I stopped by the Cock Tavern E8 on Friday evening to share a beer or two with long standing friends Hazel and Ian.
For the unaware the Cock is in Mare St E8 (Hackney Central BR 2 minutes). It is a regular winner of CAMRA awards and has 8 cask handpumps, 8 cider and perry handpumps and 8 keg taps.
Looking at the always impressive beer selection I chose beers from Cloudwater, Kernel and Verdant. If you’re assuming the beers were on the keg taps it would be a reasonable one. All three are renowned craft beer producers mostly on keg.
However you would on this occasion be wrong. All the beers were on cask. The Cloudwater 192 Project was a 5.8% dark beer with raisin notes. The Kernel was a 4% summer pale and the Verdant Lamanva was a 4% best bitter. All were good examples of the styles they represented.
A pleasant surprise and btw I finished with a glass of Beak Poutine 8.4% dipa. A collab with a Canadian brewery it did not however contain, curds, chips or gravy. And yes it was on keg
The Archers where the landlady of Ambridge’s pub The Bull has not yet managed a reference to the death of Dolly Parton.
Meanwhile the FT (29.8) has printed an obituary. Its relatively rare for the organ of business to publish obits of music stars. However as well as being a great and popular musician, Dolly Parton was also a successful businesswoman, using much of the profit for philanthropic causes that Donald Trump certainly does not approve of.
Nigel Farage had not made a public appearance since Farage Fest on August 14/15 until he was sworn in again as an MP on September 1
He is expected to return at the Reform ‘conference’ at the National Exhibition Centre at the end of the week. There will be a Stand Up To Racism protest.
Farage had numerous on-line advocates and the comment that he was on holiday is noted. It is also contradicted by a Reform statement that is ‘working from home’. Their most recent story was that Farage was fishing (one of the few genuine things about him)
In fact however in recent Augusts Farage has been anything but absent holding regular ‘press conferences’ to get attention when many politicians are actually on holiday as the Commons doesn’t usually sit in August.
Meanwhile there is now a statistic on how Farage has been doing in the day job as an MP for which he has paid nearly £100K a year
Commons Clipper records MPs Commons speeches for social media clips.
So far in 2026 the average number of contributions per MP has been 83. Farage has managed just 9. For scale Douglas Lumsden a Tory MP elected in June 2026 has made 21 contributions. Richard Tice has made 125 contributions.
The stat has clearly concerned Farage as he told Christopher Hope on GB News (1st September) that he will now be spending less time in the Commons. Is that possible?
Unfortunately I missed Friday’s Ask The Umpire on Test Match Special. It being a Bank Holiday I was on the train.
However I did have the traditional beard cricket related question, which is here:
A wicket keeper with a WG Grace style beard, standing up to the wicket, distracts the batter with a beard movement as the ball is bowled. Does Rule 41 Unfair Play apply?
Toby Wood also had a good point
Ask The Umpire is usually podcast in due course but it is on BBC Sounds, Friday after 1pm on Radio 5 Sports Extra
Allister Heath is the Editor of the Sunday Telegraph. This is a New World meme that mimics the kind of things he says. We will no doubt find out how accurate it is..
Nathan Cofnas the promoter (although not the instigator) of the media pile on over the work of the late Professor Jason Arday will complete his one year assignment on the ‘future of liberalism’ at the University of Ghent and leave in March 2027.
What there is in Cofnas’s academic background to suggest he knows anything about the subject he is meant to be researching remains unclear. As hundreds of academics at the University of Ghent have pointed out his substack consists mainly of racist ramblings.
Cofnas had been suspended by the University but the intervention of the US Ambassador to Belgium the aptly named Bill White, a Trump fan, seems to have secured a reversal.
Frankly the less is heard from Cofnas the better. He should be left to research his subject and it will be interesting to see what he produces.
The University of Ghent have provided the following statement on its website (26th August 2026)
Remote work required, teaching duties suspended amid ongoing personnel case
As part of an ongoing personnel case, Ghent University has imposed a disciplinary measure on a member of its research staff for a period of three months. A preliminary inquiry is also under way to determine if further disciplinary action is warranted. Under the disciplinary measure, the staff member is required to work remotely and may not carry out any teaching activities. In addition, any research activities undertaken as part of the staff member’s appointment at Ghent University must be strictly limited to the research topics for which the appointment was made.
Ghent University does not wish to comment further on the controversy surrounding this matter. This is not because the University wishes to avoid public debate, but because ongoing preliminary disciplinary inquiries must be allowed to proceed calmly, independently and with full respect for the rights of all those involved. It would be inconsistent to safeguard the confidentiality of these procedures on the one hand while, on the other, commenting through the media in a way that could pre-empt the investigation, the positions of the parties involved or its possible outcome. All parties concerned will have the opportunity, through the appropriate procedures, to set out their position and exercise their right of defence.
Ghent University will therefore limit itself to confirming the disciplinary measure and the fact that investigations are ongoing, and will await their outcome. We expressly ask that the confidentiality of the proceedings be respected and that the matter be allowed to proceed in a calm and orderly manner.
The ‘race realist’ activist who provoked the media pile on over the late Professor Jason Arday, Nathan Cofnas, was called out by hundreds of academics at the University of Ghent well before he started making allegations against Arday. He is widely regarded as a racist.
While he was appointed to work in the area of ‘liberalism’ his academic record such as it is, has little in this area. His substack posts are mostly focused on a range of racist ideas.
The Guardian has reported the story (27th August 2026). What is of specific interest is whether the media that pursued the pile on over Arday, The Telegraph, Times, Mail and Spectator, will now publicity to the unfolding story of what Cofnas’s agenda was
A portrait of England bowlers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad by Jamie Routley was unveiled at Lords on 26th August ahead of the Second Test against Pakistan.
Its a reminder, if one should be needed, that Beard Power is an important part of success on the cricketing field
