Lee Anderson has let Reform down when it comes to private education. I’m one of the 88% who went to a State comprehensive school (in North London) and the experience made a positive impact on me for the rest of my life.
Going up to the next class is a term used in the History of Education to refer to social mobility. A chart showing which Universities MP went to (if any) would complete the picture here
Reform led Kent Council Traitors spin off latest: two Councillors banished
Celebrity Traitors currently airing on BBC1 has been a TV talking point of October. So much so it seems that Kent Council, led since May 2025 by Reform, has launched a spin off.
A video of a meeting of Reform Councillors in August 2025 was leaked to the Guardian. In the video Council leader Linda Kemkaran can he heard shouting down critics and telling them that if they don’t like her decisions they will just have to f*cking suck it up.
Subsequently Kemkaran sent a note claiming that she has ‘suspicions’ of who was responsible for the ‘treachery’ of leaking the video and Reform HQ have been informed.
Reform seem to have added a tweak to the BBC version of Traitors. While the BBC Roundtable must name Traitors, Reform decided to ‘suspend’ four Councillors without directly naming them as Traitors. Whether this tweak adds or detracts from the dramatic impact will be debated
Kent is regarded as the flagship of the ten Councils Reform won in May possibly because it is in Farage’s backyard.
It will be interesting to see if Kemkaran does any better than the BBC’s version of Traitors in working out who are the Faithful and who are the Traitors.
The latest update (28th October) is that three more Reform Councillors have been banished bringing the total to five and the Faithful status of others is under question.
Reform had 57 Kent Councillors in May 2025 and now has less than 50
After Wetherspoons took steak off the menu, the politics of what happened next
In the middle of May 2025 the 800 strong pub chain Wetherspoons scrapped its steak menu (gammon also went) to considerable comment from Spoons regulars. They were replaced on the menu by a new series of gourmet burgers.
Spoons steaks were not particularly cheap- certainly above £10 but they were still more competitively priced than elsewhere. Spoons suggested that there was too much wastage as customers sent back steaks that had not been cooked to their liking.
As any meat eater who has looked at the price of steak in a supermarket recently will know the cost has increased significantly. On 27th October I stopped by Lidl at lunchtime. For those unfamiliar Lidl is a supermarket chain that focuses on competitive pricing. I noted one of their special offers- two 8oz sirloin steaks £12.49. Perhaps a year ago this would have been in the £7-8 range.
Towards the end of May 2025 the UK’s largest pub company Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) published its results showing a 10.4% increase in profits.
However one notable concern was the cost of meat. CEO Phil Urban commented that higher food costs was a significant issue particularly steak. However Urban notes that M&B have a steak brand, Sizzling Pubs ‘so we’re not going to compromise on quality’
Therein lay the Wetherspoons steak conundrum. Either reduce the quality of steaks served or charge a price many won’t pay. Alternatively don’t sell them..
The FT (25th October) provided an update on UK and US steak prices. A shortage of cattle (perhaps some are on strike?) and increasing demand for protein from steaks. The upmarket steak chain Hawksmoor has increased the price of a 450g ribeye steak from £52 (2024) to £57 (2025). Rump steak still costs £27 but the portion is not 275g instead of 300g.
There is of course a wider politics here. While the environmental impact of an agribusiness that eventually puts steak on the plate is and should be a key issue, it does not seem to be impacting demand for steak. Those who are vegetarians or vegans may feel that steak disappearing off menus or becoming unaffordable for many is in principle good. However its not an ideal way to get people to reduce their meat consumption.
Sarah Pochin who at the moment is a Reform MP is in political deep waters after complaining about who does and does not appear on TV adverts. When even Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has called the comments racist Ms Pochin’s future may be less assured than she hoped.
She might do well to listen to Randy Newman’s Short People (words below). For those who struggle with irony the lyrics are an attack on discrimination not promotion of it
“Short People”
Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
To live
They got little hands
Little eyes
They walk around
Tellin’ great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet
Well, I don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
‘Round here
Short People are just the same
As you and I
(A fool such as I)
All men are brothers
Until the day they die
(It’s a wonderful world)
Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
To love
They got little baby legs
That stand so low
You got to pick ’em up
Just to say hello
They got little cars
That go beep, beep, beep
They got little voices
Goin’ peep, peep, peep
They got grubby little fingers
And dirty little minds
They’re gonna get you every time
Well, I don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
‘Round here
Radio 3’s Private Passions on Sunday had Keir Starmer as a guest.
It is primarily a programme that showcases the classical music preferences of the guest- Starmer is a fan of Beethoven (though perhaps not always the roll over kind)- and trained musician, a flautist.
Not unreasonably therefore there was a lot of discussion about where and when Starmer listens to music, what he thinks about music education in schools and the impact of Brexit and AI on musicians.
There was as might be expected not much passion. He once again revisited his father’s occupation (the owner of a small tool shop in Oxted, though he never quite says that)and his neo-Trotskyist period from being a post-Grad at Oxford to living in a flat in Archway Rd, Highgate, was passed over.
A person unfamiliar with Starmer would have struggled to grasp that he is a Labour PM. He got as far as noting he was for change.
The big reveal was that he has installed a big screen at Chequers that allows him to catch up with any Arsenal game on whatever channel it is being shown. On this he did sound vaguely passionate.
Socialist History Seminar Monday 3rd November 5.30pm, in person, Room 301 Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet St, London, WC1E 7HU
Recording
Keith Flett
The authorities came looking for heretics, they found class struggle
Elaine Graham Leigh ‘But we have horns’: Finding a Revolution in Medieval Carcassonne
In August 1303, the people of the southern French town of Carcassonne rose up in revolt. The rebellion against King and Inquisition saw the prison stormed, the town elite driven out and their houses sacked, and the inquisitors humiliated. For eighteen months, Carcassonne was a town where the French royal writ did not run.
The revolt is often dismissed by historians as being about heresy rather than class conflict. Against this, Elaine Graham-Leigh will make the case for seeing it as an important rebellion of the lower classes of the town against feudal power and the apogee of eighty years of resistance to the occupation of Languedoc by the French. Analysing how the French crown used the persecution of minorities to buttress its authority, she will also consider how the revolt can aid our understanding of the origins of modern oppression.
Trump was in Kuala Lumpur on 26th October and as always protest follows him around, globalising the resistance even if Trump doesn’t recognise the concept (photo, Morning Star)
Beard Liberation Front
26th October
Contact Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social
As the nights draw in, the Scary Beard of Halloween poll is set to open
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, which campaigns against irrational prejudice against the hirsute, has said that the poll for the Scary Beard of Halloween 2025 title is due to get underway
The title, awarded each year on October 31st, takes a wry look at Halloween festivities by identifying the scariest beard in the public eye. The winner is likely to win by the narrowest crack of a squeaky floorboard.
The BLF does not generally believe that beards are scary a view promoted by generations of beard haters or Pogonophobes.
It is accepted though that on a dark moonless night as a beard looms through the gloom, nerves may rise a little as to what lies behind the beard.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said of course none of the beards on the shortlist is genuinely scary. But come Halloween things can look a little different…
Richard Branson, Rocket Man
Laurence Fox, social media star
JD Vance, Holidaymaker
Jonathan Gullis, ex-Tory MP
Russell Vought, Trump’s Project 2025
Morgan McSweeney, organiser
Evangelos Marinakis, Nottingham Forest owner
Eric Trump, assistant to the King
Brewdog Collab Fest 2025. No Direction Home
Brewdog’s annual Collab Fest is underway (23-26 Oct). Once a significant event in the craft beer year, craft beer is now known as Indy and Brewdog have issues.
So to be clear I don’t usually drink in Brewdog bars because of those issues. However I was interested to see what a Collab Fest looked like in 2025.
2019 seems to have been the pinnacle when 75 breweries were involved and the emphasis was on the experimental
In 2025 there are 35 breweries and 30 beers. Very few if any are experimental. A mixture of IPAs, stouts and a few sours.
One might think that any brewery doing a collab with Brewdog risked reputational damage, but despite closures Brewdog still has a substantial pub estate and in tough times business is business.
Anyway I stopped by the only Welsh Brewdog on Cardiff at 4pm on the 23rd October. There were half a dozen punters. No doubt it got busier.
I tried a flight of four thirds (£9ish). An amber/crimson lager from Utopian, an Irish Red from Drop Project, an IPA from Fierce and an American IPA from Electric Bear. The first two were decent, the second two nothing remarkable.
In summary things ain’t what they used to be, and we know why
The Ambridge Socialist
26th October
Archers heads to a Scottish Castle….
It may be recalled that the Matriach of Ambridge Peggy left a sum in her will to pay for a holiday for the Archers Dynasty. Eventually a Scottish Castle was identified. Initially it was not available until 2027 but now it has suddenly become so at short notice.
There is of course dissent particularly from those with school age children, but there is another issue. It may well be that the castle in question is the one used for Celebrity Traitors. Given the war between Alice, Ruairi and Adam about who should run Home Farm in future there may be some banishments planned.
Given that Ruairi proceeded to book the holiday without full agreement, it may be that not just banishments but murders are on the cards.
Brian plans a return to his ancestral home
Brian having returned from a holiday with Miranda has announced that she will fund the acquisition of his old house now that the Gills have departed again.
George Grundy unfairly barred from the Bull
Lilian in a rare moment of moral righteousness has barred George from the Bull. Not for anything he has done since his release but for what he previously did. Feelings are running high, understandably so, but was Freddie Pargetter barred on his release, even though he very likely had dealt drugs in there.
Eric Morecambe
Esme has at last managed to get access to her late father’s PC. The password obviously was Eric Morecambe. Bring Me Sunshine etc….
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