Kmflett's Blog

Howell D British Workers & the Independent Labour Party (1984)

Attempts to pull together a new force on the left are complex and fraught with difficulty. I write here about the early 1890s rather than 2025. The Independent Labour Party was founded in January 1893 but before then a process of formation had been gone through.

Above is an 1892 attempt to form a national leadership of the ILP. Many areas of England and Scotland were included as was at this stage the Social Democratic Federation (it did not join in 1893 despite protracted discussions). The key point was that wherever the leadership hailed from they must live in London.

As a Londoner this seems to me perfectly sensible. ‘Our Friends in the North’ did not agree. It was a non-starter. The 1893 conference was held in Bradford or as E P Thompson, himself a determined non-Londoner ‘those shadowy parts known as the provinces’ (Homage to Tom Maguire). He had a good point. London Head Offices are not the basis for a new grassroots movements of the left

Rupert Murdoch has made no secret over the years that he would like to see the BBC abolished. It would be in the business interests of the Murdoch empire (Rupert is meant to have retired, sort of). The last person Boris Johnson officially met before resigning as PM (on July 3rd 2022 at Chequers) was Murdoch.

Boris Johnson appointed Robbie Gibb to a senior role in the BBC and Gibb appears to have played a role in the resignation of BBC DG Tim Davie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Gibb

Johnson has called for the resignation of Tim Davie in the Daily Mail and claimed he would cancel his TV licence.

There is no conspiracy here. Just a great moving right show that stands to benefit Murdoch and Johnson in various ways. In short a political agenda to damage the BBC

Robbie Gibb

Tim Davie out at the BBC, Robbie Gibb remains: the Great Moving Right Show continues

With the resignation of Tim Davie as BBC DG because of ‘bias’ the great moving right show at least in news and current affairs continues.

The bias was not of course related to the destruction of the BBC’s News programming into a Reform-lite vehicle obsessed with immigration, all too clear on Radio 4’s Today programme and even now on its news website. Nor was the bias about Davie in effect, in Gary Lineker’s view, forcing the presenter out of Match of the Day because he made humanitarian comments about Gaza. Nor was it about checking Reform fan and BBC political correspondent Chris Mason’s more outlandish reports.

Meanwhile Thatcherite Tory, former GB News advisor and, apparently still, de facto owner of the pro-Israeli Government Jewish Chronicle Robbie Gibb remains firmly in place. The Guardian has reported on Gibbs role in recent events

https://www.theguardian.com/media/ng-interactive/2025/nov/10/make-no-mistake-this-was-a-coup-the-extraordinary-downfall-of-the-bbcs-top-bosses?CMP=share_btn_url

Robbie Gibb – Wikipedia

Tim Davie was deputy chair of Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative Association in the 1990s. He is not going because a new centrist or liberal DG is being sought but because a more right-wing figure still is wanted

Part of Gibb’s Wiki entry reads

In July 2025, Gibb’s impartiality was again questioned in an open letter from over 400 media figures to the BBC, which stated: “we are concerned that an individual with close ties to the Jewish Chronicle … has a say in the BBC’s editorial decisions in any capacity, including the decision not to broadcast Gaza: Medics Under Fire“.^[25]

The left has long had issues with some of the BBC’s news and current affairs coverage, notwithstanding beneath the headlines are many good journalists and support and technical staff.

The current crisis however is about the hard right trying to promote further its political agenda of racism, support for Israel and for the few not the many.

Farage was not at the Cenotaph today but at a Remembrance event in Walton on the Naze which is in his Constituency. It was cancelled last year due to an insurance issue but has now resumed. Farage who has an interest in the First World War and military history was reportedly also honouring Private Herbert Columbine who has a statue in the town. He received the Victoria Cross for fighting off a German attack on his own on 22nd March 1918.

Farage’s somewhat unusual appearance, while sometimes seen in military parades of a certain kind, seems to suggest that he is determined to protect the future of the event

The Ambridge Socialist

9^th November

Chris has a liaison with Carly: no shower scene (again)

We sometimes wonder at the Ambridge Socialist how much BBC reports from the village know about the traditions of the place. For example after a firework incident Chris and Carly ended up spending the night together. There was a kiss. There was not however the traditional shower scene- see the late Sid and Jolene- or if there was the BBC did not report it.

Alan the Vicar moves left

Alan the vicar generally comes across as something of a liberal humanist. This week he has moved left. Firstly he noted that he wore a poppy because it marked the fight against fascism (Farage take note NOT the fight for fascism). He then noted to Esme at her father’s funeral that while there was division in society the majority of people wanted to work together not against each other.

Stand Off over George

Susan, who understands about the need for redemption after a jail term, has taken on George as a volunteer in the village shop, currently housed in the Church. Cue another Reform style outburst from Mick. The Committee of Public Safety who apparently oversee the shop have told Susan that she can’t use George has a volunteer. Susan has told them that if they don’t back down she will resign. It’s a which side are you on issue. The Ambridge Socialist backs Susan Carter.

Mulligan’s funeral: the breadman calls

The root cause of the incident is that the delivery driver had too many calls to make and not enough time to do them. Simple class politics

The castle

The forthcoming Archers visit to a Scottish Castle is causing much interest on the Academic Archers site. The Ambridge Socialist notes the view that the whole thing is a scam in which Ruairi is or perhaps is not involved

The Remembrance Ceremony at the Cenotaph is a solemn occasion and invariably the great, good and not so good are officially there including former Prime Ministers.

2025 provided a reminder, if it were needed of the long parade of now former Tory PMs from Rishi Sunak to Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Theresa May and Dave Cameron.

As usual Boris Johnson proved to be a dedicated follower of fashion (his own anyway). Hair even more unkempt than usual and a jacket that is a little too tight for increasing girth…

Remembrance Sunday is not a Culture War. It’s about Never Again

In recent times Remembrance Sunday has been extended to include a range of imperial wars Britain has started or fought in. Certainly the working class soldiers who signed up because there were no other jobs deserve to be remembered.

However in also in recent times Remembrance Sunday seems to have been extended over weeks and become part of a Culture War.

I often have worn a poppy on the Sunday (reasons below) but I don’t now. It’s not about silly culture war games-see Laurence Fox, it’s about fascism, a matter of life and death to numbers. I take that seriously and always have done. The poppy obsessives don’t.

Interestingly the most pointed comment I’ve heard on this came from Alan Franks the vicar in the Archers who noted that he wore a poppy because it represented the fight against fascism

The below dates from a few years ago now but remains relevant.

I’m no fan of wars (although not a pacifist) but there are reasons to remember those that have taken place (and those that still are). Not the politicians and generals who order them and promote them but the ‘poor bloody infantry’ who have to fight them. Sometimes there is a good reason for the fight and a good reason to remember it

Simon Jenkins* no doubt has a point about an obsession with the second world war and Nazis to the exclusion of other history – that of colonialism and imperial wars for example. It is hardly time, though, to forget all about the second world war. My late father fought at Monte Cassino in 1944 and saw some of his comrades die there. A lifelong socialist, he would invariably wear a poppy on Remembrance Sunday. He wasn’t interested in Tory flag-waving. His concern, as when he was to be found on Anti-Nazi League protests in his later years, was to make sure that the industrial scale of murder represented by the Holocaust was both never forgotten and never repeated.

Keith Flett

Guardian 10th November 2017

*Simon Jenkins piece

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/09/no-more-remembrance-days-consign-20th-century-history

Historians of the present from Eric Hobsbawm to David Olusoga

The final of Celebrity Traitors gathered 11.1m viewers, the biggest overnight (TV and IPlayer) audience of 2025.

One of the two surviving faithfuls was David Olusoga, whose new series on Empire is currently airing on BBC2. The Guardian’s view:

despite the historian’s impressive record of reasoning himself to every wrong conclusion possible. I remain firm in my belief that David would have made the world’s greatest traitor, but as a faithful he was catastrophic. (Guardian review)

I think Olusoga is a brilliant historian. Firstly because he challenges the dominant Our Island Story narrative of British history. Secondly and relatedly he does this often by referencing archival research, a key part of the historical process- actual research.

In the 1950s Eric Hobsbawm urged the Communist Party Historians Group to become ‘historians of the present’ meaning they need to grapple with the history of the twentieth century.

Hobsbawm, while he never had the national media profile Olusoga has, was certainly someone who opined widely with an historical perspective on political issues.

Perhaps his best known piece was the Forward March of Labour Halted and controversial and disputed analysis of the state the labour movement in the 1980s. However he wrote widely on contemporary issues bringing an historical perspective too them. In my view these pieces were rarely as sharp as his historical work, interesting though they certainly were.

As for David Olusoga’s performance on the Traitors, deprived of an archive to research, he lacked a sharp analysis. However with 11.1m viewers he is without doubt the UK’s best known public historian

Farting from Sir Toby Belch to Marx and Engels and Celia Imrie

Celia Imrie’s fart in the now concluded series of Celebrity Traitors continues to make the news but as often with little or no historical context.

Farting, unsurprisingly, has been around a long time. Shakespeare’s Midsummer Nights Dream features the aptly named Sir Toby Belch. AI thinks there are no fart jokes in the play which simply tells us that AI has not been programmed on farting.

In a more weighty vein Marx and Engels also occasional used the term in a light hearted and deprecating way in their correspondence. Engels writing to Weydemeyer on 25th November 1855 referred to the German revolutionary Carl Schurz. He had fought in 1848 and then left for America where in due course he became an anti-slavery Republican and fought in the Civil War. Engels enquired if Schulz had been fighting or farting.

Of the Germans who have joined in the war,
Willich appears to have given the best account of himself, whereas
Sigel has UNMISTAKEABLY demonstrated his mediocrity. And Schurz,
the valiant Schurz, farting away amidst the shower of bullets and
shells, what foes is he demolishing now?

Monday 17th November 5.30pm Room 301 Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet St, London WC1.

This is an in person seminar only and it is currently fully booked. However it is often the case that not everyone who has booked attends on the day. If you are in the area you are welcome to stop by and see if there is space available

Title: The Legacies of African Enslavement and the Case for Reparations

Abstract:

Britain’s Industrial Revolution was, in large part, made possible by the capital accumulation generated by the “business of slavery,” and the genesis of Britain’s banking and insurance industries can be traced to this same “business”.

The enclosure of common land in England was often financed by the profits made by enslaving Africans.

The effects of slavery are still with us. Sugar, the foremost product of the Caribbean colonies, has left a world-wide legacy of ill-health. And the fossil-fuel based industry, which the profits from enslavement helped create, has caused the current climate crisis which threatens us all.

The colonial economy based on African enslavement caused deforestation and soil exhaustion, which has deprived the former Caribbean colonies of reasonable possibilities of development, and for this, along with the unpaid wages of millions of enslaved workers over centuries, reparations are both necessary and justified.