Clockwise from left: Director Ken Loach with writer Paul Laverty
KEN LOACH IS angry. But you knew that already. His impassioned socio-political views have fuelled his films from the start, from 1967’s Poor Cow and 1969’s Kes to his latest, The Old Oak. Today, discussing the latter, he’s railing against the UK’s Minister for Immigration, who recently ordered a mural of Mickey Mouse at a Kent asylum centre to be painted over. “Who in their right mind is going to punish children for having come in a dangerous boat?”, the director fires off. “Imagine putting your own kids there, Robert Jenrick. You know, I’d like to... I won’t say what I’d like to do to him. But how can you trust anyone like that?”