Kmflett's Blog

Trump booed at the US Open Tennis Final. A democratic tradition

The final of the US Open tennis (men) took place on Sunday. Sabalenka won the women’s final on Saturday. Held at Flushing Meadows, New York, Trump attended and mostly stayed awake, at least for the US National Anthem at the beginning.

Last time Trump attended in 2015 he was booed and the Guardian reported that broadcasters were asked not to screen any hostile reaction to the man popularly known as the Orange Felon.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/sep/06/broadcasters-told-not-to-air-any-booing-of-donald-trump-at-us-open-mens-final?CMP=share_btn_url

While the UK broadcast on Sky (Comcast) did screen out the booing it clearly happened and can be found on Youtube

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/sep/07/donald-trump-us-open-tennis-final?CMP=share_btn_url

The final was between Alcaraz and Sinner in case you weren’t watching. The former has superior facial hair and hence was the winner.

Meanwhile booing politicians at sporting events is an important of democratic protest which will explain why Trump doesn’t like it.

The media noted, often with some approval, the booing of George Osborne and Theresa May at the Olympic Stadium as they presented 2012 Paralympic Games medals.

What was not noted was the historical context.

After all in the age of WhatApp, texts, Bluesky and e-mails shouldn’t booing be as old fashioned and redundant as the heckle at a political meeting? It would seem not, as the crowd’s disapproval made news headlines in a way that more modern methods of expressing dissatisfaction with a politician often don’t.

In fact booing has a long and complicated part in the history of protest.

Historically, certainly dating back to the time the crowd becomes an actor on the stage of history in the mid eighteenth century, booing has been a way of showing collective protest at the rich and powerful.

Zainab Malik

The Ambridge Socialist

7^th September

Which side are you on issue. We back Zainab & Kate

Time for workers control at Home Farm

The crisis at Home Farm continues. Brian has decided to allow Adam to run things (although he previously sacked him). Clearly he won’t be missed at the Dairy. The Ambridge Socialist says it’s time for workers control at Home Farm. Hand it over to the Grundys and Jazzer.

Cricket crisis

Lawrence the racist is trying to get Rex to defect from Ambridge CC by paying him to play. Lynda has become entangled as Freddie had previously tried to pay Rex to pay for Ambridge. If payment was good enough for perpetual amateur W G Grace its surely for Rex.

In Other News

Daveed is trying to get Stella a job as far as possible from Brookfield before she and Pip takeover

Chelsea and Zainab have been at the golf club again as has Martyn. Unfortunately later Lawrence got a bit wet. A guest at Grey Gables where Zainab is a receptionist witnessed the incident and complained. Oliver however took Zainab’s side. The only remaining sane reader of the Spectator it would seem

Kate meets Amber

Kate gives Amber a massage at Grey Gables. Kate behaved unprofessionally but on this occasion who could blame her?

Swimming news

The Ambridge Socialist’s underwater expert alerts us that the water in the Lakes is cooling now its September and won’t warm up again. Swimming without a wet suit and some training could be difficult…

Arrests of people protesting about genocide won’t stop the protests, any more than State action to stop freedom of the press in the 1820s did

On Saturday 6^th September the Met Police say that they arrested 890 people for protesting largely under a Defend Our Juries basis for mentioning words about Palestine that the Government doesn’t like, although anyone relying on the Met to be accurate or tell the truth may be disappointed. The officer in charge on 6th September tweeted that 20,000 had attended the in fact several hundred thousand strong 30th London march for Palestine. It was a tactic first used with the Chartists on 10th April 1848 (20,000 is a favourite Met number it seems) and it hasn’t aged well.

It was one of the biggest exercises of wasting police time and resources in recent years (The Met are specialists). Given that reports suggest well over a thousand people joined the protest the Met’s proclaimed plan to arrest everyone failed. Their trademark thuggish behaviour was also on display. It’s also worth noting that at similar protests around the UK very few arrests took place. Ultimately Top Plod Rowley must take responsibility for yet another Met debacle. His departure is very long overdue, although unless and until the Met is actually reformed (as several official reports have demanded) a replacement is unlikely to be an improvement.

It’s clear that more protesters will step forward. There is a well-known precedent in British history.

Around the period of Peterloo in 1819 the (Tory) Government was determined to crack down on radical opinion and calls for democratic rights. Prosecutions for seditious libel were common and the taxes on knowledge(levied on newspapers) saw the rise of an unstamped, illegal press. Many who published it went to jail, but that didn’t stop publication.

One of the best known was the freethinker Richard Carlile. In the early 1820s he ran a radical bookshop in Fleet Street known as the Temple of Reason. Carlile was frequently jailed but he had an important principle: THE SHOP IN FLEET STREET WILL NOT BE CLOSED AS A MATTER OF COURSE’

It wasn’t. Before the Government gave in 150 volunteers, shopmen, printers, newsvendors, had been jailed and served over 200 years of imprisonment between them.

Whose were these people? E P Thompson noted in the Making of the English Working Class:

The men and women who came forward were, in nearly every case, entirely unknown to Carlile. They simply came out of London; or arrived on the coach from Lincolnshire, Dorset, Liverpool and Leeds. They came out of a culture.

Interestingly though Thompson was also clear that while those who broke the law and fought for press freedom were part of the rise of a radical working class movement, they themselves were not usually workers, with the power to organise and challenge capital at the point of production, but artisans.

However the reading culture they promoted and developed fed into the rising working class movement and was one of the motors for Chartism from the later 1830s.

Perhaps the protests on mentioning words that must not be mentioned won’t change the world but they might help create a movement that does

Many have returned to work after the summer but King Charles and Camilla are of course still on their summer holidays at Balmoral- until October. Its one of the many invented Royal traditions

The event has a history stretching back 800 years but was reinvented in 1832 (the year of the Great Reform Act). The Royals have been attending since 1848 possibly a tradition invented by Queen Victoria.

Caber tossing, tug of war, throwing 28lb weights (not at Charlie) and Scottish dancing were on display.

It has not been reported how the King did in the Knobbly knees contest

Solidarity with Palestine: Taybeh & Brewgooder Sun & Stone lager

On 8th September 2026 Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced sanctions against Israel in conjunction with other countries including France and Canada. Its a long overdue but still welcome first step.

There are other ways of demonstrating solidarity with the Palestinians.

Corp B Brewgooder Brewery has produced  a collaboration 4.5% lager with long standing Palestinian craft brewery Taybeh

It’s available direct here:

Taybeh Brewing Co. x Brewgooder – Sun & Stone Lager

However the impact goes much wider than that. Following a members decision the Co-Operative is no longer selling Israeli goods. It has been selling the Sun and Stone lager in a 4-pack in its stores across the UK.

By the way for those who think the duty of solidarity is important but the beer probably isn’t up to much, you’d be wrong. I’ve imbibed some and can report that it is decent and highly quaffable

Reform Rally 2025: Carry on Reforming

Reform has been holding its annual rally at the NEC. There may have been around 10,000 Reform Ltd subscribers somewhere in the vicinity of the NEC.

I use the word rally because there is no evidence at all that it was a conference where discussion on motions, votes take place and decisions are made. The conference website still says that the agenda will be posted soon. But as it ended on Saturday its now too late.

For those curious about what an actual conference looks like, the 2025 TUC starts in Brighton on Sunday. There is an agenda. There are motions, there will be speeches, votes taken and decisions made. Its known as democracy and while there will be highlights it can be a little dull.

Dull is not what Farage is after anymore than democracy. He understands, and Starmer doesn’t, that an important part of politics is theatre. The problem here is that Reform gatherings are only theatre, suitable for transfer to the West End stage as Carry On Reforming. If there was any policy discussion here it was likely in the on-site Wetherspoons.

Looking at reports of what happened the following can be surmised

Farage claimed that he is a modern day Churchill and could think of no one else who might fit the role. Of course there are similarities. Farage smokes cigars, he is an alcoholic and a racist. That seems to be about it.

There will be a new Reform ‘department’ of Preparing for Government. Here the experience of new defective Nadine Dorries will be utilised and presumably before long Boris Johnson will on board as a (very well paid)consultant

A keynote speaker Asheem Malhotra who is an adviser to far right US ‘Health Secretary’ Kennedy claimed that the King’s cancer is partly due to Covid vaccines

Zia Yusless is now Head of Policy. As usual what the policies might be was all a bit vague. However it will definitely involve Britons having rights and freedoms, although these won’t involve annoying things like judges and the rule of law.

Yusless also claimed that Stephen Yaxley Lennon was right about grooming gangs

Reportedly Farage concluded the conference by urging Reform Ltd subscribers to be disciplined and air disagreements in private. As with UKIP, which Farage eventually walked out of, its not the views that Farage has an issue with. Rather its an understanding that a rally that consists of whacko views and conspiracy theories does not present the best public image.

There is of course one person who did think it was great. The BBC’s ‘political correspondent’ Chris Mason (who I often confuse with Chris Morris of The Day Today).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62zdpke8kko

That’s entertainment…

Beard Liberation Front

5th September

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

World Beard Day: Beards have changed the world

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has marked World Beard Day which is on the first Saturday of September each year by focusing on beards that have made a positive impact past and present.

These include Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, William Morris, W G Grace, Sigmund Freud and in the modern era Fidel Castro, Bernie Grant and Michael Rosen.  

The campaigners say that Morris is rightly celebrated for his influence in the worlds of art and design and for his socialist politics and writings but the legacy of his iconic beard has been largely ignored.

Morris was well known for having a fiery temper and huge appetite for work and activism. On his death in 1896 at the age of 62 his physician suggested that the main cause was ‘simply being William Morris’.

Michael Rosen is one of the most well-known beard wearers of the twenty-first century, a former Beard of the Year, an author, broadcaster and Arsenal fan. His beard has been and remains highly influential.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, of course not all beards have changed the world or have done so in a positive sense. However on World Beard Day its appropriate to celebrate the positive impact a beard can make

Psephologist John Curtice. Reform’s current success is down to a ‘niche market’ of pro-Brexit ex-Tory voters

This suggests that, even if Labour is able to address the country’s policy challenges successfully between now and the next election, support for Reform will not simply disappear. After all, in contrast to the Conservatives, Labour have lost only one in eight of its 2024 voters to Reform.

Rather, what will be key to Reform’s fortunes and specifically its vote share will be the outcome of a battle with the Conservatives for the support of pro-Brexit, socially-conservative and climate-sceptic Britain. Such voters are far from representative of the country. However, they are providing Farage with a niche market of support that, presently at least, is enabling him to make much of the political weather.

Sir John Curtice: How Reform’s capture of the Brexit vote could be enough to win an election – BBC News

David Lammy. Nominates Corbyn for leader 2015. Deputy Prime Minister 2025

I’m a long time Tottenham resident and the fact that David Lammy, born and brought up in central Tottenham, is now Deputy PM is worthy of note. Its almost in the ‘From Pitman to Parliament’ genre of memoirs of early Labour MPs.

David Lammy has been Labour MP for Tottenham since June 2000 replacing the late Bernie Grant and for the majority of that time I was Chair or Secretary of Haringey Trades Union Council. I stepped down from the role in 2020 but remain a delegate.

Obviously I worked with David as the Labour MP and before that, briefly, gave him a platform during the 2000 London Assembly elections when he appeared as a stand in for the late Nicky Gavron at a Trades Council hustings.

He was by no means unengaged with constituency issues, raising matters on Windrush and racism, which are important to many in Tottenham and rightly so. He was also prepared to turn out on trade union protests and campaigning.

In June 2015 Jeremy Corbyn just got over the line as a candidate for the Labour leadership with 36 nominations. A number of MPs, including David Lammy, made it clear that while they did not fully agree with the Islington North MP, they felt it was important that there was a voice from the left on the ballot. This idea of Labour as a broad church of left and progressive views has since been abolished by Keir Starmer.

Jeremy Corbyn who had been a Haringey Councillor before he became an MP was popular in Tottenham, then as now, and Lammy could be found sharing platforms with him. The last time was at a Bernie Grant Memorial meeting in March 2020.

However once Starmer had been elected as leader David discovered that Corbyn was ‘anti-semitic’ something he had not mentioned before most likely because there was no basis for it.

Tottenham regularly has amongst the highest Labour majorities in the country and left candidates opposed David Lammy at most elections from 2000. He had after all supported the war in Iraq. The left vote in Tottenham is invariably decent- in 2024 Nandita Lal saved her deposit, while the Greens came second, leaving Lammy with a significantly reduced majority.

His period as Foreign Secretary and the Government’s position on Gaza has motivated considerable protest and opposition in the Constituency, something he has not felt able to address.

In short compared to the legacy of Bernie Grant, David Lammy has disappointed many and in recent times more than that.

Of course as the first black Deputy PM it won’t be long before the racist commentaries start in the Telegraph, Mail and GB News. These need to be robustly rebuffed while not avoiding the very considerable political issues that David’s recent political positions have raised.