Kmflett's Blog

Rod Liddle (1960-2026) I knew him as a youthful anti-racist

Rod Liddle, a columnist for the Murdoch Sunday Times and the Spectator, has died at 66.

Liddle’s journalism in recent years has been sexist, laddish etc. His Islamophobia is well known.

One might be tempted to ask where it all went wrong for Liddle. After all he worked for the Labour Party as a speech writer between 1983 and 1987 and Edited the Today programme on Radio 4 until he departed after the BBC complained about the (left-wing) politics of one of his Guardian articles.

I knew Liddle as a teenager when he lived in Nunthorpe a well to do area of Middlesbrough. He and some mates had formed a punk band, Dangerbird, and he appeared at the local SWP branch meetings occasionally to see if the band could get involved with Rock Against Racism. I was then student organiser of the IS/SWP on Teesside, and hence probably more in touch with what he wanted to do than some in the meetings. He claimed in The Guardian (5^th June 2002) that he was briefly a member of the SWP. Memory suggests ‘supporter’ would have been more accurate.

At the start of punk a band playing on Teesside would have struggled to find, perhaps not an audience, but people prepared to try and sort out gigs. I think I heard Dangerbird play but have no memory of what they were like. I suspect that means they were at least not terrible or I would have remembered. However Liddle in the Guardian article claims they were awful, and so did a helpful post from a Labour Party member who recalled a gig at the local Labour Club.

My memory of Liddle was that he seemed quite pleased with himself, but then he was young and confident, and perhaps to a degree entitled to be so, given he had taken the initiative to start a band.

Of course he’s far from the first person to have had a left-wing youth and turn into an unpleasant right-winger in later years. It’s a well-travelled path. It reflects the pressures society exerts on people who want to ‘get on’ but it also underlines how difficult the left find it in most generations to hold on to talented young people before they end up turning sour in older age.

Rod Liddle – Wikipedia

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release

3rd August

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

London Beard Week 2026 Promoting Hirsute Style in the Capital

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that London Beard Week which begins on 3rd August will mark the continuing growth and impact of beards in the Capital.

It 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 running 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

London Beard Week poll to find London’s most Iconic Beard.

An online poll will run during the week. The winner will be announced on 8^th 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

London Historians Group

Media Release

3rd August

Contact Dr Keith Flett keithbeard.bsky.social

Historians call for review of August Bank Holiday date

The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, has called for a review of the date of the August Bank Holiday.

The 1871 Bank Holidays Act fixed the date as the first Monday in August. This remains the case for Scotland. However from 1965 to 1971 the holiday was moved to the last August of the month in England and Wales following a campaign by the travel industry and the TUC amongst others.

The logic was that a Bank Holiday at the start of August after schools broke up led to huge demand for holidays which caused increased cost for holidaymakers. A Bank Holiday at the end of August was meant to spread the holiday period over the entire month.

However the historians say that following the Bank Holiday being moved permanently to the last Monday it has simply caused peak demand to move from the beginning to the end of the month.

An on-line poll run by the historians in 2023 showed support for two Bank Holidays in August at the beginning and the end of the month.

LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, the argument always is that Bank Holidays cost the economy money. In reality they provide a boost to the travel, retail and hospitality industries. Britain has the fewest Bank Holidays of any country across Europe and it’s time for the 1971 decision on the August Bank Holiday to be looked at again.

The picture is of the Leeds Sunrisers v London Spirit game at Leeds on the evening of Monday 3rd August. There is a decent crowd but certainly not a sell out. Its school holidays so Tuesday is not a school day.

The controversy over the Hundred Mk2 continues. There is no question that with the franchise system and up to 4 international players allowed in a match the quality of the cricket is better. That point is focused on the men’s game. I’m a little less sure about the women’s matches which are improving contest wise as the tournament proceeds(thoughts are welcome).

Crowds seem to be improving a bit too and there have been some decent attendances and also for some games lots of empty seats. The exception has been Sofia Gardens, Cardiff. The Sunday afternoon and evening games between Welsh Fire and Southern Brave were very nearly sold out. I’ll post further on that.

With an auction system operating none of the teams now have sides with much connection to the areas they are based in but the franchisers who operate on a global scale may not be too bothered about that.

Simon Wilde (Sunday Times 2nd August) notes that a decline in crowds of between 4-6% was factored in without ECB central promotion. And perhaps too without freebies and complimentary tickets. However social media interaction is up 75%, not surprising given the star players involved now. These are clips of six hitting or wickets. Quite probably posted by the franchisers across global platforms. Nicholas Pooran for example only plays franchise cricket around the world

TV Viewing figures are also up. We await actual figures, if they appear. The broadcast rights are up for renewal in 2029 and Wilde reports that negotiations are set to start in 2027 with a view to increasing the cost. If so the BBC won’t be able to afford it and Sky might prefer darts, football and golf.

Two of the franchises have complete control- at Hampshire and Yorkshire- and Wilde reports there is little interaction with the existing County owners. Rather the idea is to impose the global brand whether or not this works with a local audience.

The original thought was that the Hundred was designed to usurp and do away with County cricket. On the evidence so far of 2026 its a far more braver new world than that the ECB has wandered into, with English and Welsh cricket being sucked into a global franchise system wat beyond their control.

One way of looking at it is that it’s cricket but not as we know it…

Marx & Engels summer holidays: The Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight remains a popular holiday destination in 2026 but it has been visited by holidaymakers since the 1850s, amongst them Marx and Engels.

Queen Victoria began staying at Osborne House from 1845 (check detail) and stayed there for several months in the Spring and early Summer of 1848. The threat of revolution from the Chartists on 10^th April 1848, following a pattern of European revolutions, was felt to be sufficiently serious for the Royals to evacuate from London.

There is no evidence that the Chartists planned to seize the Isle of Wight and it remains a short distance from the naval base of Portsmouth.

It is not recorded but probably unlikely that Victoria knew that from the 1850s both Marx and Engels were visitors to the Island.

Tourism was boosted by the opening of the Ryde to Ventnor railway between 1864 and 1866. In the early 1880s Marx wintered in Ventnor which has a micro-climate favourable to those with chest conditions. Marx and Engels mostly took separate holidays but over the decades both could be found staying in Ryde.

In September 1857 Engels stayed in Ryde, Isle of Wight for some weeks while also visiting Portsmouth.

Engels often had multiple reasons for seaside stays. Sometimes, Ryde being an example, he was recovering from a health issue. In 1857 he combined this with a regular correspondence with Marx and work on articles. He was also interested in the geology of the Island and finally, underlining his name of the General, he made time to inspect the forces in Portsmouth.

Engels wrote to Marx from Ryde on 8^th September 1857:

I finally arrived today at my new lodgings in the middle of a frightful downpour and tomorrow shall at once get down to the army again. Yesterday in Portsmouth I noted what was worth seeing on the military side, so all that now remains is the navy, which at this moment looks distinctly sparse. My health continues good and if the weather improves I hope I shall soon be completely cured. It takes half an hour to get here from Portsmouth and it’s a very aristocratic little spot.

Engels was not impressed with what he had observed in Portsmouth noting: The chaps lack drill. Still very poor at the double. Shoot as though half-asleep.

By contrast Engels was impressed with the Isle of Wight writing to Marx on 17^th September 1857 The climate here is really marvellous and the vegetation, except for things needing very hot sunshine, is so southern one might almost be in Naples

Engels stayed in Ryde until the last week of September writing to Marx that he was then off not to Manchester but Jersey via Brighton

On 15th July 1874 Marx was in lodgings also in Ryde. He wrote to Engels who was in Ramsgate.

Marx noted that one of his daughters Laura had been to stay and he had accompanied her to the Portsmouth ferry when she had to leave:

When we went down to the pier to see her off we witnessed the arrival from Brighton of a temperance gang back from an excursion. Half of them were drunk. As an old Englishman next to me remarked ‘it was the worst lot he had ever met with in his life’ and neither have I ever encountered such a mob of stunted, loutish and smutty-minded idiots all at once…For foreigners this sample of Freeborn Britons would have been an amazing sight

There is a plaque where Marx stayed in Ventnor but otherwise the Isle of Wight as a summer holiday spot for Marx and Engels has been largely overlooked

This post originally appeared in the Morning Star

Bert Horrobin

The Ambridge Socialist

2^nd August

Boycott of Village Fete grows

Questioned by Lynda on how ticket sales for the Village Fete are going Susan admitted that she had given those with less money concessions. The vicar’s demand that tickets must be full price only was not very Christian.

Bert joins the Free Speech Union

Bert has been outstandingly rude to several people this week but as we know hurty words are just that and no more. Neil has provided a robust critique of Bert’s behaviour (& Chris has moved out) but Susan has claimed that Bert is not as bad as his own father was

Class struggle

Driving the combine slowly along Ambridge roads Ed encountered an irate motorist. Ed fingered rich people who see the country as a sort of museum or playground and get annoyed when the day to day life of the village gets in their way.

Relationships

Rex has definitively moved in with Alice. However Chris will not be moving in with Lotte any time soon it appears. Meanwhile Fallon is pondering where she will be living after deciding to quit the Bull’s kitchen for a new venture at Lower Loxley. As for Knacker Burns, he remains living adjacent to The Bull for the moment, even though Rex’s houseboat could be available once the paperwork is done.

Prof Laurie Taylor is ,91, at least according to The Times & forever young. A brief memoir

Prof Laurie Taylor who a long time ago taught at York (1974-93) and wrote some important sociological works, for example Escape Attempts (with Stanley Cohen) and more recently presented the Radio 4 programme on new sociological research, Thinking Allowed.

Laurie Taylor (sociologist) – Wikipedia

I occasionally filled in for Taylor’s Times Higher Column (a satirical take on higher education) when he was on holiday and even more occasionally encountered him at social occasions. I recall him asking with some degree of surprise that I was still employed by anyone..

In the 1970s the Professor was a Trotskyist, a member of the International Socialists (now SWP) but arguably became an example of Lenin’s view that if socialism was left to Professors it would not go well.

His Wiki entry also suggests that he was the model for Howard Kirk in Bradbury’s The History Man. As played by Antony Sher in the TV adaptation a Zapata moustache was a key defining feature. I’m sure if Laurie Taylor by contrast has ever sported facial hair.

Anyway, happy birthday Comrade Taylor, forever young at 91 clearly

Lord Glasman of Blue Labour, known most recently for his campaign against the wearing of lanyards, has recorded a song in praise of Mohammad Pahlavi, who styles himself the Shah of Iran. He is currently in exile.

Its not clear if Glasman plans to make the song commercially available but it is certainly a worthy tribute, vocals wise, the Lee Marvin classic, Wanderin’ Star

Politics Home | Lord Glasman Wrote A Song For The Exiled Crown Prince Of Iran And Played It To Him