Kmflett's Blog

Eric Hobsbawm & E P Thompson’s August holidays, the imperial angle

Late August is a time perhaps to consider holidays and for socialist historians where people like E P Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm went on holiday has some historical interest.

Both Thompson and Hobsbawm had holiday cottages in the Croesor area of North Wales from the late 1960s. They were leased from Clough Williams-Ellis best known for Portmeirion. He was keen to encourage a range of people into the area.

However it was predominantly Welsh speaking which Thompson and Hobsbawm were not. Hobsbawm (and perhaps his partner and family) enjoyed walking in Snowdonia. Also nearby was Blaneau which in the late nineteenth century had been a centre of slate quarrying leading to the development of railways and shipping to move the slate.

Hobsbawm while focusing on nationalism and imperialism does not seem to have picked up on this angle.

As Richard J Evans notes in his biography of Hobsbawm, from the early 1990s the rise of militant Welsh nationalism saw a significant number of attacks on holiday homes in North Wales that were left empty for much of the year. Hobsbawm gave up his lease and moved south to a property in Hay on Wye where he became a regular speaker at and eventually President of the Hay Literary Festival.

E P Thompson died in 1993 so this didn’t apply in his case unfortunately

Nigel Farage has been in Clacton(there was a reason)

The Murdoch Times seem to be increasingly enthused by the thoughts of Nigel Farage. The issue of 23^rd August 2025 has a lengthy interview with the Reform owner. He puts forward a series of (best) far right views on how to deal with what he thinks is a crisis of refugees. Let’s stick with one fact Farage never wishes to hear. 75% of those who seek asylum in the UK have legitimate reason to do so and are granted it.

None of Farage’s thoughts are new, they never are. The interest is that the interview was in his Clacton ‘Constituency Office’. This is situated off the Big Fat Greek Taverna restaurant which itself is part of the Clacton Wetherspoons complex.

The reason why Farage was in Clacton was for his annual visit to the Tendring beer festival (closes 23^rd August). As usual he had his picture taken at the festival and the Times notes that Farage was living up to his beer and fags image. Indeed it is an image. Farage is a fine wines drinker.

Brewdog found Martin Dickie goes walkies

Joint founder of Brewdog Martin Dickie has quit meaning that the brewer no longer has either founder- the other being James Watt- on board.

Brewdog has often been controversial in recent times and not in a good way and in recent months has shut 10 UK bars, while figures show that its flagship beer Punk IPA has disappeared off around 2,000 pub bartops. Since the replacements seem to have been Beavertown and Camden beers this is as much of a story about global big beer as it is about Brewdog.

Dickie says he has quit for personal reasons, which hopefully will be respected, and he has been developing a medicinal cannabis company. His recent focus at Brewdog has been the development of a spirits range particularly whisky.

Dickie has done well financially out of Brewdog in the past so no tears need be shed. Even so his name was not associated with the numerous issues around James Watt. Moreover before Brewdog back in 2005 he was one of those responsible for creating the modern classic, Thornbridge Jaipur IPA. That and the initial iterations of Punk IPA suggest Dickie deserves a place in brewing history, whatever he does next

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg50p64rev3o

We’ll be redoing the parks. I’m very good at grass because I have golf courses all over the place. I know more about grass than any human being, I think anywhere in the world… The grass here died about 40 years ago

Donald Trump on Washington DC parks, 21st August 2025

While far right influenced activists have been raising St George’s flags in some areas of England reportedly in protest at the flying of Palestinian flags in support of the people of Gaza, there is a problem they are not aware of.

While we are in the territory of invented traditions and myths, its thought St George was born in the historical area of Palestine. St George’s Day is celebrated in Palestine on 6th May.

A BBC report from 2014 gives useful detail

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27048219

The list of Wetherspoons pub closures is from the August/September 2015 issue of CAMRA London’s London Drinker magazine

Its a reminder that Wetherspoons pub closures are nothing new, but rather an unfortunate tradition. There are plenty of Spoons haters out there mostly due to some of the thoughts of Spoons boss Tim Martin. In addition Spoons doesnt recognise a union, just like every other pub co unfortunately.

The reasons for Spoons closures are often opaque. Sometimes it seems to relate to small older pubs where maintenance costs are high (and Spoons do actually maintain their pubs). In a recent wave of closures it related to the opportunistic way Spoons have been opened sometimes to find two close to each other in competition.

The latest closure, Baxters Court in Hackney (25th August reportedly) is a puzzle since its a modern premises opened in 2003. However unlike Brewdog who recently shut 10 bars due to poor trading, Spoons trades well and continues to open often large venues. A new pub at Fulham Broadway station is now open and London Bridge is due in September.

Whatever Spoons pub often provides spaces for those with a limited budget to sit a spend a few hours and far from all are Farage fans. The Reform owner is a drinker of fine wine, beer like Harold Wilson’s pipe is for show only.

1959: Workers Travel Association call for the August Bank Holiday to move to last Monday of month

From 1871 until 1965 the August Bank Holiday in all four home nations was on the first Monday in August. This coincided in many areas with breaks in factory production (often unpaid). With the development of a legal entitlement to time off and paid time off pressure rose from the late 1940s to extend the holiday season. That meant specifically moving the August Bank Holiday to the last Monday.

This was trialled from 1965 (in England and Wales) and moved permanently in 1971.

The extract below is from a House of Lords debate in 1959.

The Workers Travel Association (1921-1966) was an organisation backed by trade unions, the Labour Party and co-ops that promoted travel abroad, international fellowship and holidays in general. It was wound up in 1966 because it was felt that the idea of ‘workers’ holidays was becoming outdated. This was part of an earlier modernisation project that had also seen the Daily Herald transformed into the Sun and then in the late 1960s sold to Rupert Murdoch. A reminder that the 1960s as a decade of change in Britain was multi-faceted.

I will quote only one more, from the Workers Travel Association. They say: The Annual Meeting of shareholders of the Workers’ Travel Association, held on April 4, 1959, passed the following resolution: ‘That this Annual Meeting of the members of the Workers’ Travel Association, convinced of the advantages to be derived from taking holidays away from home at times other than July and August, calls upon Her Majesty’s Government, local and public authorities, and all interested organisations, to introduce measures designed to encourage more people to take holidays outside the peak periods; and further urges Her Majesty’s Government to introduce legislation changing the date of the August Bank Holiday from the first to the last Monday in August’”.

Lord Gifford, Hansard, 18th November 1959

In 2025 the idea of taking holidays outside of July and August has perhaps gained more traction with calls to shorten the school summer break and have a longer one in October. A reminder too, however, that such changes have complexities, particularly involving the impact on tourism and travel- and the jobs they create- at particular times of year

The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, London University, has expressed concern about a 5.7% drop in students taking history at GCSE level in 2025. 325, 301 sat the exam in 2024 but 306,759 this year.

The decline mirrors a fall in students taking A Level history in 2025.

The historians say that with an ever more complex world, an understanding of history and how history is researched, equips students with really useful knowledge to grapple with often disturbing news and commentaries

LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, of course sitting exams is not the only to study and understand history. At the same a decline in those sitting history at GCSE and A Level is concerning in a world where a 24 hour news and social media agenda can dominate with little or no historical perspective

Guardian Fletter 21st August

I can see a curfew for the over-65s (Letters, 15 August) appealing to ministers, but if an exception is not made for Wetherspoon’s visits there will be a revolution.
Keith Flett (aged 68)
Tottenham, London

Picture: Inga Bystram

Westminster Magistrates Court, Central London, 20th August 2025. The case was adjourned for further legal review