Kmflett's Blog

The Ambridge Socialist

21^st September

Ambridge is a Trump No Go Zone

It was good to see Ambridge Socialist supporters on the anti-Trump march in London on Wednesday and the message that was sent and widely seen was clear. Trump is not welcome in Ambridge whatever Lawrence and any mates he has may think.

Paul & Ruari. The shower scene

A new friendship appears to have been forged in the Bull and celebrated overnight. Where however was the shower scene, the  Archers traditional way of marking such occasions

The ruling class at war: disruption at the Harvest Festival

It was meant to be a traditional autumn activity at St Stephens, in which Martha had a key role, but instead there was a shouting match between Brian and Justin and both were excluded from the Church. In this war of the Ambridge ruling class Brian certainly has more reason for grievance.

The Lakes

Ed had to be rescued, Fallon completed the swim and who knows what Jazzer was up to. It was all rather less melodramatic than it might have been, which is arguably not exactly typical Archers

Ambridge and flagshaggers

The Archers featured on Country File this week coming from Inkberrow the Worcestershire village in which the Archers is based. Indeed it appears that the Farm Shop is still monitored and the produce sold reflected in the Archers equivalent. Notable was that the shop and the pub The (Old) Bull were adorned with Union flags. Of course they may not be recent but are flagshaggers really needed in Ambridge?

Beard Liberation Front

21st September

Contact Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

2025 Beard, Shorts & Sandals Season reopens

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the 2025 Official Beard, Shorts and Sandals Season has reopened for early autumn after a period of suspension due to inclement weather.

The official season runs until the end of August each year but is usually extended throughout September and sometimes into October. Weather conditions in the first two weeks of September meant that the difficult decision to suspend the 2025 season was made.

However BLF observers have noted that the popularity of beard, shorts and sandals wearing has remained largely undiminished and so the season is once again open.

No Guidelines in 2025

The Beard Liberation Front, one of whose founding principles is that people should be able to dress and appear as they want is increasingly concerned about official diktats about how people should or should not appear.

However the BLF urges those participating in the 2025 Beard, Shorts and Sandals Season to take care out there:

1 UV levels. It’s not just sun that can lead to sunburnt legs

2 Pogonophobia. Participants should beware beard haters

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, the Beard, Shorts and Sandals season has been a major influence on summer fashions in recent times and the 2025 season was no exception. Moving into early autumn there is the possibility of things getting a little damp but our observers have found that many are still wearing shorts and sandals with their beards.

The leaflet is via Ken Muller on FB.

Starmer became the Labour candidate for Holborn and St Pancras in December 2014 and was elected as an MP in May 2015 at the General Election of that year, so it is in that short window in March 2015, ten years ago.

Given the history of the British State with the Palestine mandate after World War One and the creation of Israel in 1948 to recognise that Palestine exists is a very modest step for imperial Britain. Many thousands have been displaced and died in the meantime. Turning words into action as Starmer proposed in North London ten years ago remains the point.

The Palestine Coalition marches again in London on 11th October. Starmer 2015 would have been there. Starmer 2025 won’t be

The Liberal Democrat Conference is meeting in Bournemouth and leader Ed Davey, known for political stunts, seems to be attempting a re-creation of the Beatles 1967 made for TV film Magical Mystery Tour.

It is the third film that starred the band and depicts a group of people on a coach tour (including the band members) who experience strange happenings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Mystery_Tour_(film)

The first attempt at a leadership for the Independent Labour Party (1893). ‘cockneys unbend & come to Bradford’.

The current issues around who should lead the new left formation Your Party are significant but the left and the labour movement have struggled with and resolved such issues before.

The ILP was formed in Bradford in January 1893 and many of the debates about the name of the party (should ‘socialist’ be included) and its organisation (a federal structure or not) are familiar in 2025. Another issue was the construction of a representative leadership.

The principle was that there must be leaders representing different areas of the country.

Cunningham Graham, Scottish Labour Party

HH Champion, Scottish United Trades Council

Tom Mann, London ILP

H Quelch London SDF

Ben Tillett, Yorkshire ILP

Stephen Fay, Manchester & Salford ILP

‘In addition the Midlands and the North of England could nominate some Midlander or Northerner provided they lived in London’. Indeed all of the leadership lived in London. When a provisional leadership did appear after the 1893 conference it met in Manchester

W H Drew President of the Bradford Labour Union noted of the London plan ‘what you should set your face to is a conference of provincial men and Londoners, and you cockneys ought to unbend and come say to Bradford. The idea that a representative leadership should all live in London didn’t work. As E P Thompson noted in Homage to Tom Maguire the new leadership of labour emerged not from ‘London Head Offices’ but from ‘those shadowy parts known as the Provinces’

Strictly Come Dancing is back for its 2025 season and will run weekly on Saturday nights until nearly Christmas. It is without question great entertainment even for those like me who are not particularly interested in dancing.

The news that the show’s hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are to step down at the end of the series underlines the entertainment angle, which seems ever more to the fore. One wonders if some of the judges will also be retiring or to put it another way refreshed..

I’m old enough to recall the predecessor programme Come Dancing, with David Jacobs etc. I’m not sure it was entertaining but it was definitely about dance

The above statistic (Times 20th Sept 2025) looks at the number of maximum marks (ten) that have been awarded since the show started. The number of maximums has increased significantly and I suspect this reflects a drift away from a focus on the technical aspects of dancing towards a more entertainment focused perspective.

As the series goes on, based on recent years, technical details will be more important and there will be an emphasis on how the amateur dancers are improving, or not.

Even so in the days of the late Len Goodman I sense things were more austere on the marking front. Craig Revel Horwood the only judge to have featured in every series is a strict marker, while Anton Du Beke who has featured in five series has already given out more maximums than Craig.

The big puzzle however is why Nigel Farage has never been on. After all he features in most other things the BBC does. Of course it might conflict with his actual job as an MP but this hardly seems to bother him..

Its Cask Ale Week and the Spectator has been opining on the matter. I’m not sure Spectator readers in the main are cask ale drinkers. Perhaps a fine wine, a G&T or a single malt whisky?

But then I’m guilty of the same stereotyping as the Spectator. The Viz cartoon Real Ale Twats is mentioned, beloved by my brother-in-law who I think self identifies as one. Of course no stereotype works without some basis in reality.

The reality is that CAMRA, over 50 years old (I’ve been a member since 1975) is a social movement and such things exist in a well understood framework. They get organised, they make an impact, and they get drawn into official structures, lobbying, committees etc. Nothing wrong with that as such but over time the activist base gets diminished. At the same time the campaigning element and the activism can reduce and that in turn attracts fewer adherents.

As with other long running social movements, think CND, that doesnt mean the issues have gone way. The world is still threatened by nuclear war and global big beer remains a threat to a decent pint.

It’s easy of course to be cynical but when it comes to keeping traditional beer going there is still work to do. Attracting and organising them is part of what Cask Ale Week is about.

The Spectator

Even Viz’s ‘Real Ale Twats’ strip, which is told with a certain amount of fondness, suggests drinking cask should be added to the diagnostic criteria for autism.

No doubt some of this is a fashionable disdain for men more broadly, as confirmed by many similar stereotypes attached to the James Watt impersonators who frequent craft beer taprooms. Previous attempts to broaden real ale’s appeal, for example by discouraging members from terms as problematic as ‘pub crawl’, also smack of misguided wokery rather than a considered strategy.

The latest Tory defector to Reform Ltd was announced this week. Danny Kruger was an opposition front bench Minister and a sign of Badenoch’s political direction, of course on the hard right of the Tory Party. He was also at this time last year the campaign manager for Robert Jenrick’s leadership bid.

That campaign failed but Jenrick is still running it aiming to push the Tories even further right. Kruger seems to have decided that the best way to pursue this is simply to join Reform.

Kevin Maguire reports in the New Statesman that Kruger did not tell Jenrick of his plan.

Meanwhile also in the New Statesman LibDem leader Ed Davey says he is talking to numbers of Tories who are defecting to the party. He claims to be adopting the John Major approach to politics of village cricket and tepid beer. That sounds like something that would also appeal cricket and beer enthusiast Farage a

Left advances at local election polls on 18^th September 2025

Thursday wasn’t the best of days for those seeking to develop a new left politics in the UK. Local election results are not a hugely reliable guide to the political mood with low-ish turnouts.

However the results on 18^th September in Brighton for the Greens and in Plaistow for the socialist Newham Independents underlines that there is a mood for change at the political grassroots and its not always to the hard and far right either.

Let’s hope this remains work in progress and of course voting is only one part of changing the world for the better..

Queen’s Park (Brighton & Hove) Council By-Election Result: 🌍 GRN: 48.4% (+19.9) 🌹 LAB: 31.1% (-15.0) ➡️ RFM: 10.1% (New) 🔶 LDM: 4.2% (+1.7) 🌳 CON: 3.5% (-2.7) 🙋 Ind: 2.7% (New) No BHI (-16.7) as previous. Green GAIN from Labour. Changes w/2024

Green Party beats Labour in Brighton council by-election | The Argus

Plaistow South (Newham) Council By-Election Result: 🟡 NI: 44.7% (New) 🌹 LAB: 21.4% (-34.0) ➡️ RFM: 16.1% (New) 🌍 GRN: 7.4% (-8.4) 🌳 CON: 6.0% (-11.5) 🔶 LDM: 4.4% (-6.9) Newham Independents GAIN from Labour. Changes w/ 2022.

Newham Independents win Plaistow South by-election