Kmflett's Blog

Beard Liberation Front

19^th February

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

Beard Liberation Front extends ban on JD Vance for bringing the hirsute into disrepute

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has extended the ban on US Vice President JD Vance for continuing to bring the hirsute into disrepute in the public eye

Vance was originally banned during the 2024 Presidential campaign after he made a number of statements that clearly brought the hirsute into disrepute.

The campaigners say that Vance’s Munich speech focused on democracy and immigration and was clearly designed both to regularise the activities of unelected and unaccountable Elon Musk and also aiming at boosting the vote of the fascist AfD in the forthcoming German elections.

Since then Vance has continued to make public statements that bring the hirsute into disrepute.

The extended ban covers the seasonal Beard of Summer and Autumn Awards but does not yet rule out participation in the Beard of the Year in December 2025

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, JD Vance is one of the world’s most prominent beard wearers but the Beard Liberation Front has principles and the Vice President falls well short of them. In particular we note that his beard is a relatively recent appearance behind which he may be hiding the views of clean shaven reaction

The veteran Nottinghamshire white ball cricket player Alex Hales will not play for County in 2025 and will play no English domestic cricket after 17 seasons. His decision was probably influenced by the ruling body of English and Welsh cricket the ECB to restrict the ability of players to appear elsewhere around the globe during the English domestic season from April to September (with the exception of the Indian Premier League which in effect rules world cricket)

Hales has a contract with the Knight Riders franchise and will in US Major League cricket and the Caribbean Premier League as well as, possibly, the Sri Lankan Premier League.

Hales may be the first Franchise cricketer from England but he is very unlikely to the last. Good news for him, less good for English cricket

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Hales

This is the first in a short series of posts on the role of porter in the fight for working class rights.

I was motivated by the thoughts of E P Thompson on porter which I found disappearing down a research rabbit hole in the British Library recently

There are several mentions of porter in the Making of the English Working Class (1963). The most interesting is the below

At the beginning of the nineteenth century a Seditious Meetings Act had banned all national political organisation and any local meetings of a national structure. Local discussion groups and petitions to the King were legal.

The Leeds Mercury in 1802 reported:

(societies and clubs of tradesmen) meet nightly in taverns and public houses. Almost every street in a large town has a little senate of this description; and the privileges of sitting in council over the affairs of the nation, and a pot of porter, has long since been claimed by free Britons, and acknowledged by all administrations.

There was some comment in the 1970s and 1980s that Thompson (who himself liked a beer- not I think porter) was promoting a tavern drinking school of social history. Even so the role of porter in the fight for democratic rights that led to Peterloo in 1819 and the formation of Chartism in 1837 should be noted.

Kemi Badenoch spoke on the first day of a conference bringing together hard right, far right and fascist figures with an overarching focus of right-wing Christianity similar to Trump’s US base on Monday

Badenoch managed to echo both Trump and Liz Truss with her latest culture wars list:

DEI

Net Zero & climate activism

Pronouns

Taking the Knee

On Tuesday Farage was interviewed by Stephen Yaxley Lennon enthusiast and far right ‘thinker’ Jordan Peterson. Farage claimed that despite Badenock’s Culture Wars, the Tories are not right wing.

Clearly the great moving ever rightwards show goes on (Farage) rejected Peterson’s assertion that the right was split in the UK, because, Farage said, “the Conservative party is not on the right in any measurable way.” (Guardian 18^th February)

As a reminder of which way the official political wind is blowing, The Times (Editorial 18th February) called the gathering of hard right, far right and fascist individuals ‘a major political conference’

In his latest rant in the Sunday Times wealthy landowner, publican and ‘farmer’ Jeremy Clarkson has said not only would not fight for Britain (to be fair he is no condition to do so) but also that he prefers Putin to Starmer.

Putin is a hard-line anti-Communist but that doesnt mean he has no regard for some periods of the Russian past.

Kulaks were a class of wealthy peasants and considerable landowners in the 1920s and 1930s that were an obstacle to the policy of agricultural collectivisation. They were often dispossessed of their land and worse as a consequence.

Its reasonable to assume Clarkson doesnt have much knowledge of Russian history

Kemi Badenoch has been speaking on the first day of a conference bringing together hard right, far right and fascist figures with an overarching focus of right-wing Christianity similar to Trump’s US base.

Badenoch managed to echo both Trump and Liz Truss with her latest culture wars list:

DEI

Net Zero & climate activism

Pronouns

Taking the Knee

These are certainly issues which the electorate are keen to focus on, at least in the world of Kim Badenoch

There is no one size fits all when it comes to where you work. The office may be good  or it may not.

I note that the CEO of JP Morgan Jamie Dimon has complained that he can’t get hold of people on a Friday. Ah I thought he must be young. No he is in his late sixties as I am.

When I started work in an office in the late 1970s Friday was poets day- piss off early tomorrow’s Saturday.

Not being around on a Friday is a tradition not a pandemic issue.

Assuming Mr Dimon does attend the office he clearly did not pay attention to what his colleagues were doing on a Friday. That might be why he is a CEO of course

16^th February

Ambridge is in the sh*t

There has the BBC reports been heavy rain in Ambridge and one result was that sewage swamped Bridge Farm, the Dairy and some houses in Beechwood. The Borchester Water Company are to blame but whether they will ever accept the blame is another matter. An important story line on the impact of water privateering, although the word nationalisation has yet to be mentioned.

Lawrence is a racist

Lawrence who writes for the cricket magazine Wicket and Stump has outed himself as a racist in making Islamophobic comments to Khalil and Lynda. Again it’s a to the point story line. An inquiry into the state of English cricket found a number of areas of discrimination following which, er, nothing much seems to have actually happened.

Faking it on the Bull Menu

Not all the items on the Bull menu are quite as described. The pastry for the pies is not home made the fish that goes with the chips is whiting not cod. The latter is probably noticeable but really who cares-the answer being Jolene concerned about reputational damage. One Chris Mason and the ex-Murdoch journalist who have been reading Rachel Reeves back pages on LinkedIn have finished perhaps they could have a look at this.

So, Farewell then Sgt Knacker Burns

Is he in fact actually ever going to come back?

My top tips for the perfect roast potatoes — don’t peel them, don’t parboil them and don’t even worry about preheating the oven. Simply cut them into chunks and put them straight into a roasting pan lined with olive oil or goose fat and put them in the oven. To ensure the perfect crispy exterior, just give them a good shake halfway through cooking.

Ms Truss’s recipe like most of her other statements seems somewhat unusual. The temperature of cooking and for how long might have been helpful

Heineken has announced its 2024 results with profits up 8.3%

Key areas of growth include India, Brazil, Nigeria and Vietnam

The UK market warrants a mention thanks to sales of its new ‘Spanish’ lager Kruzcampo, sales of Inch’s cider up 40% and of course Murphy’s stout thanks to the issues with Guinness.

Heineken also produces cask ale- John Smiths- although how much is not clear. It also owns craft brewer Brixton where production has moved to Beavertown at Ponders End, although the Heineken website is completely silent about its ownership for some reason.

For my wider thoughts on global big beer in 2025 see a recent piece in Culture Matters

https://www.culturematters.org.uk/the-fight-against-global-big-beer-in-2025-part-one-knowing-the-enemy/