Owen Jones meets Joey Barton: 'Homophobia in football shows the problems the UK faces'

I met Joey Barton at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, where he told me that the lack of openly gay footballers shows that the UK is not as progressive as it thinks. He believes that eventually homophobic abuse in the sport will come to be seen as unacceptable in the same manner as racism on the terraces. We also chatted about his opinions on politics, his history of violence, his interest in philosophy and why the penal system in the UK needs reforming. Subscribe to The Guardian on YouTube ► http://is.gd/subscribeguardian Support the Guardian ► https://support.theguardian.com/contr... Today in Focus podcast ► https://www.theguardian.com/news/seri... Sign up for the Guardian documentaries newsletter ► https://www.theguardian.com/info/2016... The Guardian ► https://www.theguardian.com The Guardian YouTube network: Guardian News ►    / guardianwires   Guardian Football ►    / guardianfootball   Guardian Sport ►    / guardiansportvideo   Guardian Live ►    / guardianmembership   Guardian Culture ►    / guardianculturearts