The ‘woke Right’ relies on insults, distortions and obscene definitions of Britishness to push their hateful agenda
The New World’s Allister Heath meme (first above) is designed to parody his frequently hyperbolic language. The second headline appears in the Telegraph (8th August) and condemns Lowe’s racism. This week he was unable to agree that King Charles is British because his father Prince Philip was Greek..
Beard Liberation Front
Media Release
8th August
Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social
London Beard Week 2026. W G Grace & Michael Rosen tie in Best Ever London Beard Vote
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that London Beard Week which marks the continuing growth and impact of beards in the Capital has concluded with the result of the vote for London’s Best Ever Beard.
Over 5,500 votes were cast in an on-line poll and the result saw cricketer W G Grace who lived in London towards the end of his life, and author and Arsenal fan Michael Rosen both receive 34.5% of the vote.
The result was announced live on air on LBC on Saturday morning as breaking news
London Beard Week traditionally coincided with the Campaign For Real Ale’s Great British Beer Festival at Olympia often the source of anti-beard stories in the media. However this is not running in 2026.
The campaigners say that aside from the many more beards to be seen in workplaces, shops and pubs, there is also a growth of specialist beard care shops and hairdressers offering beard trims and treatments, although the BLF generally advises against beard trims in barbers shops.
London Beard Week is a celebration of London, now one of the most beard friendly Capital cities in the world, and of London’s great hirsute heritage from Charles Dickens to Karl Marx through to modern day beards such as Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn and author and Arsenal fan Michael Rosen.
As part of the week the BLF is ran a poll to find the most impactful and impressive figure with a beard who is associated with London, past and present.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, London is striking a decisive blow against pogonophobia, the irrational dislike of facial hair. It’s now respectable to wear a beard in London but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for stylish and perhaps even world changing beards to be promoted further. We congratulate Michael Rosen and the memory of W G Grace for representing the very best of London beards past and present
London Beard Week poll to find London’s most Iconic Beard.
An online poll ran during the week. The winner is announced on 8th August
Charles Dickens, author
Fred Engels, philosopher and activist
Michael Rosen, author & broadcaster
William Morris, socialist & designer
Jeremy Corbyn, Islington North MP
William Cuffay, Leader of London Chartism
Bernie Grant, London Labour MP
W G Grace, cricketer
In the style of Banksy but probably not an original.
One of Count Binface’s long standing demands is that a 99 ice cream should cost 99p.
The real Count has a beard and must know that 99 flakes are not beard friendly but that is a but a footnote
Tory run Westminster Council plans to ban drinking at the bar. Table service only
It takes around 11½ gallons of water to produce one pint of beer. Obviously, one thinks what a great solution it would be if everyone who drank beer drank two pints a day less. That would mean a saving not only of 23 gallons but also of six gallons used in twice flushing the lavatory.
The contribution was from the then MP for Isle of Ely. The Drought Act became law on 24th August 1976
Its August so of course a Westminster Council draft policy on licensing in the West End of London which was posted in June and for which consultation closes shortly has made the headlines.
To save those who have other matters in August I have read both documents consisting of 150 and 39 pages respectively.
Most of it is simply repeating good practice but there are a couple of bits that are seeking to change quite fundamentally how pubs work.
In the 150 page document its suggested that since most issues in pubs occur after 10pm it would be better if they shut by or before then. Pub hours vary a lot by location and use but this seems odd for an area like Soho with a flourishing nightlife.
Actually the rest of the document carries on as if closing time is 11pm and if a pub wants to stay open after that it’ll need a late night licence (the same as now)
In the 39 page document the following passage can be found
Examples may include: • Fixed seating layouts. • Minimum seating requirements. • Waiter or waitress service. • Restrictions on customers consuming alcohol while standing.
Draft Good Operator Guidance.pdf
Its this that has caught the headlines since it seems to imply that vertical drinking, standing at the bar, queuing at the bar(stop it) are to be discouraged if not designed out.
Personally after many demonstrations the knees arent what they were and I prefer to sit in a pub. However a chat standing up while at the bar or on the way to the toilet is all part of pub life.
The ideology behind all this is that pubs will be better if they have fewer customers. They will also go out of business quicker.
Westminster Council is controlled by the Tories. Perhaps Kemi Badenoch who this week proclaimed pubs as one of the engines of economic growth could have a word…
The Telegraph often runs stories that are not entirely true but make good culture war headlines, although even veteran interplanetary traveller Allister Heath finds Rupert Lowe too much.
Sometimes however its cynical take on things hits home as with this Matt cartoon
This is not a recommendation to buy the Spectator. Most of the views of the contributors on Rod Liddle can be found on social media. Michael Gove states that Liddle must be compared to Orwell and Swift as a great writer and indeed satirist.
The Guardian’s Obituary provides a corrective
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/aug/04/rod-liddle-obituary?CMP=share_btn_url
Zoe Williams has also written in the Guardian
For eulogies Boris Johnson (on Twitter obviously) has posted this:
Heartsick at the death of Rod Liddle – an outrageously funny and gifted writer with a beautiful conversational style. He had a unique talent for finding the thing that was obviously true but supposedly unsayable and then saying it with such panache as to give the maximum possible offence – and to all the right people. Spectator readers absolutely loved him.
Michael Gove, The Spectator’s editor, said: “Rod Liddle was a journalist of genius. In the tradition of Swift, Cobbett and Orwell, he was a satirist who found society’s most sensitive spots and made merciless fun of our follies.
Peter Oborne’s opposing view
Rod Liddle played the politics of hatred – we should be honest about his legacy | Middle East Eye
When I knew Liddle on Teesside in the second half of the 1970s, he was then a socialist punk, I recall him as personable and amiable. Looking at the many comments after his death was reported from those who knew him more recently, it seems that on occasion he retained those elements of his character. Clearly also on many occasions he did not…
Hundred match between Leeds Sunrisers and London Spirit this week
The Hundred a 100 ball a side cricket competition is in its first season as a franchised operation.
The franchisers already own cricket sides around the globe all of which play 20 over cricket with the Indian Premier League being the template.
A stated aim of the franchisers is to move towards 20 overs without a timescale being mentioned, but in the context of The Hundred being the second biggest short form tournament in the world after the IPL (which is played earlier in the year)
The drift to 20 overs appears already to be underway.
In the Hundred Mk1 bowlers could have 5 or 10 ball sets with a maximum of 20 balls. The word ‘set’ has now disappeared and ‘over’ is being used although the focus is on the number of balls. Overs in cricket have been fixed by one of the Laws of Cricket to six balls, but only from 1980. Before that it varied and the Laws of Cricket change frequently.
Secondly its notable that Hundred statistics are now being added into T20 ones. Who made this decision is unclear to me at least, although since the two forms are increasingly similar some logic can be seen.
The real issue is where all this leads.
If The Hundred as a franchised operation moves to 20 overs it will be in some kind of competition with the existing T20 Blast which is County based. An undercurrent to The Hundred for some has been to replace or reduce the number of Counties most of which are mutually owned.
If the IPL is the template there will be demands for more Hundred matches over a longer timespan (this has already started in fact).
Secondly while Hundred games are meant to last for 2.5 hours to fit TV schedules (the BBC in particular) some games are already going beyond that. IPL matches tend to meander on for quite a while. That might mean, for example, splitting the current women’s and men’s double header format.
The key thing here must be not to let the Franchise owners and the ECB railroad through changes without discussion with players, fans and the existing County structures
New Brighton beach
Andy Burnham is reportedly on holiday. The destination is unknown but again reportedly is abroad. Of course where the PM and his family go on holiday is for them but there is a solid socialist template for heading to the beaches of north-west England.
In the summer of 1857 Engels was unwell and took time off from the Manchester factory to seek a cure by the seaside. He started at Waterloo near Liverpool. He avoided the Isle of Man at the urging of Marx but also ignored his suggestion of Hastings. By early September he was in Ryde, Isle of Wight where he stayed for several weeks. He then headed to Brighton and from there to Jersey, returning in October. Some Marxist Staycation.
Marx wrote to Engels in Manchester on 14th July 1857
If nothing else, the whole course of your illness should have shown you that what you needed physically was to rest, recuperate and temporarily shake off the dust of the office. You must go to the seaside as soon as possible.
A fortnight later Engels had actually made it to the seaside to Waterloo a location not far from the major holiday resort of Southport. Engels reported to Marx:
Here I am last by the seaside… It’s 3 miles beyond New Brighton but to the north of the Mersey.. I hope that the sea air will soon make me fit again for the usual drudgery.
Two weeks later still on 15th August Marx was urging Engels to move beyond taking in the sea air and actually go for a paddle. On 21st August Engels confirmed to Marx that he had done so.
I am delighted to hear that the sea is doing you good, as was to be expected. As soon as you are fit enough to bathe, It will take effect even more quickly, noted Marx
The delights of Waterloo were apparently limited however as by 25th August 1857 Engels was planning a return to Manchester with the aim of going shortly after that to a ‘more bracing seaside resort’. He had in mind the Isle of Man which he had visited with Marx before
Marx was not impressed with this plan and wrote immediately to suggest a seaside resort in southern England:
Why not go to Hastings which is famed for its efficacy in cases like yours. It’s the only specific watering-place of the kind in England. The Isle of Man.. is remarkable chiefly for its stench
Engels however ignored Marx’s guide to holiday destinations and headed instead to Ryde on the Isle of Wight, which became a favourite destination in the years to come. It was not a good start though as Engels complained that he had, ‘finally arrived today at my new lodgings in the middle of a frightful downpour’.
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