 It was a socialist publication with a Britain-focused rather than internationalist perspective on political affairs, as seen in its support of the British involvement in the Anglo-Boer Wars and the First World War.Blatchford and Alexander M. Thompson founded the paper in Manchester in 1891 with capital of just £400 (£350 from Thompson and Blatchford, and the remaining £50 from Robert's brother Montague Blatchford).Robert Blatchford serialised his book "Merrie England" in the paper, and also published work by a variety of writers, including George Bernard Shaw, and artwork by Walter Crane.