Kmflett's Blog

On Monday 10th April 1848 the Chartists held a meeting on Kennington Common to demand the vote (for working men). They aimed to take a petition signed by several hundred thousand people to the Commons.

How big the meeting was historians are still debating. Suffice to say in the modern idiom it was bigly.

An interesting point is how people were mobilised for the day. The Chartists had well organised London branches and a weekly mass circulation paper, the Northern Star. They did not have The Interwebs, TV, radio, e-mail, social media etc.

The meeting was built by word of mouth but also by extensive flyposting (the poster is above).

The Government declared the whole thing illegal (though the meeting went ahead) but it had the same issue. It issued a proclamation telling people to stay away and got it officially flyposted.

There was a brief House of Commons debate on Thursday 6th April 1848. Grey, the Home Secretary stated:

a notice to be issued, which, I trust, will be published in half an hour throughout the streets of London, and circulated over the country, pointing out that by the statute and common law of these realms this intended procession is illegal, and warning all loyal and peaceable subjects of Her Majesty to abstain from taking part in such procession, and calling upon them to give their best assistance to the constituted authorities in maintaining order, preventing disturbance, and preserving peace.

https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1848/apr/06/proposed-chartist-meeting

The above picture was taken in Waterloo Gardens, Roath, Cardiff on the afternoon of 8th April 2025. I’m posting it on here because it has gathered a fair bit of interest on social media, which is more transient than a blog post.

I have a bit of an (accidental) history with watching herons. My official HQ is in Tottenham, North London, which is a short walk from Walthamstow Wetlands, the largest urban Wetlands in Western Europe. There is a Heronry but the birds can usually only be spotted from afar.

However down the towpath of the River Lea from Tottenham Hale can often be found quite a well known heron. It stands on the towpath staring out a cat in the flats opposite. Quite what the history of this is unknown and its possible that the original heron has been succeeded by another.

Also being based in Cardiff the large extent of Roath Park Lake (inner city) has herons but again they can mostly be observed from afar on one of the islands.

It was surprising to spot a heron than in one of the streams of water that leads to the lake. The behaviours are characteristic. The heron watches for something it can catch and eat, often for quite a while before it suddenly swoops.

The heron on Tuesday found a couple of eats while my partner Megan and myself were watching. As with the Tottenham heron it was very focused and ignored people wandering in the gardens..

Marx to Engels March 29^th 1869

Have you seen the short report about the demonstration
in The Times OF SATURDAY LAST? It states that a German group (‘of
our people!’) carried a red flag inscribed Proletarier aller Länder,
verunreiniget Euch!, which they said in English, means ‘RAGAMUFFINS
OF ALL REGIONS, BEFOUL YOURSELVES!’

As you correctly assume, I am cold-maddened and cold-
stupefied.

*the correct translation from the German is Workers of the World Unite

Beard Liberation Front

8th April

contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is being considered for a place on the Beard of Spring shortlist, after he was named the best looking Premiership Manager in an AI survey.

The survey appeared to focus on Arteta’s always impressive hair but the BLF’s focus is on the stubble he frequently wears.

Stubble is classed as a proto-beard and the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western stubble test applies, as to whether and when it can be classified as a beard.

Arteta sometimes passes this test and sometimes does not. However the criteria for the Beard of Spring shortlist is that nominees must have had a beard at some point in the previous quarter.

The Beard of Spring shortlist will be announced on 12th April with the winner named on Easter Saturday

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Mikel Arteta faces a key task on Tuesday at the Emirates, beating Real Madrid is clearly important, but his top priority must be to make sure that he has done enough to appear on the Beard of Spring shortlist

8th April

The Editorial Board of the Ambridge Socialist has extended its sympathies to Borchester Water’s Martyn Gibson after an unfortunate incident at his house on Tuesday

*attributed to Lenin, although it may well be an invented quotation. It still makes a point however

The Beveridge Report formed much of the basis of the 1945 Welfare State, something years of austerity have undermined, while campaigns and unions have sought to defend it.

The event is supported by the London Socialist Historians Group who encourage people to get along if they can

The above is the opening of E P Thompson’s 1986 Letter to America which formed part of the pamphlet he wrote with Dan Smith, Protest and Survive.

Thompson who campaigned for an end to nuclear weaponry prefigures the current NATO crisis by noting that the US pays for the nuclear ‘protection’ of Europe, which he would rather configure as a protection racket.

The opening paragraphs however refer to the gap between official US political culture and that of Europe, again a current issue. He did not of course mean the many Americans who protest about it

BBC4 on 7th April repeated a 1980s programme on the French revolutionary painter and member of the Committee for Public Safety Louis David.

David painted the famous picture of Marat murdered in his bath. Marat edited letters for his own publication.

The Sunday Correspondent printed a photograph of myself in the bath in Tottenham as a letter writer a nod to Marat, although I survived the experience. The paper closed the following week. The picture is not extant

More seriously David Olusoga provides an important introduction to the programme looking at the link between art and history

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0029vbp/remembers-david-olusoga-remembers-artists-and-models