true. There was v v vile antisemitism, see: uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=E... (in Dutch). Separately though the Maccabi fans did misbehave in ways that would see any football team face a fan ban, imv.
Rechtspraak.nl - Zoeken in uitspraken
Zoeken in uitspraken
uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
October 20, 2025 at 11:04 AM
This is not true. There was v v vile antisemitism, see: uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=E... (in Dutch). Separately though the Maccabi fans did misbehave in ways that would see any football team face a fan ban, imv.
But both things can be true no? From the Dutch-language reporting: in addition to general hooligan stuff there was v vile antisemitism in Ams. Separately, MTA fans seem to have spat on a woman, threatened to kill another & generally caused havoc. That earns fans of any team a ban, as Ajax was too.
October 20, 2025 at 10:53 AM
But both things can be true no? From the Dutch-language reporting: in addition to general hooligan stuff there was v vile antisemitism in Ams. Separately, MTA fans seem to have spat on a woman, threatened to kill another & generally caused havoc. That earns fans of any team a ban, as Ajax was too.
Absolutely. In interviews and focus groups in Reform-leaning post-industrial Labour seats, price controls have been the most popular policy all year, even when we heavily caveat with counterarguments. People have been seeing their weekly shop dwindle and they’re tired.
October 15, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Absolutely. In interviews and focus groups in Reform-leaning post-industrial Labour seats, price controls have been the most popular policy all year, even when we heavily caveat with counterarguments. People have been seeing their weekly shop dwindle and they’re tired.
This has made me laugh - nothing could better illustrate the divide between our departments. We sociologists just have Fanon quotes up!
October 10, 2025 at 12:53 PM
This has made me laugh - nothing could better illustrate the divide between our departments. We sociologists just have Fanon quotes up!
Thanks Tim! Catch up soon?
October 8, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Thanks Tim! Catch up soon?
Haha yesss cheers!
October 8, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Haha yesss cheers!
It’s still embargoed for now but feel free to email me - Im happy to send it over
October 8, 2025 at 9:31 AM
It’s still embargoed for now but feel free to email me - Im happy to send it over
Thank you Jane!
October 8, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Thank you Jane!
I noticed that too. A disgraceful way to cover it tbh
October 8, 2025 at 8:37 AM
I noticed that too. A disgraceful way to cover it tbh
Did you know, for example, that Croydon was once the home of Imperial Airways, which "placed the town on the empire’s maps", and compelled fascists with strong ties to empire to make it their home and organising base?
October 1, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Did you know, for example, that Croydon was once the home of Imperial Airways, which "placed the town on the empire’s maps", and compelled fascists with strong ties to empire to make it their home and organising base?
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
The opening paragraphs - it's like, I don't know, Shakespeare, or Beethoven. You know it's great. Everyone knows it's great. But then you encounter it directly, in its own context, and you can only say, man this is so great.
September 25, 2025 at 4:39 AM
The opening paragraphs - it's like, I don't know, Shakespeare, or Beethoven. You know it's great. Everyone knows it's great. But then you encounter it directly, in its own context, and you can only say, man this is so great.
Hahaha this joke alone means I’m going to have to listen to the podcast. Teeing it up rn
September 17, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Hahaha this joke alone means I’m going to have to listen to the podcast. Teeing it up rn
Thats part of it for sure. But one difficulty of the status loss concept is that it lumps toxic investments in patriarchy and whiteness in with more diffuse and sociological stuff that we can actually work with as progressives. Whereas ‘white people should be respected more’ I can’t and won’t.
September 17, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Thats part of it for sure. But one difficulty of the status loss concept is that it lumps toxic investments in patriarchy and whiteness in with more diffuse and sociological stuff that we can actually work with as progressives. Whereas ‘white people should be respected more’ I can’t and won’t.
Just to add, I think that theres i.a. an indirect path via declinism, which can be partly tied to local trajectories as well as some underappreciated stuff on autonomy at work, as touched on in the essay.
September 17, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Just to add, I think that theres i.a. an indirect path via declinism, which can be partly tied to local trajectories as well as some underappreciated stuff on autonomy at work, as touched on in the essay.