Kmflett's Blog

Boris Johnson has returned from his latest holiday and made a contribution to the Tory Election campaign. He has posted a video supporting Simon Clarke the Tory MP who tried to topple Sunak earlier this year while predicting the Tories are heading for a ‘bloodbath’.

Earlier in 2024 the Times reported that Johnson would campaign in ‘red wall’ seats while after Sunak called the election he claimed that Johnson could campaign for the Party.

Meanwhile Johnson’s appearance on GBNews reported in October 2023 and aimed specifically at the Election period has not materialised either.

The Telegraph (18th June)reports that Johnson has signed (but probably not written) a letter to wavering Tory voters. Talk of deploying him in person face the reality that he is off on another overseas jaunt later this week and won’t be back until just before polling day

In modern Parlance Johnson seems to be engaged in not totally quiet quitting

Backing England Men to win the Euro Championship? Your vote on July 4^th could be key

England play their first match at the European Championships on Sunday. Expect flag waving and no mention of the reality that such occasions lead to a rise in racist incidents and domestic violence.

However it is still, just about, only a game so for those wanting England to win a vote on July 4^th could be key to it.

The record indicates that England only win football finals under a Labour Government

The only time England have won the World Cup was in 1966 just months after Harold Wilson had led Labour to a 97 seat majority in the March Election of that year, Wilson noted:

Have you noticed how we only win the World Cup under a Labour government”

He may well have got the line from comedian Mike Yarwood

Wilson was also privately, and correctly, concerned about the impact England’s failure in the 1970 World Cup would have on Labour’s chances in the June General Election of that year. Labour lost.

Keir Starmer an obsessive Arsenal fan will no doubt be hoping for a Labour win on July 4^th and an England victory at the Euros.

Of course there may be other issues which influence people’s votes….

16th June

A key part of the late Joe Grundy’s will was that Bartleby should be looked after. Bartleby is getting on and may not last another year. Meg Mellor who according to the BBC runs some kind of donkey sanctuary offered to buy Bartleby and look after him. Oliver Sterling organised a so called secret ballot amongst what was deemed to be the extended Grundy family. The BBC reported that the vote went in favour of selling Bartleby. The Ambridge Socialist says this is disrespecting Joe Grundy’s memory

Vote Sid Grundy on 4th July

The Ambridge Socialist campaign for Borsetshire South is underway. We have been visiting local cafes and pubs to get the message across that its time to expropriate the Archers Dynasty

In Other News

Sgt Knacker Burns has been hanging around St Stephens again. Meanwhile Fallon and KIrsty have been enjoying themselves at a nightclub

The Stables remains in crisis. This may be of concern to horse types

Paul’s relationship with Etienne is in doubt. Apparently Etienne is boring. He should be a speaking character

Aditya Chakrabortty has written an interesting piece on the context and positioning of the 2024 Labour Manifesto

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/15/policy-keir-starmer-manifesto-labour-business-tory

I can hardly claim to be uninterested or even disinterested in Manifestos. The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels remains relevant and as a socialist historian I often look back at past Labour Manifestos (all freely available on the web although not of course courtesy of Labour).

The 1983 Labour Manifesto was the ‘longest suicide note in history’ although for anyone to on the left beyond Starmer much of it now seems commonplace.

In 1997 the pre-Manifesto and the launch of the Manifesto were big things. You can find details in Alistair Campbell’s Diaries though that is not a recommendation to read them. However even then the focus was on the pledge card carrying a few key points.

I can remember when Election Manifestos were sold in W H Smith. Perhaps they still are but I doubt many go in to try and find them amongst the sandwiches. Most people who do look at a Manifesto will probably do so on line.

I have read both Tory (nearly 80 pages) and Labour Manifestos. I’m writing a piece for Culture Matters on beer, pubs and the election so I had to. Actually beyond business rates neither had anything much to say. Given how much beer, breweries and pubs have featured so far more might have been expected.

The point I’m making somewhat ponderously is that while official politics is still focused on the Manifesto and the detail fills much media space I’m not sure how far this connects with wider reality in 2024

National Beard Week, Hirsute Personality 2024

Beard Liberation Front

June 16th

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett 07803 167266

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that National Beard Week is bristling off to a start on 17th June with the news that former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn has been voted Hirsute Personality of the Year

The shortlist comprised well known beard wearers, focusing not just on their place in the public eye but the gravitas and impact their beard added to their public image and appearance.

Jeremy Corbyn took 45% of the vote with Patrick Grant and Idris Elba tied in second place with 20% each. England Men’s football manager Gareth Southgate was fourth. Two thousand six hundred votes were cast in an on-line poll

Unlike the Beard of the Year in December, those on the short-list didn’t need to have a full-time beard. Rather they needed to have been in the public eye while hirsute. Neither is the contest about who has the ‘best’ beard.

The winner of the on-line poll is announced at the beginning of Beard Week 2023 on June 17th. Other Awards that feature during the week, designed to promote a positive image of beards, are the Beard Friendly Sandwich of the Year, Hirsute Broadcaster of the Year and the most Beard Friendly  Election Manifesto.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett, we congratulate Jeremy Corbyn on being voted Hirsute Personality of the Year. He is not someone to hide his views behind his beard

Hirsute Personality of the Year 2024 shortlist

Jeremy Corbyn, politician

Partick Grant, Sewing Bee judge

Idris Elba, actor

Gareth Southgate, football manager

Guardian journalist Aditya Chakrabortty has asked Prof Kevin Farnsworth to analyse Labour’s Election Manifesto and put it in the context of Labour Manifestos since 1945

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/15/policy-keir-starmer-manifesto-labour-business-tory

The conclusion is that its an outlier with lots of mentions of business and only one of inequality. Farnsworth argues that the closest comparison is Ted Heath’s 1970 Tory Manifesto.

Those of a certain age (ahem myself) will spot an agenda. Heath’s Government was satirised in Private Eye as HeathCo. Heath ran Britain as a Managing Director. He micro managed and was perpetually frustrated by the staff (voters) doing things they shouldnt. It does sound very much like the way Starmer has run Labour.

Heath of course with his Industrial Relations Act saw that being pro-business meant being anti-union.s Starmer says he is pro-union, or at least pro-worker (a New Labour term)which is not the same thing. One wonders if that circle will be squared or if Starmer will frustrate the aspirations of the TUC for a New Deal in his bid to appease business?

Edward Heath: Heathco Newsletter(source Wiki)

Heathco Newsletter purported to be an internal missive from Edward Heath, the managing director of a struggling small firm called Heathco, in which Heath keeps his staff up to date and in high spirits with the latest company news. Cabinet ministers were recast as petty managers and clerks in this satire. The company’s logo was a stylised yacht (Heath’s hobby was yachting). The newsletters invariably ended with a request to staff which admonished them for stubbing their cigarettes out in the plastic cups in which the canteen served them with tea. Frequent reference was made to the malfunctioning of the Automatic Plastic Beaker Disposal Unit, or APBDU.

The late marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm was appointed a Companion of Honour. However much deserved it did seem a little odd for a lifelong Communist to accept one of the most senior honours the British State can confer. Its limited to 65 members.

The King’s Birthday Honours List has added another historian as a CH. Gordon Brown did not get the honour for his historical work but his background was as a labour historian. His thesis was on the Scottish Labour Party 1918-1929

Meanwhile a rather more right-wing historian Niall Ferguson has had to make to do with a Knighthood