As I sat down with Ken Loach in the Cameo Cafe, he asked me what subject I read. “History and English,” I replied, ready for the usual look of “oh, you’re in trouble!” Instead I got, “That’s good. You don’t often meet young people studying proper academic subjects anymore.” We talked about the growth of business schools in the up, and he commented on the absurdity of the fact that Oxford Business School has corporate sponsors. Oxford’s website says their “vision of a business school was made real by a £20 million matching donation from Mr. Wafic Saïd. You’ve got to fight it!” Loach says. But he speaks quietly and his tone is soft. If you didn’t speak English, you might have thought he said “I can’t find my glasses”. Ken Loach – the person – reminded me of his best films: pungent in content but subtle in delivery.

Loach was in Edinburgh to promote his new film, Route Irish. The film is about the mysterious death of Frankie, who left the army for a more profitable career in private security in Baghdad. Frankie was killed on Route Irish, the road that links Baghdad airport to the Green Zone. “We had wanted to make a film about the war for a long time, and then this started to happen.” ‘This’ is the privatisation of the war.

“When you privatise it, you hide it. Politicians don’t have to answer questions and when someone’s killed, they don’t come back with a flag over their coffin.” As the army leaves Iraq, private contractors have taken over the army’s responsibility. Between 2003 and 2009, contractors were given immunity from Iraqi law – essentially, they were given permission to shoot to kill. It’s called ‘order 17’ – another war euphemism.