Kmflett's Blog

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has named Australian batter Travis Head as the Beard of the Ashes series.

The campaigners say that Head, promoted to open the Australian innings, has been a positive promoter of Beard Power on the cricket field.

Other players including England’s Joe Root, who scored two centuries, displaying for the first time a full beard, came close.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said we salute Travis Head a great example of what a beard can bring to the game of cricket

For anyone concerned I’m posting this as social history not because I’m typing it in my local Spoons while participating in the January sale.

The sale which runs until January 15th is part of Spoons history. I’ve had a look- the most reliable source for early Spoons history is CAMRA’s London Drinker magazine, because in the first decade and more nearly all Spoons were in London. However there is no reference to the sale possibly because the Dec/Jan issues of the magazine were combined and heavily skewed to Christmas.

Its reasonable to assume that the January sale was a feature at least from the mid 1990s. It invariably featured Youngers Scotch bitter on cask and the associated slogan ‘how low can we go’. It normally sold for 89p but during the sale could go as low as 59p a pint. It was drinkable, a true session beer.

The 2026 sale reflects changing times. Most of the discounts are on lo/no drinks and a selection of the food menu (which was not so heavily promoted in the 1990s).

Johnnie Walker Black whisky (plus mixer, not sure why you need one with Black but each to their own) is on offer. No lager is reduced and no cask is reduced. The only draught beer in the sale is Worthington Creamflow at 99, or Worthy as its known to those who drink it (which doesnt include me). Its possible with 800 pubs that it was the only beer that Spoons could do a deal on price and volume on.

Whatever else might be thought of Tim Martin when it comes to pubs he is an astute business person. The sale reflects what Spoons think will be the most attractive items to get people in their pubs during the first weeks of January when for many money is too tight to mention.

The late socialist historian E P Thompson labelled opinion polls ephology rather than psephology. That is far from to report what public opinion was they tried to shape it, primarily by the way they asked questions.

A current example is probably More in Common headed up by Luke Tryl that uses focuses groups and wide surveys which it then uses to estimate the number of seats parties might win. The result is not based on any analysis of particular seats and can be wrong- as it often was in July 2024. It can however generate media headlines.

YouGov whose most recent poll is above are these days more reliable. They are a major polling business and if their political polls are wrong that can hit their wider business.

Keir Starmer reportedly told the Cabinet on 6th January not to pay attention to the poll. It is of course a long way to the next Election and polls can change. Further since the polling was carried on the 4th and 5th January I’m not sure its exactly the best time to be asking for people’s thoughts on anything except Trump.

However the broad direction of the poll underlines a point that was obvious in 2025. The right is split between the Tories and Reform. The left is split between Labour, the Greens and on a broad definition the LibDems.

In a first past the post electoral system designed essentially for two parties the five way split will provide interesting results. Some of course will advocate tactical voting in particular to keep Reform out. Others might well think that there is an opportunity for the left to make a significant impact at the polls (which are only one way of changing things, but an important one) and potentially an historic one.

Work in progress for 2026

Donald Trump beats Nigel Farage in annual Lord of Misrule vote

London Socialist Historians Group

6^th January

Contact: Dr Keith Flett 07803 167266

The Lord of Misrule, a character who is supposed to subvert and turn the world upside down can be appointed at any time from Halloween on 31st October to at least Shrove Tuesday on 13th February. In particular on both Twelfth Night (5th January) and Epiphany (6th January) Lords of Misrule can be appointed.

Every year the London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, runs an on-line poll to test who the recipient of the title should be.

The potential contenders for the Lord of Misrule Crown in January 2026 are:

Keir Starmer

Nigel Farage

Jeremy Clarkson

Donald Trump

In the on-line poll of more than 500 people Donald Trump secured more than 50% of the vote with Nigel Farage, the 2025 winner coming last with just 5%.

London Socialist Historians Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, it’s just a bit of New Year fun, but Donald Trump’s victory- he first won the vote in 2016- does seem appropriate. His actions do seem to turn the world upside down but in reality he remains in charge as before. Meanwhile it seems Nigel Farage’s time as the Lord of Misrule has concluded.

Notes

In general the role of the Lord of Misrule is to appear to subvert the existing order, while in practice simply drawing off anger and discontent leaving matters much as they were.

A well-known example is Toby Belch in Twelfth Night who is given free rein to behave in an uproarious and outrageous manner. The real aim however is to give so much space to genuine revolt and no more, kept firmly in a space policed by authority.

E P Thompson in Writing by Candlelight saw Times letter writers as representative of provincial and largely reactionary opinion. Thompson was determinedly provincial himself but far from reactionary.

The Times has published a selection of letters over two days (5th and 6th January) on the US’s attack on Venezuela. The letters from the 5th January are above.

They clearly place Times letter writers firmly in defence of international law and against Trump. The letters on 6th January include two defenders of Trump.

In the majority the epistlers are to the left of Kemi Badenoch who told the Today programme on 6th January that what the US did was morally right and international law was what powerful countries (i.e the US) decided it was. They are also to the left of Keir Starmer who has defended international law in general but not in the case of Venezuela.

The Times is a Tory paper owned by Rupert Murdoch. It didn’t back Labour or anyone else in 2024 (The Sun backed Labour). Its Editorials on both 5th and 6th January have defended Trump with some qualifications.

Even so The Times has its letter writers…

The debate about whether Twelfth Night falls on the 5th or 6th January is unresolved but either way there were Hands Off Venezuela protests around the UK on Monday night.

I’m in Cardiff this week and made my (short) way to the one at the Nye Bevan statue opposite Cardiff Castle. Bevan was not a fan of US imperialism so we can be fairly sure that this was one protest that his statue at least would approve of.

The temperature in central Cardiff was already below zero at 6pm but the decent turn out, including a smattering of trade unionists from the PCS and RMT, was fortunately mainly of people much younger than myself.

There were of course speeches but probably a key purpose of protests like this so early in the year (the Christmas lights at the Castle were still on), aside from the urgent duty of solidarity, is for people to get together, plan and then build more and bigger protests and make new links for a new year.

Until the current series Joe Root had never scored an Ashes century ‘down under’. In the current series he has scored two.

The point of difference should be obvious. In this series for the first time Root has worn a full beard.

Beard Liberation Front organiser Keith Flett said, Joe Root’s new Beard Power underlines the importance of follicles in cricket, a lesson first learnt with W G Grace

The Financial Times (3rd January 2026) is one of the very few media outlets in 2026 that provides reliable reporting and analysis. You do not of course have to agree with it.

This guide on what to wear on the ski slopes this January suggests class divisions in society…

I can’t say that I don’t know people who go on skiing holidays, indeed as a union officer covering managers and professionals I represent a few (thought not when it comes to ski ware).

Personally I’ll be spending January trying to keep warm, endeavouring to find interesting new beers and trying to work out what I’m going to be doing this year.