Kmflett's Blog

The Ambridge Socialist

11^th January

BBC report Markie’s gang were responsible for attack on George

The BBC have reported that the police have told George that having impounded and searched the phones of Markie’s associates they have concluded they were responsible for the attack on him. This hasn’t satisfied the FB Archers Academics who have suggested others as potential attackers particularly Harrison and Mick. Both potential suspects in the view of the Ambridge Socialist.

Highland Games

The BBC seem intent on celebrating Burns Night with the Highland Games at The Bull. Burns was of course a Lowlander….

Grundy solidarity fractures

Eddie has been reminiscing with Brian about Joe Grundy and the days when the Grundys were a united proletarian family. Eddie it seems has finally had enough of George which in turn is causing an issue with Will. This won’t be resolved in a hurry.

In Other News

Bargain Hunt

Bargain Hunt – Series 73: Antiques to Ambridge – 75 years of The Archers – BBC iPlayer

On 9^th January Bargain Hunt was a special 75 years of the Archers programme. It featured Tracey, Jazzer, Lilian and Justin. There were some interesting bits, in particular  a brief interview with Keri Davies and a tour of the Archers sound effects department

Trevor Fox

The Archers doesn’t often feature new actors, not least because the budget does not allow for it. However Trevor Fox is on a forthcoming appearance list. His particular role is as yet unclear

Megan Davies 1958-2025. Details of London celebration 18^th January 2026 & Guardian Obituary

A London celebration of Megan’s life will take place at the Cock Tavern, 315 Mare St, London E8 1EJ. The Cock is very close to the Hackney Empire and Hackney Town Hall. Hackney Central BR is 5 minute’s walk. Numerous buses stop nearby including those that serve Central London such as the 38 and 253. However due to never ending road works in central Hackney a check on the precise stopping place is important. Further there is no car parking at all in the immediate area (many locals use Lime Bikes!)

Sunday 18^th January at 3pm. All welcome. The Cock does not sell food but you can bring your own and there is an M&S a short distance away. It has an extensive range of independent cask & craft keg beers and cider & perry. Card only. There is step free access It was one of Megan’s favourite London pubs

What to expect There will be a few brief thoughts from Megan’s relatives and friends but the afternoon is about meeting up and sharing memories of Megan in a social atmosphere with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks

Guardian Obituary 18^th December 2025

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/18/megan-davies-obituary?CMP=share_btn_url

Earlier Guardian letter

While I agree that there is much to be done to improve end-of-life care (Editorial, 29 October; Letters, 2 November), in Megan’s case, she was able to stay at home and enjoy many of the things she liked until a final two-day stay in hospital, where she also received good care.

This was achieved by a combination of support from family, friends and her local GP, together with targeted assistance from hospice-based palliative care nurses.

It was not, of course, perfect and sometimes required chasing up treatment and medication, but that web of care seems to me an important matter, if, of course, it can be achieved with a stretched NHS and still austere Britain.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London (letter in the Guardian)

Donations in Megan’s memory may be made to Medical Aid for Palestinians online. Thanks to those who have donated including from the Pop and Hops Pub Quiz on 18^th December https://www.map.org.uk/?form=FUNFXHDCJPK

Many thanks to Megan’s sister Bronwen Davies for invaluable assistance and help

“For What It’s Worth”

There’s something happening here
But what it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it’s time we stop
Children, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?

There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking’ their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

It’s time we stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?

What a field day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly saying, “hooray for our side”

It’s time we stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
Step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?

We better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?

We better stop
Now, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?

We better stop
Children, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?

Having announced a candidate for London Mayor earlier in the week, the main result of which seems to have been an outflow of Reform members to the even further right Advance outfit, the Excel Centre was the location for a Reform London ‘rally’ on Friday 9th January.

Its been an interesting week politically mainly focused on Trump and the USA’s further lurch towards fascism. Hence a Reform rally on a cold Friday night in early January did not exactly make the headlines.

Reform is not popular in London, which given the fact that Reform regularly denounces the Capital as a crime ridden hell is perhaps not surprising, this not exactly being the experience of most of those who live there.

Even so Farage has found a poll that claims Reform could win some London Councils in the May 2026 Elections. These are primarily Tory run Councils in south-east London, so on this occasion Farage may be vaguely in touch with reality.

As for the rally it was the usual Reform shambles (it is regularly reported to be professionalising but clearly has a way to go). It was claimed on social media to be ‘sold out’ with 2,500 tickets at £5 a head. The Times, whose reporter was actually present, noted the actual attendance was around 1,000. Furthermore all the bars were shut, suggesting perhaps that for a few days at least Farage is doing Dry January. He did claim to have done it for the whole month in 2015 (Spectator January 31st 2015) but since then seems to start and fairly quickly fall off the wagon

David Bowie Ten Years on (8.1.47-10.1.16)

It’s ten years since the death of David Bowie and I note the question being asked of how much he is now remembered

After all I’m so old that I got Hunkdory and Ziggy Stardust when they were first released in the early 1970s, which is over fifty years ago now.

Bowie was an iconoclast in terms of music and ideas so you could certainly never say he was a man of the left in political terms.

Yet the world is often not so simple. There are those whose professed aim is to make the world a better place who achieve little in that respect (sometimes not for want of trying) and there are those who manage to change things a bit even though it was probably wasn’t particularly the main thing they had in mind. Bowie I think is in the second category.

As Tom Robinson tweeted after Bowie’s death, the Ziggy persona and arguably Aladdin Sane too gave hope to a generation of LGBTQ youth that it was ok to express their sexuality. In 1970s Britain that was something rather significant.

The Thin White Duke of the Heroes period may have been an impressive persona but it was not something that could be lived with on the left. Bowie was looking at fascist ideas and imagery at a time when the genuine fascists of the National Front were a growing force in Britain.

I doubt too many NFers saw the videos of Heroes (the German language one in particular is memorable, though hardly for the best of reasons) and certainly the impact was nothing like the remarks of Eric Clapton that led to the founding of Rock Against Racism.

Bowie later donated money to the Anti-Nazi League, a reminder that above all he was playing with ideas and music, experimenting with forms, rather than aiming to make overt political statements.

Perhaps his legacy, aside from great music, is a discussion about whether a musician now could have the wider impact on society he had in various ways in the 1970s, even though, as above, it was probably not something he was striving to have.

His flirtation with fascist ideas and symbolism can’t be ignored but it was one moment in a complex artistic career. Another was in the early 1970s when he helped to shift the stifling social and sexual relations of post 1945 Britain into a rather better place.

“Did 2025 mark the end of British parliamentary democracy as we know it?” asks the headline on Andy Beckett’s article (25 December). Let’s hope not, but the case for moving to a proportional-representation-based system seems clear. The disillusion with Westminster, however, surely stems from the growing gap between House of Commons politics and extra-parliamentary politics in workplaces, communities and the streets. Hundreds of thousands have continued to march on Palestine in 2025. Some nods to this have been made – recognition of a Palestinian state. However, arms sales to Israel continue, as do official relations with Tel Aviv. Meanwhile, hardly a week goes by without the government finding new ways to restrict protest. In 2026, we will need to see a battle to defend democracy from above, but also crucially from below.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/01/a-new-year-brings-new-battles-for-democracy-and-for-labour?CMP=share_btn_url

13th January 2026

The vote for the Beard Friendly Pub of the Year 2026 is now open. The list is below, but other suggestions are welcome including pubs, bars, taps and bottleshops

Vote by responding to this post either below the line or via DM or Messenger. There is no vote on Twitter/X this year.

Current leaders are the Shirkers Rest & Tom’s Tap & Brew

Beard Friendly Pubs of the Year

Cock Tavern, Hackney

Burton Bridge Inn, Burton

Pop’n’Hops, Cardiff

Shirkers Rest, South London

The Pocket, Islington

Tom’s Tap, Crewe

Pressure Drop Tap, Tottenham

Kings Head, Bristol

Beard Friendly Pub of the Year refocused for 2026

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the annual Beard Friendly Pub of the Year has been refocused for 2026.

Key Points

1 The vote remains about encouraging people to visit their local pub, bar or tap during January. While it notes Dry January, there are in 2026 plenty of low and no alcohol options available.

2 While the focus is on beards, in 2026 most pubs and bars at least tolerate beards. We aim to find hostelries that are welcoming to all, providing a friendly, ‘pub is the hub’ environment or what Donald Trump would call ‘Woke’

3 There will be no vote on Twitter. The platform is not a suitable location for the Beard Friendly Pub of the Year vote. People will be asked to respond on Blue Sky and Facebook

4 There will be two separate votes covering London, and the rest of the UK with separate winners for both categories

5 The list that we ask people to vote on is carefully selected but very far from exhaustive, and other suggestions are most welcome provided they broadly fulfil the criteria above.

6 Voting open until the 14^th January. The winners will be announced on 15^th January

This mural is by cartoonist and artist Tim Sanders. Its in Tilbury Rd near Leyton Midland Rd station in East London.

The plan is to bring a delegation from Palestine to Leyton in February 2026 to celebrate the mural and I expect dance!

I worked with Tim Sanders on a cartoon version of Chris Harman’s People’s History of the World (I did the words) but his cartoons can be found in the Independent, Socialist Worker, Private Eye and no doubt elsewhere..

Beard Friendly Pub of the Year refocused for 2026

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the annual Beard Friendly Pub of the Year has been refocused for 2026.

Key Points

1 The vote remains about encouraging people to visit their local pub, bar or tap during January. While it notes Dry January, there are in 2026 plenty of low and no alcohol options available.

2 While the focus is on beards, in 2026 most pubs and bars at least tolerate beards. We aim to find hostelries that are welcoming to all, providing a friendly, ‘pub is the hub’ environment or what Donald Trump would call ‘Woke’

3 There will be no vote on Twitter. The platform is not a suitable location for the Beard Friendly Pub of the Year vote. People will be asked to respond on Blue Sky and Facebook

4 There will be two separate votes covering London, and the rest of the UK with separate winners for both categories

5 The list that we ask people to vote on is carefully selected but very far from exhaustive, and other suggestions are most welcome provided they broadly fulfil the criteria above.

6 The shortlist will be posted on 10^th January with voting open until the 14^th January. The winners will be announced on 15^th January