Kmflett's Blog

The Campaign for Real Conkers

Media Release. Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

15^th October

After ‘cheating’ allegation at Conker Championships, campaigners provide guide on how to play real conkers

The Campaign for Real Conkers, that opposes bans on conker playing and unnecessary rules and regulations in games, has said that following alleged cheating at the World Conker Championships on Sunday it has provided a guide on how to play real conkers.

It has been alleged that one of the winning competitors at the World Championships was found with a ‘steel conker’ which they have denied as being cheating.

The campaigners say  they are maintaining their usual ‘anything goes’ approach to conker games, to encourage people to play without arbitrary rules.

Campaign Organiser Keith Flett said, a steel conker is probably a bit beyond but if conkers are to survive as a game people played, rules and regulations need to go.

Guide on how to play real conkers safely in 2024

1] Select your conker. Do this yourself. DO NOT use a conker provided by someone else who may give you a poor specimen.

2] There is no specific kind of conker that makes a good game winner. Large conkers may more easily splinter for example. Some prefer conkers with flat and sharp edges

3] You may use the conker ‘as is’ known as ‘organic’. Alternatively you may seek to harden it by baking it, soaking it in vinegar etc. There is no guarantee that an artificially enhanced conker will perform any better than an organic one.

4] Drill a small hole through the conker. A nail will often achieve this. Again you must do this yourself

5] Thread the conker through the hole you have drilled. A strong chord, perhaps a shoelace is best

6] You are now ready to play.

7] Make sure that the chord is long enough to allow you to stand at least 1 metre plus away from your opponent. This would generally be the case as space is required for the conker swing.

8] Players take alternate turns to try and hit and destroy their opponent’s conker

9] Those with poor aim may hit the knuckles of their opponent more often than the conker so you may wish to wear gloves.

10] The winner is the player who determines their opponents conker unusable in further rounds, usually by causing it to splinter into two or more pieces

Play safely and enjoy!

Boris Johnson meets Argentinian far right leader Milei, discusses Mick Jagger

Boris Johnson has been complaining that Keir Starmer might hand the Falkland Islands to Argentine so the obvious thing to do was to meet far right Argentinian Javier Milei and not mention the issue at all.

According to a Mirror report Johnson was in Argentina to promote his new book Unhinged and the meeting with Milei was at this request.

Milei, who also has a fan in Liz Truss, is essentially a far right disrupter (think Brexit on speed) who aims to let free market economics rule Argentina to the benefit of the rich and the detriment of the poor.

So far he appears to have limited success with his agenda, with considerable resistance from the left and unions. Johnson’s meeting with him was clearly opportunistic- a characteristic of Johnson-ism but also a reminder of a global hard to far right agenda

According to reports Milei thought the main outcome of the meeting was that Johnson said he would facilitate a meeting with Mick Jagger, one of Milei’s heroes…

Boris Johnson ‘offers to help’ chainsaw-wielding ‘madman’ leader meet Mick Jagger – Mirror Online

Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick who for some reason is still not wearing his uniform made an unfortunate faux pass when celebrating what would have been Margaret Thatcher’s 99th birthday on 13th October (she died in 2013).

He can be seen holding a glass of red wine whereas Thatcher was an inveterate whisky drinker. One wonders exactly how well Jenrick really understands Thatcherism

Black History Month: the absence of written documentation on black Chartist leader William Cuffay

William Cuffay (1788-1870) was the black leader of London Chartism in 1848. He was convicted for his alleged role in a Chartist rising in central London in August 1848 and sentenced to be transported. He remained active in Hobart, Tasmania until his death.

The letter below is from Martin Hoyles 2013 biography of Cuffay. Its clear that he was literate and able to express himself with clarity. However this is the only surviving example of Cuffay’s writing.

There are of course considerable accounts of his speeches and activities in the weekly Chartist Northern Star paper. There are also some records from his time in Australia, again primarily newspaper reports.

In the mid-1840s Cuffay was one of the auditors for the Chartist Land Company a substantial operation underlining that he was both literate and numerate.

The puzzle remains therefore of why there is no other example of his writing. It may be that as a black Chartist leader documents were not considered worth retaining particularly after he left London for Australia.

Equally it may be that documentation does exist but has remained undiscovered. In Black History Month these are important questions

At the end of his stay in Wakefield, Cuffay wrote a letter to his friend and fellow Chartist leader Philip McGrath. This seems to be the only record of Cuffay’s actual writing:

Dear Mac, I have the pleasure to inform you that government has remitted the remainder of our probation here: and withdrawn altogether the sending us to public works in England: we (through our good conduct and the strong recommendation of our governor) to almost immediately be sent to Australia, with fourteen or fifteen others from this prison, to Port Philip, on the southern coast, opposite Van Diemens Land.

I spent some hours yesterday with my brother martyrs: we are in excellent health and spirits; we are to go with tickets of leave, consequently, shall be comparatively free on landing. Under such circumstances, it will be very awkward to be entirely penniless; therefore, I am compelled to solicit my chartist friends to raise a few shillings for me, as I cannot bear the idea of being under an obligation to anybody else, not even my own sister.

Have the goodness to show this to Grassby as soon as you can. He will do all he can for me; we are to go from here in a week or ten days, direct to the ship – there is no time to be lost. If we start from the port of London, I shall endeavour to let you know, so that I may see some of my friends before we part for ever. Give my best respects to all friends, and believe me still the same.

William Cuffay
Wakefield Convict Prison
July 20th 1849.

Suella Braverman has been complaining that she was prevented from speaking at a Cambridge University event recently because protests meant her security could not be guaranteed. She claimed this was on police advice (a point repeated in an Editorial in The Times 14th October).

The above report is from the Sunday Times (13th October h/t Alan Rusbridger) which notes that the police thought Braverman’s visit was ‘low risk’. It appears Ms Braverman has been exaggerating in order to make a political point.

It is the hallmark of far right politicians in particular even if we accept that many politicians have a tendency to dissemble on occasion.

Nigel Farage for example claimed that he was not doing Constituency Surgeries in Clacton on the advice of House of Commons officials. As he eventually had to admit there had been no such advice.

Labour & Employment Rights 1997-2024. Is it the same old song?

Labour’s Employment Bill has now been published. In some cases it won’t be until the autumn of 2026 before some measures become law. Even so there are welcome changes, things the Tories would never do. At the same time it has been described as more full of holes tnan Swiss cheese on things like zero hours contracts and day one employment rights.

Starmer has rebuked Transport Secretary Lou Haigh for saying that she boycotts notorious fire and rehirer P&O. Starmer seems to think they have changed their approach or perhaps when he says it will be a pro-business, pro-worker Government it’s the former that takes precedence.

We have been here before and some of the key players remain influential. The 1997 Labour Government headed by Blair promised to address the years of Tory anti-union laws by reinstating what it claimed would be a level playing field at work. The bigger issue was the introduction of a National Minimum Wage. This was opposed by many business interests on the basis that it could not be afforded, would not work and so on. However it was implemented and remains in force, albeit many would argue it should be higher.

The second was a Parliamentary Act on Employment Relations. Its notable that this did not become law until July 1999. It was not seen as a priority and there was a fair bit of time spent listening to business about it. It did not repeal any Tory anti-union law(as the new Act will in part) but instead gave legal force to trade union recognition and representation. It was a step forward from the Thatcher years but a very modest one. Arguably the 2024 Bill goes somewhat further, again welcome while keeping in mind that the proof of the pudding is in the eating..

Cabinet Papers available at the National Archives give an indication to what went on in 1997.

In the autumn of 1997 there is a file note of what is described as a ‘long and fractious discussion’ between Tony Blair and John Prescott on Fairness at Work. Prescott said that changes had been bought as a package by the TUC and if changes were planned this would need to be agreed by the Cabinet. Blair responded that the changes were practical ones because of what he claimed were genuine problems in how they would work. Blair wanted to allow a right of appeal to the measure, eventually implemented, which would mean that if 50% of workers voted for union recognition it would be automatically given. Prescott again argued that he did not think what the TUC had put forward was up for negotiation.

Employment rights were not part of Prescott’s Ministerial brief and the matter does not appear again until we find a file note from Peter Mandelson on 9th March 1998. It says ‘Union Recognition. Moving in the direction of the CBI. Ideal response for the TUC to be grumpy but not refuse to co-operate’.

Both Blair and Mandelson are of course still around and still influential. They have form on union rights so before Starmer’s changes are trumpeted it will be prudent to keep a close eye on what they are up to.

We can see the issue with Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves. She has no experience in private sector industry at all but told the Times (25th April 2024) that the next Labour Government will be even more pro-business than Blair. When it comes to reforms to employment law she is listening to the concerns of business and there is no rush.

Additionally she claims that the people who understand what it takes to unlock business investment are of course business leaders. One might think that those who actually do the work know something about this, trade unionists who fund the Labour Party. It also sounds very 1997, but it need not be. It depends what campaigning pressure can be brought to the matter.

Historically the Assize of Ale met periodically to assess the price and quality of beer in a local area. Pubs were investigated and landladies and lords called to account.

In the age of Global Big Beer that system cant really work.

However the Sunday Times (13th October) reports that the owners of Guinness, Diaego monitor posts on the ShitLondonGuinness site and have a team of 10 operatives who are despatched to bars that get bad reviews to offer some re-education.

its better than nothing in respect of quality although of course the price doesnt bother them

The Ambridge Socialist

13^th October

Class War in Ambridge: Brian Aldridge commits serious crime-fined; George Grundy commits serious crime-jailed

In 2019 toxic waste that Brian Aldridge had allowed to be dumped on his land, leaked and poisoned the Am, killing more or less anything in it. It was a serious crime but Aldridge was not jailed, as he could have been but fined £120,000. Fast forward five years and George Grundy is found guilty of dangerous driving, which he wasn’t and of perverting the course of justice. He was guilty of this but eventually admitted it and pleaded guilty as Aldridge did.

However George Grundy is not part of the ruling dynasty of Ambridge but a member of the villages leading proletarian family. He got two years in jail. Class justice means class war.

If there was doubt Lilian and Kenton were to be found toasting ‘British Justice’ at the Bull the day after the Court hearing.

George in prison

George rang Emma from prison on Friday but it sounded like there was a meeting of the Reform UK Ltd Farage rioters going on in the background.

The Bull cat’s name

Once again we nominate Keir as Kenton is a relation of Clem Attlee