Kmflett's Blog

Over 500,000 march in London on 32^nd national demonstration for Palestine. BBC ‘local news’

Over 500,000 people marched in central London on 11^th October on what was the 32^nd national demonstration for Palestine since 2023. Unless you were there or already aware you could be forgiven for not noticing.

The BBC carried a brief report on its local news section for London. It was not however ‘local news for local people’ but a national protest. It did manage to cover as the lead item on its news site a pro-Trump rally in Tel Aviv

Tens of thousands attend pro-Palestinian march in London – BBC News

The Guardian’s reporting was almost equally perfunctory, although it has managed to post details of Palestinian protests in Australia on its main page (good)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/11/thousands-gather-london-march-lasting-peace-gaza?CMP=share_btn_url

What accounts for this failure to report a London demonstration several times bigger than that ‘organised’ by Stephen Yaxley Lennon a few weeks ago. It received wall to wall media coverage with politicians saying that those attending had ‘legitimate concerns’ despite the fascist presence at its core.

The reality is the march represented and was clearly demonstrating things that the Government does not wish to hear and also things it does not want others to hear as well.

After all the Government is still selling arms to Israel, still trading with the country and Starmer is closely involved with the proposed imperial carve up of Gaza which will benefit the rich and powerful.

Unsurprisingly in a further authoritarian lurch Starmer and Mahmood want to ‘crackdown’ and curtail the protests and Starmer wants to ban people from chanting things he doesn’t agree with..

Still 500,000 plus on the streets might give even them some pause for thought.

The picture btw is from the official twitter account of the Met Police. Despite the Met’s recent return to ‘estimating’ numbers on protests they have been silent about October 11th

Queueing in pubs: not a genuine tradition

The debate on queueing in pubs seems to be continuing with Roger Protz posting on Blue Sky on it for example and lots of comments on various FB sites (more on that below).

Queueing in part is a social tradition, a sort or rudimentary nod to equality that the fittest and strongest don’t come first. The London bus queue has been replaced by  a huddle (or sometimes scrum) around the door although believe it or not there are some places in the UK where the bus queue still exists.

Pete Brown writing in the Sunday Times (12^th October. Buy a Copy or check on line-paywalled) underlines that while queueing is indeed a great British tradition this does not apply to pubs. He rightly underlines that pubs have a virtual queue of people standing the bar. Quoting Emma Cole of Burton Bridge Brewery, who I first came across as manager of the Jolly Butchers in Stoke Newington 15 years ago, a good bartender clocks who is waiting and serves them in order.

Pubs are more problematic. Thinking of some favourite beer and beard bars, in several there is not enough room at the bar to do anything but queue. In another since people are invariably sitting at the bar, it’s a case of where you can politely elbow your way in. There would be no point in queueing.

Much of the debate seems to centre around Wetherspoons which does after all have 800 pubs. Of course these days you can sit at your table and order on the App, assuming that the App is UpToDate which on my occasional Spoons visits it sometimes is not.

Most if not all Spoons have lengthy bars but often not huge numbers of bar staff serving. Matters have improved considerably since the days of what I used to think of the Spoons random service method. Here you stood as much chance of getting served hovering somewhere in the vicinity of the bar and catching the eye of a bar person as you did standing at the bar.

Any way on those Spoons visits I do order at the bar not least because it’s a good way of making sure you get the beer you actually want. Understandably sometimes bar staff can get distracted. I never see a queue but these are traditions which depend on social interaction. A queue is certainly preferable to random service but I think if I found one I’d retreat to my table and use the App.

A sobering final thought is that queuing at the bar for a beer is not the worst of things. In the Making of the English Working Class (1963) E P Thompson notes in a section on Standards and Experiences that well into the nineteenth century queuing for water to drink or wash clothes in in some rural and urban communities was common.

Looking at the runes while there are articles (not monographs) on aspects of the history of queuing there does not appear to be a social history of the queue. Happy to be corrected but otherwise there is an interesting subject for a potential PhD student

The Ambridge Socialist

12^th  October

Class Justice. George deserves the same chances as Freddie

A year on and George Grundy has been released from jail. BBC reporting from Ambridge has had a long term bias in favour of the Archers and against the proletarian Grundys. David Archer got off with a badger murder, and Brian Aldridge avoided jail despite poisoning the Am.

It’s true that Freddie Pargetter did go to jail for drug dealing but on his release he was fully rehabilitated. First as an understudy for managing Lower Loxley and now as a manager at a meat packing plant.

Will George get the same rehabilitation chances or will he be stereotyped as a ‘wrong un’

In Other News

Brian is on holiday

The rat catcher has been called in at St Stephens and the temporarily relocated village shop has been shut for the duration. Some parables suggest themselves

ICE arrest of protesters in Ambridge

In the other Ambridge, Beaver County US, there have been complaints and law suits after members of the fascistic ICE arrested people for no reason at the end of July.

There are rumours that an ICE expeditionary force may arrive in the real Ambridge with the aim of deporting George to Eastenders

 With Sgt Knacker Burns currently away in Coronation St Ambridge Borsetshire doesn’t appear to have local officer. That said the BBC rarely reports protests held in Borsetshire anyway… thanks to Hazel Potter..

Shower scene news

Ruairi and

Fallon and Chris

The real reason Debbie can’t run Home Farm

According to the BBC Debbie is in Hungary. However they have now reported that she is playing in a punk band consisting of menopausal women in Hebden Bridge. Full details airing on BBC1 at 9pm on Sunday

Sally Wainwright and the Riot Women cast reveal they really learned to play their instruments and promise “uplifting” drama with “a huge dark story all the way through”

Campaign for Real Conkers

Media Release 12^th October

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Campaigners criticise ‘rule bound’ World Conker Championships, damaging the image of the game

The long running Campaign for Real Conkers has again distanced itself from the World Conker Championships to be held in Southwick, Northants on Sunday.

The campaigners say the Championships obsession with rules and conkers as a spectator sport is seriously damaging the future of the game.

The Campaign for Real Conkers continues to believe that conkers is something to be played, not watched, and above all is a game that is free for all and can be played anywhere without the need for rules

Campaign organiser Keith Flett said, we know the Championships raises money for charity and is good fun but the focus on it is damaging the image of conker playing. It promotes an image of conkers as a game for people of a certain age, while conkers lay uncollected and unused by younger generations.

He continued, fortunately our campaigning has had some success with conker festivals such as that in Peckham which are simply a no holds barred, free for all and a great deal of fun as a result

David Olusoga is one of the best known public historians of the time.

His work ranges from black history and the impact of slavery to identity and the house through time series. Perhaps his trademark is a focus on going back to archival research, reminding a wider public that history is not just opinion.

He is also a producer of TV programmes and sits on the Scott Trust that oversees the Guardian.

I’m not sure he has a clearly defined political position but very much of the liberal democratic left it could be argued.

His appearance on Traitors is unusual in the respect that well known public historians of earlier generations for example Eric Hobsbawm and E P Thompson chose wider political engagement.

The exception perhaps was AJP Taylor who used to do TV lectures on historical matters to a mass audience.

Olusoga on Celeb Traitors is an interesting historical experiment on the status and impact of the public historian in 2025

The Tory Conference took place in Manchester this week and speculation continued about how long Kemi Badenoch will continue as Tory leader with the Party at around 16% in the polls.

Her speech on Wednesday seems to have headed off an immediate challenge, possible in November. However the FT (11th Oct) argues that the key issue is the Chelsea FC question. Quoting one Tory donor the FT reports ‘comparisons with Chelsea are being made’. The club has appointed four permanent managers in five years.

Never doubt given how much money swirls around in Premiership football that the Tory donors are making a serious point

Self style US War Secretary Hegseth recently called a meeting of senior US military officers and announced amongst other things that ‘beardos’ are banned in the US forces. Its not clear if he notified JD Vance of the policy change.

On Friday Hegseth announced that the Qatari airforce would have a facility at a US base in Idaho. He later clarified after complaints from MAGA fanatics like Laura Loomer that it would remain a US based but be used by the Qataris.

It seems unlikely that Hegseth has checked who the Qatari airforce is comprised of. Suffice to say its mainly beardos.

Picture 11th October central London, Met Police

Who won the peace in Gaza. Beyond the art of the deal to making history on the streets

The start of another ceasefire in Gaza is hugely welcome. Anything that stops the killing and perhaps allows in more food is a step forward.

Trump of course has claimed credit for it. For those unfamiliar with the book that has his name on the cover, the Art of the Deal (he didn’t write it) the interest is in doing the deal not the outcome or whether it ultimately works.

While Netanyahu and his far right and fascist gang remain in power in Tel Aviv the chances of a longer term peace rest on whether or not Trump has finally had enough of them and turns off the financial and arms taps.

Katy Balls the Times US correspondent has the following story (10^th October)

Trump called Netanyahu to share what he thought was good news. However, Netanyahu suggested there was ‘nothing to celebrate’ leading Trump to say ‘I don’t  know why you are always so fucking negative. This is a win. Take it’

Obviously this story is being spun by the US and it might be reflected that the most important thing in achieving a ceasefire has been the impact of global protests.

11^th October sees the 32nd London march since October 7^th 2023 in support of the Palestinians. Successive Tory and Labour Governments have tried to restrict and ban the marches but 500,000 marched little reported.

There is a particular resonance because from 1918 to 1948 the imperial power in Palestine was based in London.

If the ceasefire is to hold the marches will need to continue. The more pressure Trump finds himself under the more likely he is to at least try and discipline Netanyahu. That is very unlikely to mean the withdrawal of US backing.

Meanwhile Starmer’s reaction is to carry on selling arms to Israel and try to ‘crackdown’ on support for the Palestinians. One of many reasons why he is so unpopular

E P Thompson in the Making of the English Working Class was rightly critical of those who dismissed opposition to new technology in the 1820s and 1830s. Their livelihoods were threatened by employers and they fought back from Luddism to Captain Swing. Fast forwarding 200 years and AI also has the potential to destroy the jobs of the many and create profits for the few. One way to make sure that AI benefits all is for those not already in a trade union to join one and organise. It may not be as dramatic as machine breaking but collective organisation at work is something where both the late E P Thompson and Keir Starmer should be found on the same historical and practical page. Assuming Starmer ignores the counsel of the apparently ever growing number of people from the Tony Blair Institute in his team that is. It may be a big assumption.