Kmflett's Blog

Spurs staying up, as is the debt at White Hart Lane

I’m a lifelong Spurs fan and live a few minutes from the ground in central Tottenham

I’m relieved that Spurs managed to stay in the Premiership, although I was around for the relegation in 1977 and I’m well used to the ups and downs at White Hart Lane on but also off the pitch. My late partner Megan, also a Spurs fan, took a more optimistic view of the club, and so would have been particularly pleased today.

The only surprise for Spurs is that it took so long to get to a situation where they were almost relegated. They almost did it last year but winning the Europa League compensated (and typically for Spurs got Ange Postecoglou the sack to be replaced by Thomas Frank, who frankly was not up to navigating life at Spurs. The less said about Igor Tudor the better).

The FT took a rather different perspective (19th May 2026). Noting that the new Stadium has brought in revenue from concerts and NFL games, it points to the reality that while Spurs are the ninth richest club in the world, they have been in debt for the last five years. Being in debt costs money. Perhaps the clubs owners ENIC could find a rather better owner although looking at global football it might be a case of being careful what you wish for.

As for West Ham I have never been a fan but I’m sorry for friends and comrades who support them. Perhaps a first off the pitch move in the Championship should be to ditch the contract with losers Brewdog. If they are not sure how that can be done, Lords Cricket Ground, who did it a few months back, can advise.

The Ambridge Socialist

24^th May

Home Farm: A brutal band of warring brothers (and sisters)

The words are Karl Marx’s describing how capitalists fight like rats in a sack. As Brian reminded the family on Friday they are not in fact brothers or sisters

Adam attempt to wrest control of Home Farm from Brian has failed so far. His claims that Brian has dementia are wide of the mark. In reality he is just an awkward and annoying sod. As is Adam. For the moment Brian has taken his ball away and Debbie having arrived has apparently also departed. This will not end well which in the view of the Ambridge Socialist is a good thing.

Hard Times in Ambridge

Ben has noted of Azara’s mental health initiative that everyone is struggling in Ambridge.

There is plenty of evidence.

Tracy is juggling jobs while being pestered by Helen about working more hours to help develop a new cheese. Meanwhile Bert Horrobin is unhappy because he can’t have egg and chips.

Carol has at last got a camera fitted, in the loft to watch the bats, and is still not wearing her alarm while also refusing to think of a sojourn in the Laurels.

New Road

In better news Den has taken Brad on a trip to New Road Worcester to watch a Second X1 game. This may be the first time an actually existing cricket ground has been mentioned on the Archers…

In Other News

Leonard has taken over Lemon Drizzle duties from Jill

Brad Futures: I’m not planning on being poor but not planning on being rich

For those unaware the First Law of Holes is ‘when in one, stop digging’

Not only the reason for the £5 million donation, details of which Farage claims were hacked by the Russians and then somehow passed to the Guardian (the Guardian is rightly indignant about that) but the fact that he decided the best place to raise the matter was in the Mail and not the National Cyber Security Centre (GCHQ) continue to be a focus (not on the BBC newsite obviously).

The latest Guardian update is here

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/25/nigel-farage-russian-hack-claim-disclosure-5m-gift?CMP=share_btn_url

The picture on the left is Harold Wilson on the Scilly Isles. He was Labour PM from 1964-1970 and from 1974-1976, winning four General Elections in the process. Andy Burnham on the right is not currently an MP let alone a Labour PM but he has a clear direction of travel and shorts seem to be part of it.

Wilson according to Private Eye liked the tonic wine Wincarnis, (he actually drank brandy). By contrast Burnham wrote the introduction to Matthew Curtis’s Guide to Manchester Pubs, published by CAMRA, so clearly knows a thing or two about good beer…

Beard Liberation Front

23rd May

Contact Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

2026 Beard, Shorts & Sandals Season. Bank Holiday guidelines Revolt into Style.

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the 2026 Official Beard, Shorts and Sandals Season is officially open

The pre-Season was marked by variable weather but the forecast now indicates higher temperatures with less rain for a period.

No Guidelines in 2026

The Beard Liberation Front, one of whose founding principles is that people should be able to dress and appear as they want, is increasingly concerned about official diktats on how people should or should not appear.

For the first time the voluntary option of wearing shades or sunglasses has been added after consultation within the network.

However the BLF urges those participating in the 2026 Beard, Shorts and Sandals Season to take care out there:

1 UV levels. It’s not just sun that can lead to sunburnt legs

2 Pogonophobia. Participants should beware beard haters

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, the Beard, Shorts and Sandals season has been a major influence on summer fashions in recent times and we expect the 2026 season to be no different. We’re pleased to see that Andy Burnham has already been spotted wearing shorts. All he needs now is the beard.

We have several more weeks to go of media reporting on what Andy Burnham did or did not have for breakfast before the Makerfield By-Election in the second half of June. We are unlikely to get such detail on what the current Reform candidate is up to since he appears to be kept under close guard of his Reform minders (as paid for by a Thai billionaire one might assume).

Likewise as even Alastair Campbell has managed to point out, one inexcusable tweet from someone who is now not the Green candidate received considerable media attention. The now deleted social media accounts of the Reform candidate and the fascists he was following on them, have received much less.

What has received even less media attention however is the clear split on the Tory right about whether to campaign at Makerfield or reach some kind of deal with Reform.

Jacob Rees Mogg has called for a Tory-Reform pact (again) raising the question of whether he is really some kind of fifth columnist for Reform. In the Spectator ex-revolutionary communist, and Spiked contributor, now on the far right, Brendan O’Neill has called for a Reform vote. The Spectator is edited by Michael Gove. In the Telegraph another reliably reactionary voice Stephen Pollard has argued that Andy Burnham must be defeated though he doesnt quite get around to saying who by.

Will all this get further media attention? It really depends on what Andy Burnham is eating and what shorts he is wearing.

Brewdog went bust earlier this year and was bought by US outfit Tilray. 485 people lost their jobs and most Brewdog bars shut.

Equity for Punks shareholders got no return on their investments

Now James Watt claims he is launching a new beer brand

Martin Dickie, not James Watt, was the brewer in the original Brewdog partnership. We may be thankful therefore that Watt is not planning to brew Second Best beers (pales and a lager) himself but get them contract brewed in Germany.

Watt claims that EFP shareholders will become founders of the new outfit that Watt will fund.

Neither the Company or the beers currently exist so some caution might be prudent about all this particularly given the outcome of Watt’s stewardship at Brewdog.

BBC Report

Brewdog founder to give shares in new beer brand to old investors – BBC News

I wrote for Culture Matters on how Brewdog might have been done very differently

BrewDog: Origins of the crisis and how a socialist approach could have made a difference – Culture Matters

The moral economy was a term used by the late historian E P Thompson. It was focused on how local communities established a fair price for the staples of life in particular bread but also beer.

It applied in the later eighteenth century and relied on local ruling classes believing that while the system indicated there were rich and poor that did not mean the poor should exist in absolute poverty.

Hence local Assizes determined a fair price for bread, depending on the cost of wheat ,the quality of bread to be produced and a fair profit for the miller.

It was not a revolutionary process but one that sought an unequal social harmony within limits. Issues arose where millers sought to subvert the system and in particular where middlemen, regraters and forestallers appeared. They would raise the price of grain and take their own profit.

Thompson noted that on such occasions crowds might gather and seize the grain to make bread at a fair price. This was the exception not the rule.

He also argued that with the rise of industrial capitalism the concept of a moral economy didn’t work. He later relented and agreed that its application was so widespread as to be pointless to confine it to a specific time period.

The economist James Meadway has suggested that the cost of living crisis is a moment demanding the return of a moral economy. He has a point. It’s not about national inquiries. It is about local organisation to make sure, for example, food staples are sold at affordable prices and protests where they are not. It is also about regional protests on energy prices. Of course the companies involved are global but cracks in the monolith can appear at its weakest point where people organise and push back

How it would work: mixing the methods of E P Thompson’s Eighteenth Century with 2026

There are two key elements:

The Assize to fix a fair price-say for energy or transport. This might meet twice in a year (historically annually) including local councillors, trade unionists, community reps and where amenable representatives from the utility being reviewed. Historically it was a disputed but ultimately consensual process where a fair price and a fair profit were agreed

The pursuit of those that did not charge a fair price- often due to the intervention of middlemen- regraters. This was very much a ‘from below’ activity where protests might occur at markets, shop premises or HQs but with the framework of the agreed fair price.

Beard Liberation Front

22nd May

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the squad named by England manager Thomas Tuchel for the Men’s football World Cup looks distinctly short of Beard Power.

Tuchel, who sometimes sports a proto-beard looks as if he is relying particularly on the Beard Power of Captain Harry Kane. It appears that Kane has re-formulated his follicles to facilitate maximum aero-dynamic advantage on the pitch.

The campaigners say there is evidence that beard power can influence ball play particularly when it comes to free kicks and headed balls. Correctly positioned the follicles can promote air currents which can then influence the direction of the ball

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, its concerning that Thomas Tuchel seems to have a limited understanding of Beard Power in football. A lot will be resting on Harry Kane’s match winning follicles.