Kmflett's Blog

Morning Star lead Monday 30th June 2025

The words are from the late Gil Scott-Heron

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.

You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.
There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.
Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no highlights on the eleven o’clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be right back after a message
About a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution WILL put you in the driver’s seat.
The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

June 29th 2025

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has praised the founder of the Glastonbury Festival Michael Eavis for wearing a fully sustainable beard.

Michael Eavis won Beard of the Decade in December 2009, but 16 years on his beard is still going strong:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8433768.stm

In 2025 Eavis has come under attack, again, by a range of clean shaven revisionist media. Their long held obsession that he is hiding something under his beard, reflects nothing more than prejudice.

Beard Liberation Front organiser Keith Flett said, With another Glastonbury Festival drawing to a close Michael Eavis and his beard remain very much a national treasure, the very epitome of sustainable beard power.

Farage has been urging local councils that Reform (sort of) control after the May 1st elections to issue diktats that all Council employees must work in the office 5 days a week. As Byline Times has revealed there is an issue with this. In order to save money on office accommodation many council’s have reduced the amount of office space with the assumption that hybrid working will allow for a balance. If staff have to return to the office there are just not enough desks.

Such practical details are unlikely to worry Farage but in an interview with the Sunday Times (29th June) he does repeat the mantra that COVID lockdowns were bad because they encourage home working.

The interview finds Farage not in the Commons (of course) but in his ‘unofficial’ office, which is Boisdale off Vauxhall Bridge Rd in central London.

Farage is eating Lamb and Kidney pudding (Suffolk lamb, suet crust, claret gravy) £34.50 which he describes as a ‘proper fucking lunch’ and drinking claret (note not beer). Despite unevidenced occasional claims (see the Guardian) that Farage hardly drinks now, the interview which contains the usual range of random Farage ‘thoughts’ about reforming Parliament (how he would know since he has the second worse attendance record of any MP one wonders) suggests that his in the office lunch may have included more than bottle of claret (Boisdale claret 2022 £54 a bottle).

Boisdale is a Scottish themed restaurant and whine bar with, crucially, for Farage a smoking terrace

The Ambridge Socialist

June 29^th

Amber warning

George has got a new special friend, Amber. Or possibly the other way around. Amber is a refugee from Coronation St and has already opined that her appearance in Ambridge will be interesting. On Friday we were treated to Amber having tea with Emma, Ed and Will. The only surprise was that Amber didn’t mention that she is related to the late Brian Rix.

Meanwhile Sgt Knacker Burns who previously defected to Corrie has made a re-appearance. This does not appear to be a permanent return as Knacker has been speaking to the Mirror about gloomy plot lines in Corrie and how there are more to come.

Brian Aldridge or Justin Elliott: which side are you on in the ruling class war?

Justin Elliott has called another meeting of Borchester Land to attempt to push through his plan to rewild a significant part of BL land. This land of course is currently farmed by Aldridge (or more specifically Stella) under contract. The Ambridge Socialist notes that the Ambridge ruling class is a band of warring brothers but the class struggle still applies. Justin Elliott believes that through his ownership of Damara Capital he has the support to ram through rewilding. He needs to be defeated before we then go on to defeat Aldridge in turn.

Dross returns

A long lost Ambridge band, the aptly named Dross, are threatening a return. The Ambridge Socialist archives reveal that they seem to have been last heard around 2002 when members Ed, Fallon and Jazzer. At this point they were involved in trying to boot each other out of the band.

Beard Liberation Front

12th August

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

As temperatures soar above 30C in many areas of the UK hirsute given temporary permission to shave with Marx as a guideline

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that for only the fourth time in its history it is permitting supporters to temporarily shave their beards due to the extremely hot weather in parts of the UK which is forecast to continue for at least the next few days.

The campaigners say that there is a precedent in beard history for the move. When Marx travelled to Algeria in 1882 just before the end of his life he found conditions so hot that he shaved his iconic beard.

However the advice is a guideline only and the BLF says that some may simply wish to trim their beards a little as this can protect against the sun and have a general cooling influence

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, a problem is that in the kind of extremely hot weather that we are experiencing the strength of the sun can damage the follicles and cause serious harm to the beard. By trimming the area of follicles exposed to the sun this is reduced as is the potential damage. Alternatively as an exceptional measure we are permitting shaving of the beard this week. It is really up to individuals whether they follow the Karl Marx model.

The campaigners say that the temporary dispensation to trim or shave the beard will remain in force until 16th August when it will be reviewed.

In an interview with the Times (28th June 2025) Rod Stewart opined ‘We’ve got to give Farage a chance’. Stewart claims to know Farage’s brother Andrew who was last heard of in 2016 having been involved in some dubious financial dealings.

Stewart hasn’t said much if anything about racism in the past (that I’m aware of) but the above clip from International Times in 1970 underlines that he was then a supporter of Enoch Powell. In 1970 the Times would not have been interviewing him, IT was the leading organ (along with Oz) of the ‘underground’ counter-cultural or hippie press

I’m posting the review below because I’m far from sure it will survive a call to the Editor from Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. The Government which persists in selling arms to Israel has lost the dressing room here

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/446273bbe60b1f6c?fbclid=IwY2xjawLNNsFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETBhaDFqbWE1dWZiYkR3MkxUAR54FaKlhFGU5lrp7YqgmCe-ZFc5yEQ8GomFF_FxyAbe85TvVUPv1VR4HRD8kg_aem_q5GOR1is4OGmfyEl64Lk2w

Performing to a packed crowd of 40,000, Kneecap made Glastonbury’s other performers seem like makeweights in comparison  Credit: Anthony Devlin/Hogan Media/Shutterstock

“Glastonbury, I’m a free man!” yelled Kneecap’s beleaguered rapper Mo Chara, inspiring a mass chant of “Free Mo Chara” that turned into several rounds of “Free, free Palestine!”

How can you hobble a band called Kneecap? The controversy around Irish punk-rap trio Kneecap’s rebellious political position is self-defeating. They are contrarian by design. On their own musical merits, they would be a marginal local gang chanting in an obscure language. But the bravery / foolhardiness / provocation (delete according to opinion) of their political posturing has catapulted them to the frontline of pop culture, and one of Glastonbury’s most oversubscribed and enthusiastically received headline sets, which took place at the West Holts stage on Saturday afternoon. Ironically, every time one of Kneecap’s critics speaks out, they are effectively shooting themselves in the foot.

Advertisement

Before people started calling for them to be banned, the mischievous Irish trio were making a small but potent stir telling funny tales about modern life on the post-peace streets of Belfast. Condemnation for their support of the Palestinian cause has accelerated them into a whole other league. They have become the accidental poster boys for Palestine – and Glastonbury came out in force to show their support.

Kneecap’s DJ Próvai wears an Irish flag balaclava during his band’s Glastonbury set Credit: Jaimi Joy/Reuters

The Palestinian cause is close to Irish hearts, finding synchronicity in the small nation’s own history of colonialism. Two other popular young Irish artists – singer-songwriter CMAT and rock group Inhaler (led by Bono’s son Elijah Hewson) – led chants of “Free Palestine” yesterday, possibly as much in solidarity with their fellow Irishmen as the Palestinian cause. None of that caused even the remotest flurry at a festival that had its origins in the hippy era of peace and love.

It is Kneecap’s adoption of paraphernalia associated with historical terrorism in Northern Ireland that raises suspicions and goads their critics. Their logos and balaclavas mimic apparel worn by paramilitaries during the Northern Irish conflict. The trio themselves are in their mid-to-late 20’s and have grown up in the state of peace and reconciliation that followed the 1998 Good Friday agreement. Their sense of Irish nationalism may be deeply felt, but Kneecap’s take on the Troubles has a playfulness and mischief that comes at safe remove from the grimmest realities.

Advertisement

One of the trio, Mo Chara, is on bail charged with a terrorism offence after allegedly displaying a flag representing Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation, at a gig in November last year.

In the Saturday gig, rapper Móglaí Bap called for fans to gather at the next court hearing and stage a riot but was soon walking that back with a disclaimer. “No riots, just love and support, and more support for Palestine.” This led to the first of several loud chants of “F— Kier Starmer!” which proved an even more popular chant amongst the young audience than “Free Palestine”.

“But are they any good?” poor Nick Robinson wailed on the Today programme, like a doddery old coot trying to comprehend what his grandkids see in the latest brash pop sensation. Well, yes and no, Nick. What Kneecap do is quite basic, even primitive: thudding electro beats with bog standard drum patterns and bass deep enough to vibrate your inner organs, topped with shouty rap lyrics tackling political issues with provocative wit. You might think of it as a cross between the Sex Pistols and the Beastie Boys, albeit with the musical chops of neither. But they deliver it with a passion, panache and humour that is irresistible, and in doing so they give space and focus for a young audience to express solidarity with the suffering of a beleaguered nation they might otherwise feel powerless to help. There was so much joy and emotion in the dancing in the densely packed crowd it was impossible to resist.

On some level, the most dangerous thing Kneecap did at Glastonbury was wear balaclavas and scarves in a heatwave. But their political passion makes every other band here look like makeweights. Condemning them just makes you look like a killjoy out of touch with the mood of a generation.

The Daily Telegraph on Glastonbury 1994 ‘no longer outside the mainstream’ 2025 ‘middle class Butlins’

The Daily Telegraph on Glastonbury 25^th June 1994

The mainstream press were initially not keen on reporting Glastonbury (including the Guardian) but as they realised their readers were going that had to change. Below is an extract from the Telegraph’s report of the festival in 1994

Here are 500 market stalls offering ‘skins, bhongs and chillums, bootleg reggae tapes, Thai, Chinese and Mexican food and the ‘great British bacon sandwich,,, there is ‘’sugar free astrology, a ‘rent an argument’ tent and ‘chanting with Avril and Mike’ for anyone who honestly thinks they can take it.

There is also an abundance of new technology in the shape of wind powered telephones, a computerised message screen enabling Mad Dog to meet Rat Face under the mushroom cloud and a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer enabling members of the Avon and Somerset CID to make on the spot analysis of any suspicious substances seized on the festival site (Mick Brown)

Eavis acknowledges that the festival is no longer quite so much outside the mainstream as it once was although whether Glastonbury has changed or the rest of England is hard to say

What Telegraph readers made of this I’m not sure but I’m also fairly certain that in 2025 numbers of them will be on site and more watching it on the BBC.

One that probably won’t be is Tom Slater far right journalist who edits Spiked. He has written a piece in the Telegraph claiming that Glastonbury is a middle-class Butlins and that it is an embarrassment.

Beard Liberation Front

28th June

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

Michael Rosen shaves Zohran Mamdani to win Beard of Summer 2025 vote

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that as part of National Beard Week, the Beard Off Final vote has now concluded for the Beard of Summer 2025

There were two Close Shave Rounds of voting for the coveted seasonal accolade with a final Beard Off

Michael Rosen and Rishabh Pant won the first Close Shave Round and went to the Beard Off Final. Zohran Mamdani and Alexei Sayle won the second Close Shave Round.

The final Beard Off round saw 3,300 votes cast in the on-line poll with author and broadcaster Michael Rosen winning 40.4% against 28.2% for New York Democratic politician Zohran Mamdani. Comedian and activist Alexei Sayle came a close third with 23.7% of the vote

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we congratulate Michael Rosen on being voted the Beard of Summer 2025. His beard makes a big and positive public impact and may even be becoming invincible. Its interesting to note that both he and the runner up Zohran Mamdani are Arsenal fans, so its perhaps surprising the outcome wasn’t a draw

Beard of Summer 2025 Final List

Michael Rosen, Arsenal fan and trade unionist

Zohran Mamdani, US Democratic politician

Alexei Sayle, Tik Tok star & activist

Rishabh Pant, Indian cricketer

Keir Starmer reveals who is now in charge in Downing St

Keir Starmer has given a Downing St cat update to his biographer Tom Baldwin in the Observer.

They have a new cat, Prince, who is kept indoors. But Starmer has tried to ensure their old one, JoJo, can still roam free. Early efforts to have a catflap installed were frustrated because their back door, like all those in the building, has very solid anti-ballistic defences. But now he’s found “a workaround” for the problem.

“I’ve got to show you this,” he says, getting up and pointing to a half-open window in the family flat. Beneath it is a box that he explains is “a sort of landing patch leading to that zig-zag wooden contraption we’ve built so JoJo can get to the bottom and do his stuff”. Like an escape route then? The prime minister smiles. Fancy one yourself? He sits back down.

Note that there is no mention of the resident Downing St cat Larry…

Some names of Politician’s cats

Engels- Tidlums

Lenin- cat no known name

Churchill- Nelson

Wilson- Nemo (Siamese)

Corbyn- Harold Wilson; El Gato

Blair- Humphrey (until Nov 25 1997)

Thatcher- Marvin (2007)

Rosa Luxemburg- Mimi

Downing St cat in residence, Larry