Jonathan Liew writing in the Guardian (4th February) argues that English cricket is conservative and racist. He makes a very good point but one that is not entirely correct. There is in particular significant support for cricket from people of Asian origin (the same is true in the US) and while some may well be conservative they are certainly not racist.
Reading Tariq Ali’s recent memoir You Cant Please All (Verso) I noted a chapter in cricket. He argues that T20 cricket is essentially the equivalent of the football penalty shoot-out. Another view might be that in fact the equivalent is the T20 super over.
He is however a fan of Test cricket. He writes: ‘Test matches can be tenser and more stimulating than any other form of even when they end in a draw- a possibility that is excluded in shorter forms..’
Stuart Hall, the Marxist cultural theorist dates are both in February. He was born 94 years ago and died 12 years ago.
Stuart Hall was the first Editor of New Left Review way back in 1960 and did much of his work at the Birmingham Centre for Cultural Studies. He was also associated with Marxism Today’s New Times project.
Stuart Hall was interviewed by the New Statesman in 2012 and in it he touched on the New Times project of Marxism Today.
His understanding of where the New Times project led and what it was intended to be is perhaps relevant for 2026.
Stuart Hall’s corrective to what he thought New Times was meant to be and should be about remains interesting:
The analysis, and his account of “new times” (the changes in the so-called post-Fordist economy brought about by globalisation), had some influence on the early intellectual outriders of New Labour, but Hall insists that his insights were vulgarised by the Blairites. “There is a tiny kernel of truth in the assertion that [Marxism Today] created Blairism, in the sense that the ‘new times’ stuff was addressing the change of the whole terrain. But what we recommended was that you needed a project on the left of the same breadth and depth as Thatcherism. New Labour understood it as meaning that you needed the same project!”
Verdant, Putty 2025. An event in the beer calendar
If you drink or are interested in craft beer (however defined) you will probably have noticed that the 2025 version of Cornish Brewer Verdant’s Putty has been released.
It was first brewed for Hop City in Leeds in 2017 and has appeared towards the end of January every year since. It’s an 8% double ipa which tastes in summary dank.
Certainly not to everyone’s taste but a very good example of the style. The 2025 version was priced at £7 a can direct from the brewery (more from bottle shops and bars obviously)and sold out well before the end of the day of its release.
It’s something of a triumph coming as it does in Dry January when for many money may be too tight to mention.
It’s also now quite a rare event on the beer calendar, a yearly special release. Siren’s Maiden and Caribbean Chocolate Cake releases are still there too. Magic Rock Cannonball has sadly departed. Beavertown’s Bloody ‘Ell, once timed for when blood oranges came into season is now brewed year round by Heineken.
How special is Putty? As above it’s a very good example of a beer style. In 2025 there are other examples but as an event at the start of the year it remains unparalleled.
Following two Election defeats in 1974 Tory leader Ted Heath called a Tory leadership contest. In those days only Tory MPs could vote.
Margaret Thatcher, regarded as an outsider, got 130 votes to 119 for Heath in a ballot held on 4th February 1975. He then resigned as Tory leader.
She did not get 50% of the votes cast so a second ballot, where Willie Whitelaw, Jim Prior and Geoffrey Howe also stood, was held on 11th February 1975. Thatcher got 52.9% of the vote, became Tory leader and four years later PM. The first woman to hold these positions.
Below is an extract from a speech she gave to Finchley Conservatives between the two ballots on 7th February 1975. What became known as Thatcherism was now under construction
“In the desperate situation of Britain today, our party needs the support of all who value the traditional ideals of Toryism: compassion and concern for the individual and his freedom: opposition to excessive State power: the right of the enterprising, the hardworking and the thrifty to succeed and to reap the rewards of success and pass some of them on to their children: encouragement of that infinite diversity of choice that is an essential of freedom; the defence of widely distributed private property against the Socialist State; the right of a man to work without oppression by either employer, or trade union boss.”
A YouGov poll has placed Reform UK Ltd one point ahead of Labour 25%-24%. The Tories are on 21%.
Its good news for Reform UK Ltd’s owner Nigel Farage, or at least right-wing media will say it is.
In reality the poll is within the margin of error and its actual purpose is not Psephology (election polling) but what the socialist historian E P Thompson called Ephology. That is its aim is to shape people’s opinion not reflect it.
Lord Salisbury- Robert Cecil (3rd February 1830-22nd August 1903) was born 195 years ago.
He was Prime Minister from 1895 to 1902 and a Tory. He was also the last British Prime Minister to wear a a beard to date,
Jeremy Corbyn came close to shaving Lord Salisbury in 2017 but there is currently little sign that there will be another hirsute PM. Nigel Farage briefly sported a dodgy moustache some years back, but despite the bluster he is unlikely to be a future PM.
The first Campaign for Real Ale London Drinker Beer Festival was 40 years ago in mid-March 1985. The last festival was in 2018. Camden Town Hall in which the venue was located (the Camden Centre) underwent building modifications- its still there btw.
I was at the first and I think every other London Drinker festival. As a North Londoner a venue more or less opposite Kings Cross station was convenient.
The space was cramped and always busy, although there was balcony seating and it was notable for a CAMRA festival for doing its own (excellent) food.
Things have changed as Dylan noted but London Drinker played a role in promoting good beer in the Capital when it was not so easily available. There are other festivals in 2025, some CAMRA, some independent, but the cost and complexity of organising a beer festival in central London (the West End and the Square Mile) is a lot more problematic than it was 40 years ago.
Berwick Kaler & Martin Barrass (Mick) in Dick Turpin Rides Again 2021
Berwick Kaler is Panto Royalty have starred in Pantos at the York Theatre Royal since the late 1970s until recently.
A co-star was Martin Barrass who appeared alongside Kaler for decades. Barrass is the actor who has played Mick in the Archers since 2022.
The Archers Editor Jeremy Howe was director at the York Theatre Royal in the 1980s.
The Ambridge Panto Week split opinion on the Archers chat boards. Some of the more perceptive commentary suggested that the Fourth Wall was being breached. That is the imaginary divide between actors and audience. Brechtian Theatre abolished it but this week the key Archers character was Berwick Kaler. He is indeed (see above) an actor but he was (largely) playing himself. A rare visit of the real world to Ambridge.
There were also other nods to Panto woven into the story. Susan and Tracy arguing over a lost (and found) shoe, a dropped custard pie and Vince Casey playing the villain, later redeemed..
The York Press has the story(on December 1st 2024…)
The long drawn out process of selling (at least) a 49% stake in the existing Hundred competition to bidders is reaching a conclusion and should be concluded next week. The subsequent phase will no doubt be a negotiation between the successful bidders, the Hundred teams they now have a substantial stake in and the grounds involved as to what exactly the Hundred will look like in future.
Unless you are one of those who thinks change occurs at the speed anonymous posters on Twitter demand it should, whatever changes do take place will be from 2026
A group of US TechBros have paid £145m for a 49% stake in London Spirit the team that plays at Lords, which is undoubtedly the biggest draw in the bidding (although there is a dispute between the MCC and London Spirit about whether they will play there in the medium term).
Key players in the successful bid are senior figures in Google and Microsoft and people of Indian origin who are both cricket fans and businessmen who see the potential of the investment
The four Hundred teams sold so far(49%)The Oval (to the Mumbia Indians IPL franchise for £60m), Lords, Cardiff(to an Asian businessman for £40m) and Birmingham (£40m) have raised £365m. Manchester has sold a 70% stake to IPL team the Lucknow Super Giants for £80m.
Nottingham and Leeds will be completed shortly and Hampshire next week. Given these are mostly 49% stakes the process puts the overall value of the Hundred at £800m plus.
Two years ago the ECB the body that (sort of) runs English and Welsh cricket turned down an offer of £400m. The £800m is hardly IPL finance but it will see Counties getting a £10-12m cash injection each
Michael Atherton (Times 1st February) has underlined that the Hundred was never about boosting women’s cricket or attracting new fans(these are important by-products). Rather it was about creating a competition that was not controlled by the largely member run Counties, and selling it to raise funds..
I’m not a huge fan of the Hundred (I’m 68, I like Tests but also tbh T20s) but Atherton makes the very important point that up to now English and Welsh cricket is the only major arena which does not have a franchise element.
One way to deal with this is to get rid of market capitalism (a project I have been involved in for 50 years) but in the meantime it will be interesting and quite possibly concerning to see what the impact of the Hundred franchises actually is
Jonathan Liew in the Guardian (4th February) points out that the successful bidders are in fact buying a name or a brand and in reality not much else. Whether that will be what happens on the ground remains to be seen
