I’ve got such frightful bronchial catarrh that I have been condemned to stay indoors in dressing-gown, slippers and a state of TEETOTALISM, hence can’t go out to get any bank-notes.
Engels to Ernest Dronke 13th November 1876
Engels was a veteran Pilsner drinker so it can be taken he really had a winter lurgy
This advert appeared 35 years ago in the November 1989 edition of the London Drinker the CAMRA London magazine, which remains in publication in 2025.
The ad is a reminder not only of beer prices 36 years ago and the beers Spoons sold then but also that the pub estate was confined to North, North-East and North-West London in those days. Today there are around 800 Wetherspoons pubs across the country and Ireland. Whether or not you think this is North London’s gift to the nation will no doubt, as Tim Martin does, divide opinion.
There was of course also ‘wine for the ladies’ at 75p a glass
Kemi Badenoch has written a column for the Sunday Times which given how (unwittingly) entertaining it is will hopefully be one of a series.
She reassures that she supports the ‘rule of law’ which might be thought to be a given for a Tory leader. However she does not support the rule of all laws because there are ‘well organised interest groups that bring strategic litigation’. She really means that the law prevents politicians doing just whatever they like, which is perhaps one reason why its there.
In her concluding paragraphs she returns to one of Liz Truss’s favourit obsessions, ‘The Blob’ she argues that politicians including Tory politicians like herself created it. The problem according to Badenoch is that it ‘rewards managerialism among Ministers, as reliably steering a department clear of legal challenges.
One might think its good thing that Government Departments don’t do things that break the law but in the world of Badenoch and Trump perhaps not.
Beard Liberation Front
21st November
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, noting that the UK Met Office issued a woolly jumper alert for many areas of the country for the next period has added its own Organic Beard alert.
The campaigners say that now is the time to start growing out beards which may have been trimmed for the summer. Organic beards have been protecting against cold weather since the Crimean War in 1854.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we are aware of course that an Organic Beard alert will not work for all and Organic Knitted Beards can be substituted in this eventuality. Moreover Storm Bert may be injurious to life and while beard advice is advisory, the Met Office warnings need to be heeded in full
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/17/uk-weather-met-office-temperatures-drop
The Ambridge Socialist
17th November
On goats and beevers
Pat has acquired a buck goat for Henry to look after, cost £750. The beard has not yet been mentioned. Rex is thinking of introducing some beevers as part of the relaunched rewilding scheme. For some reason Tony is their farming consultant. The cost would be significant but he sees it as an investment. Any way it makes a change from cows and sheep.
More on location, location…
Helen wants Kirsty to drop the price on Beechwood but Kirsty cant as she needs the money to buy Willow Farm. Meanwhile Tony is thinking of an eco-house on Bridge Farm land. Will there be room for his model railway layout we wonder. In another development Natasha is pondering an intervention. There will be trouble ahead. A defence committee for Kirsty may be needed
Charging Station
Fallon has pulled out of running a café at the charging station and in the meantime Natasha has given her tearoom job to Emma. As last week, Justin is up to something. A conversation with Fallon in the Bull on Friday confirmed the point. At least Justin was drinking Shires.
Politics
The BBC doesn’t report much about the political life of Ambridge, but once again farming ‘protests’ are planned. For those who recall the New Labour years think far right activists (in this case a Youtube influencer and alleged farmer) giving up on the Tories defending their interests.
In other news
Susan and Neil have been to visit George in prison. Unsurprisingly he was not overjoyed and has now banned family members from visiting (except possibly Clive..)
After Trump, Liz Truss praises another far right leader
Liz Truss continuing a world tour of destruction has been speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in India.
After backing Trump in the US she appeared to back another far right political leader Narendra Modi.
Truss compared India to China arguing that the former is a democracy. Up to a point, Lord Copper. Modi’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law is conditional on him winning.
However it must be said that fellow Trump fans Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage missed a trick by not attending. Since they were all at anniversary dinner for the far right UK Guido Fawkes site earlier in the week one wonders why
Hindustan Times
Truss said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s re-election for a third term is an “incredible achievement”, especially at a time when people in countries such as Australia, the UK, and the US have voted out incumbent governments. “It is a massive achievement to remain in office and it is a testament to the economic reforms that are taking place in India, and the fact that people are feeling the country is going in the right direction,” she said.
Beard Liberation Front
16th November. Contact Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social
Search for Beard Friendly Mince Pie 2024 underway
Christmas comes earlier each year, at least in terms of commercial activity. There are still weeks to go until 25th December but Which has already identified the top three mince pies of the year.
They are:
1 Waitrose Brown Butter
2 Aldi Specially Selected
2 M&S Collection
It’s the extended season for mince pie eating, but it can provide particular challenges for the hirsute.
The Beard Liberation Front has identified two key issues:
Icing sugar in the beard: this can have the effect of turning it prematurely white and can be difficult to remove. It may also lead to white beard syndrome and people shouting ‘Oi Santa’ at you.
Pastry flakes and crumbs in the beard: If this occurs it is guaranteed that any pogonophobe within 100 metres will shout ‘oi mate you’ve got the remains of your breakfast/lunch etc in your beard’.
There are several ways of avoiding the issues above:
1] Wear a special mince pie beard snood
2] Focus on eating only beard friendly mince pies. In particular pies where the ratio of filling to pastry lies with the former are likely to be more beard friendly.
3] If time and culinary skills allow you can of course make your own beard friendly mince pies
The Beard Liberation Front continues to research the beard friendly mince pie. Initial results from 2024 tests will be available during December. The BLF is keen to promote artisan and independent mince pies and has already held discussions with award winning craft baker Pettigrews about the composition of their mince pies
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, there are some reasonably beard friendly mince pies out there but the hirsute need to choose carefully. For the unwary eater icing sugar and pastry flakes in the beard can be a serious concern
Keir Starmer, golf & class war
The Telegraph (& tbh where else?) has reported that Keir Starmer has turned down free membership of the golf course associated with Chequers the Prime Minister’s official country residence.
Ellesborough Golf Club has offered free membership to every PM since 1921 after Chequers became an official residence in 1917 and Starmer is the first to turn it down. Attlee, Wilson and Blair all played on the golf course.
Starmer of course is an Arsenal season ticket holder and may not be interested in golf. Whether he is aware of the class war that perpetually goes on around the golf course is not clear.
The late miners leader Mick McGahey described golf as a waste of time. At his election victory party last week Trump had as the guest of honour Bryson DeChambeau. He is a championship winning golfer, aside from being extremely annoying, which no doubt endears him to Trump.
The class divide is clear from a historical perspective too. Eric Hobsbawm notes in Labouring Men that in the late nineteenth century as the male working class was identifying itself by wearing a cap, the middle class turned to golf courses. Twenty-nine golf courses were laid out in Yorkshire between 1890-95. Before 1890 there had been just two.
Clearly membership of the Chequers golf club is one freebie the Telegraph thinks Starmer should take
It may sometimes be wondered given the level of dysfunction on show what the Royal Family are actually good at. One thing is the invention of tradition. Royal traditions have been regularly invented in recent centuries. While some are genuinely historic, mostly dating back to the arrival of French rule in 1066 even here there is a problem with the continuity because everyone was broken during the Commonwealth period between 1649 and 1660.
A new tartan has been registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans to mark King Charlie’s 76th birthday. The Balmoral Glen Gelder tartan was designed by the Scottish Tartans Authority in 2023. The aim is to promote the culture and traditions of the Highlands and tartans.
The tartan will be used for furnishings and staff uniforms at Balmoral as well, obviously, in items on sale in the gift shop.
The design is reportedly based on an historic tartan design dating from 1500-1600, which is claimed to be the oldest specimen of tartan surviving.
The 2024 design provides a link to cloth that ‘probably’ originated during the reign of James V, Mary Queen of Scots or James V1 and 1.
In short its something of an invented tradition.
The Fletts dont have a tartan coming from Orkney but Clan Flett (with which I am of course associated-Google if you don’t believe it) has been creative and it is claimed that the Flett tartan is that of the McDonalds (Ronald excepted)
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