Kmflett's Blog

Questions for parties of the left: federation or national centre. The Independent Labour Party 14^th January 1893

With the announcement of a new political formation of the left by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn, and news that hundreds of thousands have signed up, some familiar issues are open to discussion. For example whether there should be a loose federation of the many existing independent left campaigns, groups etc, or an attempt to have one national structure.

Its not a new issue. In fact it was discussed at the founding conference of the Independent Labour Party in January 1893. Its worth noting that until the Webbs 1918 Labour Party Constitution it was not possible to be a member of the Labour Party. Rather membership or support lay with local and regional structures of various kinds

Report Glasgow Herald

Mr W.H. DREW, of Bradford, moved, “That this conference of delegates of numerous local organisations all over the United Kingdom pledges itself to the principle of independent labour representation on all legislative, governing, and administrative bodies; hereby agrees to federate for the speedier accomplishment of their one common object: and declares that the style and title of the new federation shall be the Independent Labour party of Great Britain and Ireland.”

Mr SHAW MAXWELL seconded the resolution.

Mr A. FIELD moved as an amendment the omission of the word “federate,” and the substitution of the words “to amalgamate their organisation into one national Independent Labour party.” The difference between federation and amalgamation was discussed at great length, and eventually the resolution was passed in its original form without opposition; but after announcements from the representatives of the London Fabian Society and the Social Democratic Federation that their associations had no intention of affiliating with the Independent Labour party, though they were glad to give it every possible assistance.

BBC report underlines realities of closure of Brewdog Leeds

A few days ago Brewdog announced the closure of 10 bars. Despite the Telegraph making up a story about the cause being Labour’s ‘tax bomb’ and seeking the views of ‘CEO’ James Watt, a BBC report on the closure of Leeds Brewdog underlines the realities.

The bar was clearly not doing enough trade to make it a viable business. Brewdog bars have struggled because they are expensive (although not the most expensive) and the beer, once noted, is now in the main distinctly average.

Particularly telling despite Brewdog’s claims to the contrary is the bar worker who notes they were told of the closure on Tuesday and are now out of a job on Saturday. Its hardly unusual in hospitality unfortunately. A good reason for bar workers to join a union. Whether the Employment Relations Bill, which is likely to start to become law, in part, in 2026, will do that much to help shotgun employment relations remains to be seen.

In the meantime full marks to BBC Leeds for actually reporting the closure and speaking to workers about it

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyzyjrvny5o

On 26^th July 1945, 81 years ago, the result of the 1945 General Election was announced. Labour won 393 seats giving it a majority of 159 seats over all other parties. Labour leader Clement Attlee became Prime Minister aged 62.

On the 70th anniversary on 22^nd July 2015 I was pleased to speak to a large audience (certainly for a Wednesday afternoon) at the Working Class Movement Library in Manchester on the 1945 Government and after.

One of the questions asked was what EP Thompson the socialist historian made of 1945, particularly given his active role in World War Two and the murder of his brother Frank by fascists in it. Below is a short extract from a piece he wrote for the London Review of Books before the 1987 General Election about the importance of 1945

EP Thompson on 1945 (London Review of Books Diary 7^th May 1987)

The notion that Edward Thompson is dedicated to avoiding fuss will surprise my old acquaintance, not least any survivors of the leadership of the British Communist Party of 1956 or Lord (‘Flash Harry’) Butterworth, late of Warwick University. I have made one or two public fusses in my day. But a fuss about one’s private convenience – a claim to privilege – is different. There entered here a taboo. And any claim to priority in matters affecting the chances of life was taboo most of all. It was not just the discipline of war, whether active service or being bombed and rationed, when the young, above all, gave priority to the injured, the sick, the children and the old. It was far wider than that. In that almost-democratic, half-anti-Fascist time, the chances of life were shared; in 1941-45 this island was fanned by strange airs of égalité, when the pursuit of private privilege seemed contemptible. And this most of all for the socialist young, who went to the polls in 1945 to vote Labour, Commonwealth, Communist, ILP.

The Health Service, even more than the nationalisation of the pits, expressed the spirit of that time and extended it forward into the future in institutional form. It was designed by the ablest and most socialist minister in Labour’s post-war government. And it expresses in transparent form the first of socialist egalitarian principles: to each according to his or her needs. Of course things are never as simple as that. But the lay person supposes that, in the chances of health and life, medical science is able to determine priorities according to criteria of need, and that no other consideration need enter. In this way the NHS replaced the vocabulary of class with that of citizenship.

Telegraph claims The Cock Tavern E8 is the future of pubs

Brewdog is in a mess, Wetherspoons is doing well but the Telegraph, in between publishing interplanetary news from Allison Pearson, Allister Heath and others has determined that pubs like the Cock Tavern E8 are the future.

The relevant article (26^th July) is on-line paywalled and might also be in the print edition. Frankly approach with care.

That said the Telegraph has interviewed Pete Holt who owns the Cock in Hackney, the Southampton Arms in Gospel Oak and the Pocket in Islington as well as Howling Hops brewery at Hackney Wick.

I’m familiar with the pubs and the beer and they are indeed top notch.

The Telegraph argues that the pubs mix of reasonably priced cask beers (price related to strength) hand pulled real ciders and little or no food (bring your own) is the kind of low key, relaxed (btw the Cock is not relaxed at midnight on Friday-closes 1am) ambience that fits the idea of a classic pub more than the in your face Brewdog etc style.

Obviously I am a long time regular at the Cock and I don’t agree with the Telegraph about anything but stopped clock and all that.

It’s a reasonable assumption that the only sport Donald Trump has any detailed knowledge of is golf, because he knows how to cheat at it.

He has previously been involved in a draw for the old League Cup in 1992/2 (link below) where it was clear he had no idea what he was doing.

However since Trump is again making a nuisance of himself, at best, as a US President visiting his Scottish golf courses and we are in the middle of an India v England Test series its worth recalling what his grasp of cricket is

In a brief tour of India in 2020 he has appeared at a rally with a leader at least as odious as himself Narendra Modi and tried to pronounce the names of two of the greats of Indian cricket Tendulkar and Kohli. As can be seen from the quote below it didn’t go too well.

One wonders what Trump would make of the LBW law…

‘This is the country where your people cheer on some of the world’s greatest cricket players from Soo-chin Tendul-kerrr to Virot Ko-leee.’  Donald Trump 24^th February 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2016/oct/26/donald-trump-helps-league-cup-fifth-round-draw-1991-video

Beyond Punk IPA a beer culture that is passing into history?

The news that Brewdog are to shut 10 bars this week has led to a range of media commentary.

The media don’t generally write about beer beyond frequent reports that teens and twenties have given up drinking it and reports of financial results in the business pages.

There are of course writers who do know their beer that can be found in the MSM. Pete Brown has a regular Sunday Times column, and Melissa Cole, Adrian Tierney Jones (Daily Star) and Laura Hadland can be found quite regularly.

Articles about the future of Brewdog or lack of one, have appeared in the Telegraph and New Statesman (and perhaps elsewhere. I’ll aim to do one for the Culture Matters site). Here its less than obvious that the writers are that familiar with beer or Brewdog pubs. Even so they get the TSG private equity issues (presumably having read the recent FT coverage).

The pieces are of course paywalled but the final para of the New Statesman article speaks to wider cultural issues. So does a Telegraph piece (again paywalled) which will appear on-line and possibly on print on 26^th July about pubs that are currently thriving including a trio of very well known London hostelries. Here the writer has clearly been in the pub, drunk the beer and talked to pub owners. I’ll post on that later. Meanwhile the NS

So is this the beginning of the end for BrewDog? Have we reached peak Punk? The world is a very different place now to what it was in 2007. The try-hard PR stunts, the private equity, and the controversial employment practises – all under the inauthentic guise of “punk” – feels, in 2025, deeply uncool. So, drink up your Lost Lager. It’s almost time for last orders. 

There are London based media outlets that relentlessly promote the BS of Farage & Reform, in particular GB News and the Daily Express. North of the Border, the National, which supports Scottish independence, suggests that political partiality can sometimes lead in more progressive directions

The report below is from the Glasgow Herald 14th January 1893. An interesting context in respect of the new as yet unnamed party being formed by Zarah Zultana and Jeremy Corbyn. Ben Tillett’s contribution was rightly condemned but the discussion focused on a name that would resonate with the working class supporters the new Party was looking to engage with and get the support of. European social democracy preferred to use variations on the name, while the Labour Representation Committee in 1900 added another perspective

Mr GEORGE CARSON (Glasgow) moved, on behalf of the Scottish Labour party, that the title of the organization should be “The Socialist Labour Party,” saying that it was felt in Scotland that there was no reason why they should not call a spade a spade.

Mr H. A. BARKER (London) proposed as an alternative “The Independent Labour Party,” and argued that there were large numbers of working men who were not yet prepared to adopt Socialism as an entirety, yet who would be very glad to join a party which was established for the purpose of obtaining the independent representation of labour.

Ald. BEN TILLETT strongly opposed the resolution, on the ground that English trades’ unionism was better and stronger than any kind of Socialism, whether English or foreign, and his desire was to capture trades’ unionism for the Independent Labour movement. English trade unionists were a body of men who paid their money for the cause, and were Socialists at their own work – not blood-red revolutionists and chattering magpies on the platform, who sneaked to the nearest bed when the revolution came.

Mr GEORGE CARSON, secretary of the General Arrangement Committee, strongly protested against the language used by Alderman Tillett.

After considerable discussion, the amendment was carried by a very large majority.

The long running Private Eye cartoon Its Grim Up North London features craft (now indy) beer taprooms in the current issue.

While Leeds police don’t get it, Private Eye is a satirical magazine, but satire only works if it has an element of truth to it.

Private Eye has a long (indeed very long) obsession about men with beards and to some extent North London, albeit many of the people associated with the Eye down the years have not been exactly strangers to it. One thinks of the late Peter Cook, Spurs fan.

Its certainly true that at least going back craft beer taprooms (say post 2010) were not the most comfortable of places. I still remember winter Saturdays at the old Beavertown tap at Tottenham Hale (10 years ago roughly) where the few of us who ventured in were warmly dressed because it was very cold (inside).

Beards and craft/indy beer remain a thing (see the barkeep above) and surely the challenge is out for someone to brew ‘beardies quadrangle’.

That said at least some taprooms are now really nice and comfortable spaces. I would mention the Kernel except its in Sarf London… Perhaps Five Points in Hackney then…

Wetherspoons announced its latest quarterly results this week, with sales up 5.1% over the 12 week period. Meanwhile Brewdog announced the imminent closure of 10 bars.

Wetherspoons has 794 pubs in the UK and Ireland, while Brewdog has around 100. However there is a point of direct comparison.

Brewdog’s flagship beer is Punk IPA. As with most pub chains the price can vary and short of a personal visit its difficult to find out what they are. Brewdog posts pub beerlists on Untapped but not prices. When its Waterloo bar, in the Sidings underneath the old Eurostar terminal, opened in 2022 Punk IPA was £7.10 a pint. I can’t reliably report its current price but its likely to be above £8 a pint at that location.

Wetherspoons also sells Punk IPA in its pubs and last autumn opened a new outlet, the Lion and Unicorn(Tim Martin is a George Orwell fan), also in the Sidings at Waterloo. It takes less than a minute to walk from the Brewdog to the Spoons.

The Wetherspoons App publishes the prices of all drinks. Hence on 24th July 2025 Punk IPA is retailing at £6.63 a pint. Spoons in central London is more expensive than elsewhere but for the location that is still keenly priced.

There is a cost of living crisis and if those that like Punk prefer to drink it in Spoons rather than Brewdog should we be surprised. Alternatively down the main steps at Waterloo Station and just over the road is the independent Waterloo Tap that sells an excellent range of cask and keg beers at prudent prices.