Throughout the 2000s Loach continued to intersperse wider political dramas such as Bread and Roses ( which focused on the Los Angeles janitors strike ) and Route Irish ( set in the Iraq occupation ) with smaller examinations of personal relationships.

Loach values having a strong, creative partnership with scriptwriters, most recently with Paul Laverty, who has written nine feature films for Loach ( including The Wind That Shakes The Barley and Sweet Sixteen ), and previously with Jim Allen ( Land & Freedom ) and Barry Hines ( Kes ).

In 2007, Loach was one of more than 100 artists and writers who signed an open letter initiated by Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism and the South West Asian, North African Bay Area Queers ( SWANABAQ ) and calling on the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival " to honour calls for an international boycott of Israeli political and cultural institutions, by discontinuing Israeli consulate sponsorship of the LGBT film festival and not co-sponsoring events with the Israeli consulate.

In May 2009, organisers of the Edinburgh International Film Festival returned a £ 300 grant from the Israeli Embassy after speaking with Ken Loach.

" Loach said he had a " respectful and reasoned " conversation with event organisers, saying they should not be accepting funds from Israel.

Together with John Pilger and Jemima Khan, Ken Loach was among the six people in court willing to offer surety for Julian Assange when he was arrested in London on 7 December 2010.

* Interview with Loach about My Name is Joe

* Interview with Loach from 1998

* Interview with Ken Loach, interview about Route Irish in the Oxonian Review

Zebra Loach ( Botia striata ) with the fusiform shape typical of Botiinae

In 1964 he and Kenneth Adam initiated the new anthology series The Wednesday Play, a BBC equivalent of Armchair Theatre, which had great success and critical acclaim with plays written and directed by the likes of Dennis Potter, Jeremy Sandford and Ken Loach.

Gerrard also scored the Jim Loach directed Oranges and Sunshine starring Emily Watson and Hugo Weaving released in April 2011 which garnered her with another nomination at the 2011 IF Awards for Best Music Score.

The remaining originals, Deas and Challenger, continued to perform, along with guitarist Paul Dixon ( a member since December 2008 ), and new members Andy Pelos ( lead vocals ), Dean Loach ( keyboards ) and Rob Hewins ( drums ).

Director Ken Loach formed his long-standing association with Garnett on The Wednesday Play and made ten plays in all for the series.

However, Ken Loach has said that despite the public outcry following the play, it had little practical effect in reducing homelessness, other than changing rules so that homeless fathers could stay with their wives & children in hostels.

Loach employed a realistic documentary style, using predominantly 16mm film on location, which contrasted with the vast amount of BBC drama of the time, which was commonly made in the electronic television studio.

Along with other Loach films, it is currently available to watch on Loach's YouTube channel.

It was rated with four stars out of five possible in the British film magazine Empire, where reviewer Michael Hayden praised the performance by Oksana Akinshina while comparing the film to both the social realism of Ken Loach, and " the darkest of fairy tales, complete with wicked aunts and guardian angels.

Loach is a Patron of several charities, including Doorway, a homeless charity in Nuneaton, and Developing Health and Independence ( DHI ) in Bath.

Loach has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Bath, the University of Birmingham, Staffordshire University, and Keele University.

The film competed for the Palme d ' Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival where Loach won the Jury Prize.

In June 2009, Loach, Paul Laverty ( writer ) and Rebecca O ' Brien ( producer ) pulled their film Looking For Eric from the Melbourne International Film Festival, where the Israeli Embassy is a sponsor, after the festival declined the withdraw their sponsorship.

Kenneth " Ken " Loach ( born 17 June 1936 ) is a Palme D ' Or winning English film and television director.

In a 2011 interview for the Financial Times, Loach explains how " The politics are embedded into the characters and the narrative, which is a more sophisticated way of doing it ".

" Loach also joined " 54 international figures in the literary and cultural fields " in signing a letter that stated, in part, " celebrating ' Israel at 60 ' is tantamount to dancing on Palestinian graves to the haunting tune of lingering dispossession and multi-faceted injustice ".

Loach is supporting the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in the London Assembly election, 2012 He wrote a letter to The Observer in 2012 condemning the Globe theatre for allowing an Israeli theatre company to perform there.

Matthew Saad Muhammad ( born Maxwell Antonio Loach, June 16, 1954 ) is a former boxer who was the world's light heavyweight champion.

Edvin Loach, also Edwin Loach, is a village in eastern Herefordshire, England, about four miles north of the town of Bromyard, and near the village of Edwin Ralph.

It is part of the modern civil parish of Edvin Loach and Saltmarshe.

* Ken Loach, the film director, who is an elected member of its national council.

* The Navigators ( film ) is a film by Ken Loach.

Cathy Come Home is a 1966 BBC television play by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach, about homelessness.

It is also available as a special feature on the 2011 Criterion bluray and DVD release of Kes, another Ken Loach Film.

My Name Is Joe is a 1998 Scottish film directed by Ken Loach.

The film is anchored in part by its setting in the kind of milieu more common to classic British kitchen-sink dramas or the films of Ken Loach than to anything this emotionally tender.

) Jennifer Loach, in Edward VI ( Yale University Press, 1999 ): 62, notes that Lady Fane is Crowley's " only possible link, and a tenuous one, with Somerset ".

The River Otters also boasted veteran NHL ' ers like Jim Montgomery, Dennis Vial, and Lonnie Loach, who wore # 33 and is the only person to have his number retired with the Missouri River Otters.

Carla's Song ( 1996 ) is a British movie directed by Ken Loach with screenplay by Paul Laverty.

Land and Freedom ( or Tierra y Libertad ) is a 1995 film directed by Ken Loach and written by Jim Allen.

According to Ken Loach, the most important scene of the film is the debate in an assembly of a village successfully liberated by the militia, which highlights one of the great strengths of Loach as a director in that it is a truly compelling encounter.

* Scott Loach ( Lincoln City, Bradford City, Watford )